0531 Costs snarling health overhaul

Q:Please post a blog entry on your thoughts about the issue: How does your country pay for health care?

This article was written by Kay Lazar at May 28, 2009. It described that the health overhaul has increased the cost of healthcare. In this article, there were many statistics to compare the healthcare situation in 2008 with before. For example, the data showed that the health overhaul made Massachusetts have lowest percentage of uninsured residents, and it sounds a good thing. According the survey, compared to past years, the rate that residents visit doctors or dentists has increased. It means people had more will to see a doctor when they needed the healthcare, and the state also means the residents in Massachusetts probably got healthier than before.

This health overhaul not only had bright side but also created some problems. First, compared with 2007, 16.5%, the rate,17.9%, of residents having medical bill problem in 2008 went up because the cost of healthcare increased faster than the inflation, and the recession struck us in 2008. In addition, it is more tough for low-income people to get a proper healthcare than high-income people. Finally, people use the healthcare in an improper way. For example, some people used the ERs which cost expensively when they were not in an urgent situation. Those problems could mainly result in a high cost of healthcare.

In my country, Taiwan, we have a national insurance system. The insurance fees people pay are according to the incomes people have. In my case, when I worked, I had to pay the insurance bill monthly, and the bill subtracted from my wage. My monthly wage was around 1300 dollars, and I had to pay 18 dollars for my insurance bill. I think that the insurance bill was not be my financial problem because it cost me less 2% of my wage, and my company had responsibility to pay 70% of my insurance bill. Even though I spent a little money on my health insurance, I still got the proper healthcare, so I love my country. By the way, Paul Krugman, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics, said Taiwanese national insurance system is healthy, even if the expense is a little more than revenue. He also recommended that Taiwanese government should raise the proportion of healthcare.