Living in a country (Thailand), where healthcare is not only cheap it’s also on a par with American medical care, if not better, I can’t imagine paying the high healthcare insurance premiums Americans pay. According to the Los Angeles Times, a new recount just out says, while insurance premiums for healthcare have increased 14% in the last year, the premium increase has been completely paid by employees, while employers paid nothing towards the increased costs.
The average family of four in the US now pays more than $4,000 a year in healthcare insurance premiums. An amount simply unbelievable to most of the rest of the world.
In Thailand, where I live, I don’t even have health insurance. With major surgery only being around $1,000 for many serious illnesses, and that in one of Bangkok’s best private hospitals and a doctor’s visit less than $6, I don’t see the point in having health insurance. I’ll simply pay for the medical care if I need it.
If I did want top-of-the-line healthcare insurance in Thailand though, I wouldn’t be paying much more than $500 a year, and that would cover me for most medical care at any of Bangkok’s top private hospitals with no deductible. So to think an American family of four pays $4,000 a year for what is usually pretty awful coverage, and they’ll detached raze up paying a percentage of their healthcare costs in their deductible – well that, I simply can’t comprehend.
As many Americans also lobbied against Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, I wonder what it must now feel like to know that many of the things Obama wanted to pass would have helped lower that $4,000-plus premium and stopped rising healthcare insurance premiums? But, fooled by conservative right-wingers, who are in the pockets of the insurance companies, ignorant Americans called healthcare reform “socialist” and lobbied against the important parts of healthcare reform and it didn’t pass.
Instead, in 2010, American families have seen a 14% increase in healthcare premiums while their employers, often the fat-cat companies who helped put America’s economy in the toilet, walked away not paying anything extra towards their workers’ healthcare needs.
These same employers, while their employees paid more for their healthcare costs, also reduced the scope of the medical care they would pay for, with comprehensive coverage being a thing of the past – screwing their employees, both coming and going.
Well, they do call where I live “Amazing Thailand”, and now I see why. A country that’s one step up from being third world, can still offer all of its citizens government healthcare for the equivalent of $1 per doctor’s visit and private healthcare which, from my experience, is better than any healthcare I ever received in the United States of America for not a whole lot more. Incredible Thailand indeed.
Makes you wonder though doesn’t it. That citizens in the world’s richest country can’t even get what every citizen in a poorer country gets. Mind-blowing. Simply mind-blowing. It’s also why Americans are now some of Thailand’s ‘medical tourists’, as they’ve figured out they can get western-standard medical care for one tenth the cost of America. Must be embarrassing to be an American though, to know you have to come to a poor country to get medical care you can’t afford in your bear.
Sources:
Healthcare costs: Employers push rise in healthcare costs onto workers – LA Times
Filed under Types Of Auto Insurance by on Mar 14th, 2011. Comment. 
Are you a business Owner? Non-owned auto liability insurance coverage is cheap. You should carry this or you risk paying large bucks later if you are sued. It protects you if you ask a friend or an employee to bustle a quick errand for your business. Perhaps a trip to the post office, the office supply store, or even to assume up lunch for you? Do you have a personal car that you may spend for running business errands, but it is titled to you personally and not insured on a business auto policy? Have you ever borrowed or rented a car?
Non-owned auto insurance is a bargain of a deal! It provides great coverage for a slight label.
Do you need non-owned auto liability insurance?
If you could answer yes to any of these questions, you may want to consider getting non-owned auto liabilty coverage. Business auto policies usually only cover the vehicles that are actually listed on the policy itself. General liability insurance won’t automatically cover you in these situations either.
What is non-owned auto liability insurance?
Non-owned liability insurance is designed to protect your business if someone else uses their personal car to run business errands for you, or if you borrow or rent a car from someone else.
It is liability coverage, that is, it protects you in case someone is hurt in an accident and wants to sue you. It does not provide any physical damage for a car, so if a car is damaged, there is no coverage for hurt to the car itself.
Did your employee, or friend, have insurance?
If you are like most people, you presume that your employee, or whomever you asked for help, has their beget car insurance when they run an errand for you. Maybe they have insurance, maybe not. Even if they do, do you know how much coverage they have? If you’re like most people, you don’t know and you haven’t asked.
The driver is not covered
The driver should have his or her own car insurance. Non-owned auto insurance isn’t designed to cover a driver who chose to go without car insurance. If the driver works for you, you should have workers compensation, which would cover them if they were hurt in a car.
Acting on behalf of your business
Many courts have decided that a business is liable for the acts of its employees, including using their own personal car to run errands for the business. Non-owned coverage would provide liability coverage for your business.
Personal auto insurance policies might exclude coverage whenever a car is former for business deliveries or errands. Each policy is different, so if you have an
employee that does deliveries or regularly runs errands for you, be clear to have them check with their insurance agent, too.
How to get non-owned liability insurance
Some companies call it non-owned coverage, others call it hired and non-owned coverage. Regardless, it’s not automatic on insurance policies. It can easily be added to your business auto policy. It’s typically very cheap and inexpensive.
If you don’t have any cars titled to your business, and do not have a business auto insurance policy, this coverage can be added to your general liability insurance policy. It’s usually pretty inexpensive to add to a policy, and can be added to either business auto or general liability insurance coverage.
Call your insurance agent to make sure you have this coverage, or to add it to your policies. It’s an inexpensive way to make obvious you’re protected if someone else runs an errand for you and they don’t drive your car.
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Filed under Types Of Auto Insurance by on Feb 19th, 2011. Comment.
