--- In [email protected], new.morning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], Bhairitu <noozguru@> wrote: > > > > TurquoiseB wrote: > > > > > > I haven't seen it, of course, but given recent > > > discussions of the cost and quality of health care > > > here, it seems an apt time to remind you that I pay > > > not several hundred dollars a month for my health > > > insurance, but 320 Euros *per year*. > > Of course you pay for it through taxes, its not really almost > "free". I pay about $30/month, via corporate plan, that covers > virually everyting. So its about the same end-suer cost as you. > And my my plan pays the rest, so in essence, I am paying for > it via lower salary as are you (after french medical taxes > are takn out.)
I pay no medical taxes in France, only a fixed rate on salary. What the government uses it for I don't know, but unlike a French employee (I'm a consultant) I do not contribute directly to the health care system. In your case, if you are an employee, the company you work for pays the bulk of the cost of your "corporate plan." The company I work for does not, and yet my policy costs less than yours. > I am not debating national vs corporate health care, just > pointing out that the end-user costs are similar. Mine is a private policy. As I thought I said quite clearly, I am not covered by the French national system. A company sells me a health care policy for 320 Euros a month hoping to turn a *profit* on it at that price, given the cost of providing health care for someone my age for a year in France. My whole point is that the actual COSTS of providing health care are lower here. They have not been allowed to spiral out of control due to greed. > > > An hour-long visit > > > to the doctor costs me 20 Euros. > > Mine costs $5. You are getting ripped off. :) I wrote sloppily. ALL of the 20 Euros are reim- bursed by my insurance company. The point I was trying to make is that the doctor's visit COSTS 20 Euros. It would cost that if I had NO health insurance. That's the difference between France and the US. No one becomes a doctor to get them- selves a Mercedes and a big house; they go into the field because they want to help people. > I spent a day at emergency room recently for something > (nothing major), had 4-5 expensive tests including a cat > scan, was seen by 4 doctores, and it cost me $0. But what would it have cost you if you DIDN'T have health insurance? That was my point. My bet is that in France the cost of those services would have been less than one-tenth of what they would be in the US. You're being ripped off, and yet you seem to be trying to defend those who are ripping you off. Is this a TM- related thang or just an American thang? :-) :-) :-) > > > Drugs you pay $100 > > > a bottle for I pay less than 10 Euros a bottle for; > > > same prescription, same manufacturer, very different > > > price. > > I pay $10/ 3 month prespcription, thus <7 per month. > Again the french seem to be ripping you off. :) And again, I'm talking about the actual cost of the drugs, NOT what gets reimbursed. Same drugs, same manufacturer, same prescription, and if you *didn't* have health insurance that reimbursed you for the drugs, you'd be paying ten times what I am for them. If you're not getting ripped off personally because of a health policy that covers the drugs, the health policy issuer is getting ripped off. My point is that the drugs don't have to cost that much. THAT is the ripoff. > > > The state of health care in America is a crime. > > Clearly a credible claim by someone who has not lived > here for 3 + years. Clearly a whine by someone who doesn't want to admit how bad things are in the US with regard to health care. :-) 45 million of your fellow Americans have NO health care coverage, because they can't afford it. That could not happen in France, or in most civilized countries on the planet. They would not allow that to happen to their fellow citizens. Americans would, and do. The problem is GREED, pure and simple. Greed on the part of the health care industry and greed on the part of the people who think paying lower taxes themselves is more important than providing a system that takes care of the less fortunate in their own country.
