The doctors here are much better and don't need "motivation" in a Russian sense of this word.. They will give you their best treatment, if you have insurance. For this reason, insurance here is very expensive. There's a lot of poor people here that don't have any kind of insurance.
The cheapest insurance in NY, for example is ~ $300/m, but you also pay up a large amount if you require serious treatment($5-10,000), and every time you come to see a doctor ($25-50). There are many other options for insurance - the larger the monthly payment amount (premium), the less you pay out of pocket for visits and other things.
A best situation you can have here is a company paying for you. To buy the same insurance that I used to have when worked for a financial company here would be $500-600/month.
So it's a big issue for freelancers and everybody who doesn't work for companies that provide it.
It's going to change in 2013 though after new legislation that Obama just passed this year, but there are different opinions here what the effects will be exactly (that's a different topic entirely though)
Beyond that amount, however, in the US, we also all have to pay Medicare and Medicade taxes. Also, that health insurance at $500-$600 also almost certainly includes a deductible. And copays.
And, as a sister comment points out, National Insurance also includes government pension. I don't know if this is true, but if it is, also include our Social Security taxes in the cost.
All of these together makes our equivalent cost thousands a month.
If you're employed your national insurance also includes a large contribution to your state pension. Since I'm self-employed I only pay for healthcare at £32 per month. That's pretty cheap compared to the US.
The doctors here are much better and don't need "motivation" in a Russian sense of this word.. They will give you their best treatment, if you have insurance. For this reason, insurance here is very expensive. There's a lot of poor people here that don't have any kind of insurance.
The cheapest insurance in NY, for example is ~ $300/m, but you also pay up a large amount if you require serious treatment($5-10,000), and every time you come to see a doctor ($25-50). There are many other options for insurance - the larger the monthly payment amount (premium), the less you pay out of pocket for visits and other things.
A best situation you can have here is a company paying for you. To buy the same insurance that I used to have when worked for a financial company here would be $500-600/month.
So it's a big issue for freelancers and everybody who doesn't work for companies that provide it.
It's going to change in 2013 though after new legislation that Obama just passed this year, but there are different opinions here what the effects will be exactly (that's a different topic entirely though)