Mega Business Idea!

[lektrode]

Re: Mega Business Idea!

heheheh.... gotta hand it to ole mega, he _does_ know how to stir the pot, dont he?

and you mr don, do come up with some of the best comebacks....

MEGA's business plan in a nutshell ....

[lektrode]

Re: Mega Business Idea!

I'm not sure about this. I have a comprehensive health insurance policy that only costs $175/month.
It covers everything but sickness and accidents.

a URL for more info please.
and you must be about 23? (or you work for state of CO and thats yer contrib?)

[lektrode]

Re: Mega Business Idea!

Thanks flintlock, for the clarity.

yeah, because o/w i wouldve been thinking that he's only about 23, like eye was thinking mr toast must be?
but with a 10000 deductible, does that mean you are/were filling up a HSA (saving acct)?

[Sharky]

Re: Mega Business Idea!

When I was self-employed, living in California, I paid around $2,000/mo for health insurance for a family of 4 in 2000, with rates going up by 20% or more per year. We were in a "high-risk" category of some kind, due to some health issues my kids had when they were young. That, combined with complex and burdensome laws with regard to having employees eventually drove me to take a job with a major corporation in 2001, where life become oh-so-much easier. I worked less, had more fun, and got paid more for the privilege.

When I moved to New Zealand, one of the first things I did was to look into getting private health insurance. The cost is reasonable (appx US$200/mo for a family of 4), but with a big caveat: they don't cover any pre-existing conditions, ever (no "timeout" period). I've been told that most people here do not have private insurance. The wait time to see my GP in the public system is typically a day or two; a standard appointment is 15 minutes long and costs NZ$35 (about US$27). Emergency and public in-hospital care are no cost. Prescriptions are NZ$12 per course for up to 20 courses per year; after that, they're free (though certain drugs common in the US aren't available here). Radiology is no cost under the public system, although private radiology is also available.

You have to be referred by your GP to see a specialist; public referrals have more constraints than private ones do. That's also where the waits come in: first-time appointments for public specialist appointments can be a few months off, but after you've seen them once, then you usually get scheduled in more easily -- except for surgery and other procedures, which have their own quirky scheduling systems. As in Spain, the same docs cover both the public and the private system, although there's a bias against the private docs. Some specialists only work in the public system. Some private docs refer certain tests or procedures back through the public system, particularly if you don't have insurance. A private 15 minute office visit with a specialist might run NZ$140 (US$108). A private test similar to a treadmill+echo might cost about NZ$800 or so.

I've found that costs in the private system here are often not much more than the 20% deductible I was paying in the US for equivalent time/effort/work. For people like me who use the private system infrequently without insurance, the cap on cost is that the public system can be used as a fallback.

Regarding the OP: I don't think it would work for NZ. Why would any guy here want to import some American girl who is probably poor, unhealthy and has a bad attitude, when there are so many gorgeous and healthy locals? Kiwis tend to cringe when the loud, impolite American tourists are nearby. Also, NZ females are among the world's most promiscuous (yes, it's a real stat).