LEGO and Healthcare

Yellowcastle

This discussion was created from comments split from: Toys R Us...R U For Real?.

LegoFanTexas

^ Not to mention that the UK buyers get something for that higher price, that extra money is what pays for social services that we lack in the US.

jadedanc

Exactly @LegoFanTexas

jadeirene

^^ Yep, exactly. My friend's dad is in debt $350,000 in hospital bills because he had a stroke and didn't have health insurance. (Sorry to go off topic on the thread.)

LegobrandonCP

That is why you come to Canada. :) (Apologies for going off topic, but I had to let that out)

LegoFanTexas

^^ Yep, exactly. My friend's dad is in debt $350,000 in hospital bills because he had a stroke and didn't have health insurance. (Sorry to go off topic on the thread.)

I understand completely... My wife is Australian, her mother (who lives in Australia) had a series of 3 strokes in 2005, she spent 3 weeks in ICU and 3 months in hospital recovering. The cost to do that in the US would be well into 6 figures. In Australia, didn't cost a dime, fully covered by the health service.

Of course it isn't "free", taxes pay for it, but nice to know she isn't bankrupt because of it. She also doesn't have a monthly health insurance payment, so what she pays extra retail for stuff (like Lego), is balanced by the lack of out of pocket costs of healthcare and such.

I suspect it balances out pretty even in the end.

CCC

I should also point out your private healthcare is way better than our public healthcare. My father had constant headaches here, doctors just described him paracetamol for years and years. On a business trip to the States (with company healthcare) he was taken seriously ill and rushed to hospital. He was in hospital for nine months in the US recovering before he was allowed home. He should never had been on paracetamol and apparently what he had should have been spotted and operated on years before. If he had not been on a business trip but in the UK, he would have died.

madforLEGO

I should also point out your private healthcare is way better than our public healthcare. My father had constant headaches here, doctors just described him paracetamol for years and years. On a business trip to the States (with company healthcare) he was taken seriously ill and rushed to hospital. He was in hospital for nine months in the US recovering before he was allowed home. He should never had been on paracetamol and apparently what he had should have been spotted and operated on years before. If he had not been on a business trip but in the UK, he would have died.

The higher quality of care is nice, but it does not justify the costs involved, AND there are countries that still have better quality of support that do not charge what is charged in the US.
But this could go on forever and really needs to go to brickset's 'sister' forum: Healthsetforum

Sorry, Back to topic...

I'm guessing LEGO stores in prime location (ie Major cities) have to deal with a higher tax bracket and Rent usually... Also be careful to not confuse a LEGO discovery center with an actual LEGO store.

LegoFanTexas

I should also point out your private healthcare is way better than our public healthcare.

Yes, but your public care is much better than the care that the 45 million uninsured American's can't get.

My wife and I do not have health insurance, it costs too much. To get private coverage for our family would cost $915 a month. There is a $25 office co-pay, a 20% coinsurance payment (meaning if that we ended up in hospital, we'd have to pay 20% of the cost ourselves up to $6,000), a $1,500 annual deductible per person, plus separate co-pays for drugs (from $10 to $45 depending on type)

I don't know about you, but that is a lot of money... Add to that it doesn't cover dental in any way, no long term care coverage, no "wellness care" (they pay when you get sick, not to actually keep you well), etc.

If you have the money, we have great care, if you don't and have no insurance, it is brutal. That is why 60% of all the bankruptcies in the United States are primarily caused by medical bills.

nkx1

^Man, that might be playing Russian roulette with future finances by not having health insurance. I'm not judging anyone, but unexpected issues can and do occur. I know it is prohibitively expensive- I pay $375/month just for myself being self employed (believe it or not, that is less than adding me on to my wife's work policy). We do ok for ourselves, but we aren't rich and I would much rather have that money to add to our savings/retirement account every month.

Case in point: Good friend of mine (only about 27 at the time) developed a significant intestinal complication a couple years ago whereby he almost died. Healthy guy before that. If memory serves, he was in the hospital for well over six months, about two months in ICU. He told me his total medical bills were a little under $1M. Had he not had health insurance, him and his wife would have been bankrupt. He was fairly young, but going bankrupt later in life would devastate most retirement prospects.

I can understand your point about the U.S. having great care if you're lucky enough to have a job that provides good insurance, or if you can pay the ridiculous premiums out of pocket. It's really a shame that the richest country in the world does not have healthcare for all legal residents. Regarding your bankruptcy comment, I actually saw a show about a week ago about people who had good coverage and STILL went bankrupt due to maximum lifetime coverage amounts written into many policies. So even with decent coverage, you can still get burned if you happen to be unlucky enough to have an expensive health issue.

Sorry, I just wanted to chime in there. To tie this into Lego, I think I might be willing to pay a few $$ extra on Legos to have health coverage for all legal residents.

dougts

^ by far the most sensical approach for most people would be the expanded use of HSA accounts in conjunction with catastrophic coverage plans. Sock a couple hundred away every month into the HSA, which rolls over year after year (eventually converting into a retirement account), then use the money when you need it.

LegoFanTexas

^ by far the most sensical approach for most people would be the expanded use of HSA accounts in conjunction with catastrophic coverage plans. Sock a couple hundred away every month into the HSA, which rolls over year after year (eventually converting into a retirement account), then use the money when you need it.

I second this, it is a smart approach. The cash is there if you're sick, and if you're not, then you have money at retirement.

The trick to catastrophic coverage... It is about half the price of regular plans, with a $10,000 deductible and almost no coverage until you've spent that amount.

To pay $450 a month for coverage that I will only use if a major, serious event happens which is honestly not all that likely to occur, is a hard thing to do. It is a serious bet against the odds.

Yellowcastle

I just learned that our Cobra rate is $1300/month. Ugh.

As for wellness, it's my understanding from our Insurance CSR that Obamacare mandates that all insurance plans now cover Wellness 100%.