So, if you earn only a little each month and want the basic "Bronze" plan, you have some basic stuff/care included ? Are frequent surgeries included as well, because that's not what I found in the "10 essential care things" in the bronze plan.
I've also read that even though you HAVE a bronze plan, you still need to pay 40-100$ all the time you visit a doctor ? WTF ?
Can anyone explain this to an Austrian with an evil socialist health insurance where you don't have to pay anything to go and see a doctor or for repeated surgeries ?
I've also read that there are high "out of pocket costs" if you only have the "bronze" plan, while paying a lower share of monthly premiums (but still about 50-200$ a month).
Yet when you have a "platinum" plam, you have almost no "out of pocket costs" - but pay higher premiums.
If you already pay a monthly premium of 50-200$ a month on health insurance, why would you still have to pay ridiculously high amounts of "out of pocket costs" ?
How is that fair ?
Wouldn't it be better if everyone gets the same health care services (and by same I mean all), no matter if you pay a health insurance premium of 100$ a month or 500$ a month ?
As Harry said, the idea is that you have some skin in the game so you don't overvisit the doctor (a somewhat common problem in the Canadian system).
Another reason for the co-pays/deductibles is that you can reduce your premiums by bearing some of the risk yourself instead of offloading it all on the insurance company. I do it on my car insurance and it works fine. I keep my high deductible in the bank and my insurance is much less. It paid for itself after 18 months or so.
The problem is of course, that poor folks won't be able to bear the deductible but will choose to take on the risk anyway to get a lower payment. This might be an issue depending on how high the "Bronze" deductible is or if the coverage is much less than the standard "Silver" plan. Could one of the Americans elaborate on the differences between the plans?
