[anonsivalley652]

Wow, that's cool. I wonder if vision, dental, medical, hospital, prescriptions and mental are all covered without fees?

The very poor in the US only get Medicaid (rarely Medicare, which requires paying into Social Security long enough).

Medicaid:

- It doesn't pay doctors, specialists and dentists enough, so they often treat patients poorly (spend less time, not thorough enough, don't order necessary tests).

- Medication is all paid-for with no co-pays (out-of-pocket expenses), but at a limited number of pharmacy brands and limited selection of medications (formulary).

- Emergency and necessary hospital care is completely paid-for.

- There is a limited selection of doctors and dentists available to choose from. Most, not all, are reviewed very poorly.

- Only one dentist cleaning visit a year is allowed even if the person needs it more frequently because they produce plaque faster.

- There are very few specialists who are assigned by the doctor, often with very, very long waiting lists. Furthermore, some specialties do away with waiting lists and make people call on a certain time at a certain day like animals for very few appointments. They make it a game to play with people's lives and waste their time.

- The choices of insurers who actually provide the Medicaid insurance is usually 1, 2 or maybe 3 in certain counties.

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Medicare (similar to typical US convoluted, private insurance):

- Has several confusing options, lots of rules and fine-print.

- Medication isn't covered, it needs Part D insurance or ExtraHelp.

- Hospital insurance requires enough taxes paid or paid Part A private insurance.

- Medical insurance requires enough taxes paid or paid Part B private insurance.

- Medigap private insurance can be needed to pay co-pays, deductibles, coinsurance but it doesn't cover long-term care (no LTC = $$$$), vision/eyeglasses, dental, hearing aids, or private-duty nursing.

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It's possible to have both Medicare and Medicaid, which means good insurance but with some out-of-pocket expenses.

Maybe Medicare improved without costs, for all, would be far, far better than people dying from cancer having to go to bankruptcy court rather than finish their bucket list?

[scotty79]

> Wow, that's cool. I wonder if vision, dental, medical, hospital, prescriptions and mental are all covered without fees?

In Poland they are. With fixed monthly fee proportional to your income, 9%.

7.5% of it you can directly deduct from your income tax. So it's effectively 1.25% of your income.

The only additional money is for drugs (prescription ones too), but if the drug is expensive and you have a prescription you pay vastly reduced price, 50%, 30%, fixed low price, or free.

Of course there are wait times and you don't get top of the line materials so middle class people prefer to do dental and vision privately. No insurance needed there. You just pay 30$ to have your tooth fixed or 50$ for eye exam and new glasses if you pick cheap frames.