Post Punk Kitchen Forum

woohoo! I am once again a member of the elite class of Americans with insurance! Thank you Obama!!! Anyone else covered again? I can make risky choices!

Tell me how to get insurance. TELL ME.
I'm not under 26, so if that's how you did it, I'm still not eligible and therefore cannot make risky choices. I have to wait until I become employed. fork.

eta: congrats!

I have insurance too! I think anyway. I qualify under my mom's but they had to wait until their renewal cycle came up or something like that. Well it's January suckas and now I'm covered!!!

Honestly, I'm really relieved. I was wearing my options when health care passed and then I just decided to get back on my mom's rather than pay the same amount for really shitty coverage. Thanks Obama.

sorry meggs, you and I are old so we dont get shiitake

Pretty sure I'm still uninsured.

25 for 6 more months! My brother just got insurance too, hes so excited. He made so many appointments in anticipation. Sorry oldies, you've got a few more years to wait.

I get mine back in January! I can't wait to see a psychiatrist for the first time in four years instead of just telling my GP what to prescribe for me!

Yeeeeah, that's what I thought. mother hubbard, I just want to go to the goddamn doctor and not have to skimp on tests and shiitake.

When does that whole "pool for those who are "high risk"/pre-existing conditions go into play? I could try to capitalize on that.

I'm insured!

... sorry.

I thought when I moved to The Netherlands that health care would be awesome and not prohibitively expensive, but I was wrong! Turns out I'll still have to pay around 130 euro a month for coverage, which I don't have so I'm still uninsured.

Aww man, that sucks! Don't they take enough out for taxes to pay for health care so that it would be cheaper?

bummer! thats still pretty cheap though. hopefully youll be able to start working soon and bringing in the big Dutch bucks!

I am also in the old and uninsured boat. No risky choices for me!

For roughly the same monthly amount (but a little more since mine just went up this year, thanks Obama!) I have high deductible disaster insurance. I had qualify as low income to get this "special" deal, which is $1200 deductible, $5000 max out pocket. It's a bargain compared to the open market.

At what you're paying in the Netherlands, you can go see a doctor whenever you are sick, or need a cyst removed, you can get blood tests to check your B12 levels, you can get biopsies on weird skin bumps, x-rays, etc etc etc. And if you are truly poor, you will be covered by the government. It just doesn't compare with the US. I would dare say it is awesome and not prohibitively expensive!

I'm still uninsured because I quite frankly can hardly even afford my rent, let alone utilities or groceries or something trifling like healthcare. He's still a step up from Bush, but I don't particularly feel the need to "thank" Obama for making a law requiring me to buy a consumer product from unethical and criminal corporations, with no public option.



Yeah, when I visited my friends there two years ago they told me that this is how the nationalized health system in the Netherlands has been headed the last several years. It's really unfortunate- and apparently the Swedish system is becoming more and more privatized, too, which sucks! We need to model our system off theirs, not vice versa.

We in the UK have had National Insurance since the late forties; it runs alongside (but separate to) taxes on our payslip. It's underfunded and mismanaged, but I would be without a brother, a mother and several friends if it weren't in place.

It varies depending on where you are in the UK, but the only thing I've ever had to pay for are prescriptions, and that's a flat rate of about £7.

But still, well done! Enjoy it while it lasts.

Something I've never understood about the country leading the free world is that its citizens are free to fall without a net unless they can buy one themselves. When I fall, I know there are people to catch me.

It's true that with that insurance you don't have co-pays at the doctor's office and prescriptions are crazy cheap, but it's still a lot of money when you don't have enough for other necessities. My partner has a full-time job and pays $115 a month for his health insurance and receives a monthly subsidy of about $33 from the government. Nothing is taken out of his paycheck for insurance. I don't know how it works, really. I'm not sure if I'll get the same subsidy. I haven't quite figured out if they give me things like that since I'm not a citizen only a foreigner on a residency permit. I'm hoping I'll get the subsidy, but not betting on it.

With the health insurance I think you have a deductible on things like blood tests, x-rays, etc. The insurance is through private companies and then the government sends individuals subsidies. And holy shiitake, Dutch people pay a forking lot in taxes. Their insurance is still expensive, in my opinion. So is the transportation system, which is also privatized (32 or something-euro for a roundtrip ticket to Amsterdam from my city).

A mega positive, though, is that without insurance visits to the doctor aren't ridiculously expensive as they are in America. For example, before I left the states last year I was paying over $150 a month for my prescriptions and a visit to the doctor if I was crazy sick would cost me over $150 just to have the doc say "Yeah, you've got a terrible sinus infection you waited way too long to deal with. Here's an antibiotic that will give you a yeast infection for which you'll need another prescription. You're welcome." Oh, and then the antibiotic would cost a ton. I nearly cried when I visited my doctor here in Holland and he apologized profusely for having to charge me a copay of $25. And then my prescriptions were quite reasonable. I pay less for three months of the prescriptions here than I would for one month in America.

It's been eye-opening for me to experience another country's healthcare system and I find glaring pros and cons when comparing America and The Netherlands. Each one has its strong suits and dangerous faults. I think far more people are covered here than in America. The Netherlands uses all that tax money for big safety net and social programs for the really poor folk. I hate to complain when there are people in far worse situations in other countries, but I just want to be at a place where I"m not terrified to ride my bike to the market or worried my medical conditions will start acting up.

I have insurance again! Until November of 2012 when I turn 26. But since we're all going to die in December of 2012, I don't think there's too much to worry about.

Too much secret American code in here, goodbye!

I agree totally on both counts, having experienced both the Dutch and US systems. The Netherlands has been tweaking theirs a lot, and in the wrong direction unfortunately. And yeah, here in the US we are just barely a step up from Bush. Overall though, the Dutch system is a total bargain compared to the US. You are required to have insurance in NL, and they are privately run insurance companies, but they are much more regulated. I'm not even sure they are allowed to make a profit. I'm sure someone on here can correct me if I'm wrong.

amen.

i just got home from a doc appt and made like 4 more. this is forking great! im loving cheap dr visits! except the receptionist for my primary had a heart attack when she realized i was 25 and we had a moment of silence for our youth.

Dumb question, can us married under-26-year-olds get insurance under our parents? My school insurance is terrible.

You can, but your spouse can't.

Raising Women's Voices is a pretty cool resource for info about this stuff--this answered a lot of questions for me:
http://www.raisingwomensvoices.net/stor ... Reform.pdf

Damn, too old.