What is considered to be a reasonable rate to pay for Health "Insurance"

[Winterblues]

It is beginning to appear like we are going to be forced into buying Health Insurance. I am not able to afford existing expenses I have at the moment and can not afford Health Care Insurance of even a couple hundred dollars a month. I simply do not have the income. The last time I had Health Insurance I paid over $700. per month and when I went to use it for the one and only time ever, they refused to pay half the bill. It ended up costing me another three thousand dollars and there really wasn't much wrong with me at all. I had a colonoscopy and a complete going over for a problem I had and they never even figured out what that was..My total bill was around five thousand dollars and the Insurance paid a little over two thousand of it. Just wondering what people here feel a fair monthly premium should be.

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. 12.5% is the usual rate in Germany. n/t

[Winterblues]

2. Is it automatically deducted from your paycheck?

That would put me into financial crisis..

[Ex Lurker]

3. ditto

that's more than I'm paying now.

[kenny blankenship]

7. inefficient patchwork system.

[Puzzler]

4. In BC, the premiums vary depending on your income...

... many people pay less than $100/month.

[sandnsea]

5. Oregon subsidizes up to 95%

It can be a very small amount, $20 a month or less. Hubby and I are currently paying $125 for the two of us and we both have pre-existing conditions and are in the most expensive pool in the state.

[kenny blankenship]

6. Uk and Canada pay approximately 9.5% of their GDP for healthcare, with superior results

France pays fractionally more 9.7%, with optimal results.

That's about half of what we pay as a function of GDP.

So, cut your insurance bill in half then. That's what you should pay - for better service than you are receiving now.

Sound fair enough?

[regnaD kciN]

10. Fair enough? Not if you're not currently carrying insurance...

...because the premiums would be over $1,000/month. Even cutting them down to $500/month would be unaffordable.

[stray cat]

8. those of us who pay have to pay for those who can't so I suspect 15%

the young and healthy have to take up the slack as well. It will be subsidized for lower incomes.

[Speck Tater]

9. Doesn't "reasonable" depend on a person's income level?

There are people who think spending $1500 a month on rent or mortgage is reasonable. At my income level, I'd call that amount ruinous! That's way more than I gross in a month! $700 a month for health insurance for me would simply mean I would do without health insurance. (And since I'm already without health insurance, it would hardly matter would it?)

[regnaD kciN]

11. Not just income level...

...but amount of disposable income. If you're making an average middle-class salary but are paying huge amounts for credit-card payments for preexisting debt (maybe you were unemployed for a year and had to survive on credit, or already had a medical issue that could only be afforded by "putting it on the plastic"), or if you're trapped in an "underwater" mortgage, you might simply not have the available funds every month to pay for the mandatory premium, while those who don't have such debts would be able to afford it on the same salary.

It's a really tricky issue. The big worry I have over health care reform is not whether or not there will be a public option (although that is a concern), but that the subsidies will be set in such a way as to leave many people in a "donut hole" situation, where they simply don't have the money but income-based guidelines say they should.