Okay, I admit I haven't really read much about "Obamacare" what does it actually entail?
Is it like Australia's (and Canada/UK's) healthcare model where taxes are used to fund hospitals/healthcare. There are public hospitals where you can go for healthcare without no out of pocket expenses, yes there are waiting lists, but critical and emergency procedures are given priorities and you aren't left in a waiting room to die while your insurance checks our (or you're kept alive with a 6 figure bill at the end).
We also have private insurance and private hospitals that provide a better quality of health care, and if you so choose, you can purchase private health insurance and skip waiting times and get better quality of healthcare, however you always have the safety net of the public system if you are out of work, or whatever.
In short, in Australia you *can* choose to purchase private health cover with all its benefits, however you will always have the safety net of the public health care system which will ensure you will never have a massive out of pocket bill for "essential" healthcare. Things like elective surgery (plastic surgery, etc) will always incur bills because it's not critical/emergency/etc.
For example, you have a headache. You can go to a bulk billing GP for an initial diagnosis, through this diagnosis it is discovered there is a tumour. You get a referral to a specialist who will give you an MRI to confirm the tumour diagnosis (no out of pocket expense), you then get put into a queue and since it's a tumour you get bumped up near the front of the list automatically (its critical) where you get operated on, and finally once the tumour is removed, it is tested to see if it was benign etc. You leave hospital with a moderate bill (usually at most low four figure) for ancillary care such as anaesthetic etc which is typically claimed back through the public healthcare system (Medicare) for an ultimately low cost, or no cost experience.
Why can't you do that in the USA? It's all about taxes.
Is it like Australia's (and Canada/UK's) healthcare model where taxes are used to fund hospitals/healthcare. There are public hospitals where you can go for healthcare without no out of pocket expenses, yes there are waiting lists, but critical and emergency procedures are given priorities and you aren't left in a waiting room to die while your insurance checks our (or you're kept alive with a 6 figure bill at the end).
We also have private insurance and private hospitals that provide a better quality of health care, and if you so choose, you can purchase private health insurance and skip waiting times and get better quality of healthcare, however you always have the safety net of the public system if you are out of work, or whatever.
In short, in Australia you *can* choose to purchase private health cover with all its benefits, however you will always have the safety net of the public health care system which will ensure you will never have a massive out of pocket bill for "essential" healthcare. Things like elective surgery (plastic surgery, etc) will always incur bills because it's not critical/emergency/etc.
For example, you have a headache. You can go to a bulk billing GP for an initial diagnosis, through this diagnosis it is discovered there is a tumour. You get a referral to a specialist who will give you an MRI to confirm the tumour diagnosis (no out of pocket expense), you then get put into a queue and since it's a tumour you get bumped up near the front of the list automatically (its critical) where you get operated on, and finally once the tumour is removed, it is tested to see if it was benign etc. You leave hospital with a moderate bill (usually at most low four figure) for ancillary care such as anaesthetic etc which is typically claimed back through the public healthcare system (Medicare) for an ultimately low cost, or no cost experience.
Why can't you do that in the USA? It's all about taxes.
