<story><title>What Startups Need To Know About Health Insurance in 2013</title><url>http://blog.simplyinsured.com/what-startups-need-to-know-about-health-insurance-in-2013/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>grecy</author><text>I don&apos;t suggest you model it after Canada&apos;s system. It&apos;s good, but it could be better.&lt;p&gt;I moved to Canada from Australia, so I&apos;ll compare the two systems for you.&lt;p&gt;Canada: &quot;healthcare for all&quot; provides basic coverage of everything you need. Works pretty well. Even homeless / out of work people are fully covered. Things like dental and chiropractor are not covered, so you pay for those. Employers give &quot;health care&quot; which really just means they will pay a percentage of your costs for things like dental, chiropractors, prescriptions, etc.&lt;p&gt;The problem here is that if you want &quot;better than basic&quot; healthcare, it&apos;s tied to your employer, which has all the negative impacts of the US system of being stuck to your job. This sucks.&lt;p&gt;Australia: Same as Canada in that basic coverage covers emergencies and what-not for everyone. Again dental, chiropractors are not covered. BUT if you want &quot;better than basic&quot; care, it&apos;s your choice if you want to go out (with your own cash) and buy &quot;private health care&quot; which again will pay a percentage of your out-of-pocket costs for those extras (dental, etc.).&lt;p&gt;The massive, massive, massive advantage here is that your health is in not directly linked to your job. Your employer has no say or impact on your choice of healthcare provider, or if you even want to buy that extra coverage. As a single, healthy 30 year old, I&apos;ve never seen the need to pay the extra, but in Canada I&apos;m forced to because my employer says so.&lt;p&gt;I&apos;ve been in Canada 7 years, and I actually think I&apos;ll go back to Australia, primarily for exactly that reason.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: OK, sure. In Canada you can also choose to buy your own &quot;extra&quot; health care from your own money. What I think is bad is how employers do it for you, without you having much say in the matter. In this way, Canadians feel their health is connected to their employer (a great example is when you interview for a job in Canada, people ask &quot;what are the benefits like&quot;? - In Australia, that is not a question.)</text></item><item><author>kzahel</author><text>Everything I read about healthcare recently just reinforces the notion that we need public health care. Let&apos;s just model our system after say, Canada&apos;s, and call it done.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jgon</author><text>While most employers do offer an &quot;extra frills&quot; health plan as part of employment, private insurance at fairly good rates is available to everyone.  I could call up Blue Cross this afternoon and get a private health plan equivalent to my employer&apos;s if I chose to.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I still really like the Australian system and wouldn&apos;t be upset if we started incorporating some of the ideas it contains. I just wanted to point out that for at least this one case the Canadian situation isn&apos;t quite as bad as it would appear.</text></comment>
<story><title>What Startups Need To Know About Health Insurance in 2013</title><url>http://blog.simplyinsured.com/what-startups-need-to-know-about-health-insurance-in-2013/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>grecy</author><text>I don&apos;t suggest you model it after Canada&apos;s system. It&apos;s good, but it could be better.&lt;p&gt;I moved to Canada from Australia, so I&apos;ll compare the two systems for you.&lt;p&gt;Canada: &quot;healthcare for all&quot; provides basic coverage of everything you need. Works pretty well. Even homeless / out of work people are fully covered. Things like dental and chiropractor are not covered, so you pay for those. Employers give &quot;health care&quot; which really just means they will pay a percentage of your costs for things like dental, chiropractors, prescriptions, etc.&lt;p&gt;The problem here is that if you want &quot;better than basic&quot; healthcare, it&apos;s tied to your employer, which has all the negative impacts of the US system of being stuck to your job. This sucks.&lt;p&gt;Australia: Same as Canada in that basic coverage covers emergencies and what-not for everyone. Again dental, chiropractors are not covered. BUT if you want &quot;better than basic&quot; care, it&apos;s your choice if you want to go out (with your own cash) and buy &quot;private health care&quot; which again will pay a percentage of your out-of-pocket costs for those extras (dental, etc.).&lt;p&gt;The massive, massive, massive advantage here is that your health is in not directly linked to your job. Your employer has no say or impact on your choice of healthcare provider, or if you even want to buy that extra coverage. As a single, healthy 30 year old, I&apos;ve never seen the need to pay the extra, but in Canada I&apos;m forced to because my employer says so.&lt;p&gt;I&apos;ve been in Canada 7 years, and I actually think I&apos;ll go back to Australia, primarily for exactly that reason.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: OK, sure. In Canada you can also choose to buy your own &quot;extra&quot; health care from your own money. What I think is bad is how employers do it for you, without you having much say in the matter. In this way, Canadians feel their health is connected to their employer (a great example is when you interview for a job in Canada, people ask &quot;what are the benefits like&quot;? - In Australia, that is not a question.)</text></item><item><author>kzahel</author><text>Everything I read about healthcare recently just reinforces the notion that we need public health care. Let&apos;s just model our system after say, Canada&apos;s, and call it done.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>astrodust</author><text>Here in Canada, if you want &quot;better than basic&quot; health-care you can pay for it yourself. The net cost is under $1,000 a year for a typical individual who wants the &lt;i&gt;deluxe&lt;/i&gt; treatment.</text></comment>