Remember there is no single system in America. As you listen to descriptions of health care in other countries, keep in mind the crazy patchwork of systems we call health care in America. This is what a few people still like to imagine is the world's best healthcare.
Here is the duke's mixture...
- Group insurance -- individual or family
- Medicare for old people -- pays 80% of controlled prices, and the beneficiary either pays the balance out of pocket or purchases a supplemental private insurance policy
- Medicare Advantage -- This is NOT the same as original Medicare but a reborn HMO, also called "managed care." About a third of Medicare eligible beneficiaries have MA.
- Active duty military and their families -- full medical support.
- Veterans who qualify -- either by a service-connected injury or other medical condition (or not, but the system is means tested for those who apply later).
- Tri-care -- formerly known as the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) a health care program of the United States Department of Defense Military Health System for U.S Armed Forces military personnel, military retirees, and their dependents, including some members of the Reserve Component.
- Medicaid -- medical care for those who are officially destitute
- SCHIP -- State Childrens Health Insurance Program. In Georgia we call it Peachcare
- ER -- Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that requires anyone coming to an emergency department to be stabilized and treated, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay, but since its enactment in 1986 has remained an unfunded mandate.
- And finally, the exchanges and other features of the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare (By now everybody claims to already know about ACA so I feel no need to describe that system here.)
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