How to Get Around the Complex US Healthcare System
Citizens of the USA might or might not know how complex this country’s healthcare system is. The facts say that it is one of the most disorganized in the world of developed countries. Look at this interesting comparison here.
If we compare it to some other countries, like neighboring Canada, or across the ocean like France, Spain, or Italy, we’ll see that US citizens are among the most discriminated people when it comes to the access of good health service.
If you want to get around the hallways of the hospital administration that’s closely connected to the government bureaucracy and the insurance companies making fortune out of the common citizen’s trouble, you need to spend a lifetime wandering around these institutions.
Better not, however, because this would mean that you’ve spent a lifetime being ill or battling a condition. The American medical system and qualified doctors are indeed among the best in the world. The problem is that it’s nearly impossible to experience this unless you’re a millionaire that can pay for its own private treatment.
In this article, we’re talking about a few ideas on how to get around this complex system without paying a fortune. We all know that rushing into the ER without insurance will mean paying for that service for the rest of your life. Take a look this article to see how much a visit to the ER will cost you: https://www.thebalance.com/average-cost-of-an-er-visit-4176166
So how to deal with all this without the need to spend everything you have on health care.
Don’t save on insurance
The first thing you must do to get a good health service in the US is to find an excellent insurance company.
What you need to do is look online for reviews and experiences of previous clients. Search for companies that are offering the most for a fair price.
It’s not easy finding such a company but it is also not impossible. You’ll have to spend a lot of time searching and reading comments but once you finalize your search, switch to that one and get rid of your old insurance policy.
If you don’t know how this procedure is done, just go to the new ones that you picked out of the many and ask them about it. They’ll explain everything in details.
Also, they’ll be happy to help because it means they are getting a new client and their progress and profit depend on getting new clients all the time.
The American insurance business is more than huge. It’s enormous. The 2017 net worth was staggering 1.2 trillion US dollars. For comparison, the entire US GDP is $19.4 trillion.
The entire Canadian GDP is $1.65 trillion. Can you imagine what kind of money we’re talking about here? What’s most interesting in the comparison between the USA and Canada is that Canada has a completely free healthcare system for all citizens.
Yes, no matter who you are and what you do, the government pays for your stay at the hospital and the medications you need to take. Every examination is completely free. You just need to pay for the bus ride to the medical center.
The USA is more complex regarding this. If you don’t have a strong insurance company and a great policy, you can’t treat yourself in the good hospitals. That’s why a perfect plan is absolutely needed.
Use navigating companies
The real problem about the insurance is that not every place is covered by it. What does this mean?
There are millions of medical institutions in the country. No insurance company is capable to make a deal with every single one of them. Just look at this map to see. Click here.
Your home is probably in an area with thousands of medical locations. They all have an agreement with some insurers but not with others.
What happens is, when you go to the doctor’s office and they find out that you need a more thorough examination about a certain problem, you need to look for a practice that is covered by your plan.
This is hard work searching through the database. That’s why people invented this navigating option. They help patients get what they need without even trying. You log on to their site and look for what you need. See about this health news on the link.
Making a detailed plan in time
Some people spend a lot of time looking for a solution on their own. They look through the internet database, as we mentioned previously, looking for places that the plan covers.
This is like looking for a needle in the grass, but it’s the only free way to make sure you’re covered in time. Usually, the companies offer insurance for every aspect of your eventual going to the hospitals, but it’s not always possible to do see the places they recommend.
It’s easy if you live in Washington as you have a major hospital there and you can easily find an expensive plan that covers treatment in the entire place, but what happens if you’re located in Grantsville, MD? Are you going to travel thousands of miles for a medical service?
Well, sometimes this is an absolute must. That’s why people make a detailed scheme of places where they can turn to if they have different needs. It’s not easy doing this, but it’s the only way doing it for free. If you want to learn more about the healthcare US system, see this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States
Conclusion
If you want to get proper care at all times in the USA, you need to be extremely rich. Since not all of us can be Bill Gates and donate to a hospital, we need to come out with other ideas.
One of them is certainly getting the best possible insurance plan there is and turn to navigating companies who do the rest for us.
It’s not a lie that the US has one of the best, if not the best treatment in the world, but to experience this, you’ll have to go through the complex labyrinth of getting there.