What Do You Think About Health System Here?

This is a very complicated request. What do I think about the health system? I think that if you have money you'll get the best care in the world, and if you don't have money, you get shuffled into a corner for weeks until someone can see you, then when they DO see you, you get a very big bill. At least that's been my experience as I've been on both sides.

I had insurance when my husband had a good job. I had complications during pregnancy and the insurance paid for everything. The bill was nearly half a million dollars for all the treatment both my baby and I received. I paid $200. The bill for my prescription drugs cost more than my medical bill.

A few years later we lost our health insurance but we didn't qualify for Medicaid (you might so you should apply and see: http://www.medicaid.gov/) and then I had to have surgery for my gallbladder. I went to the emergency room but if you have your surgery at a moments notice, in an ER, they charge you SO much more than if you make an appointment for surgery. So, in pain I decided to save some money and make the next available appointment to get treatment, which was a month away. They gave me pain pills and a special diet to get me through the next thirty days until I could get my surgery. Even then, my bill was over $60,000 for a run of the mill gallbladder surgery.

As for dentists, they are a lot less expensive than doctors unless you need major work and then you can run up a pretty big bill. You can call any dentists you want and ask them, "How much do you charge for a cleaning? How much for Xrays? How much for a doctors examination? How much for a crown? How much for a root canal? How much for a bridge?" And they will tell you their prices. Get a few phone numbers and a notepad to write it all down.

Here in America, if you get sick or hurt, you will not be turned away for treatment. You can walk into any emergency room and they will fix you up if they can. However, without insurance you'll get a whopper of a bill. =/

But if I were to just buy insurance for myself it would cost me $450 a month for a mid level plan because 1.) I'm a woman and insurance companies charge you more if you have boobs and 2.) I've been pregnant before and pregnancy is considered a "pre-existing condition" so they up my rates because I could get pregnant again and cost them money. Insurance really is a complicated and messy game. I hate it.

I wish I lived somewhere where I didn't have to fear getting hurt or sick because it could drag my whole family into bankruptcy but that's the way things are. My family has lived in California for over five generations now and I don't really want to leave.

Insurance: Is provided for a cost by your employer. It usually pays to get it. There are usually a few choices. You have to compare the plans and choose the one you think will fit your family the best.

All dentists will treat you regardless of whether you have insurance or not. Ask for a discount if you are paying out of pocket - ie: without insurance. They'll give you one. Also - they will let you pay over time. This is very common.
When you call the dentist to make an appointment, ask all of your questions.
They are happy to answer. If you don't like the answer, you can call another dentist.

Our medical and dental care here in the US is terrific, but you get what you pay for. It is not the government's job to pay for your care or mine. You need to do your research to figure out which doctor and dentist is the best fit for your family.
YMMV
LBC

If you are not insured (we aren't either and our income is too low for private insurance and too high to qualify for any aid-we haven't cracked the CHIP code yet-not easy) every place is different, and the dentist will be very expensive. They usually can't tell you any prices for sure in advance other than regular check-up price. Our local one is $200 for a check up. Needless to say, my three kids have never been. ($600 with no toothaches? not usually in the monthly budget) If you actually need something done, it will be very expensive. All you can do is pay it off in monthly installments. Of course it's best to have insurance, but if your employer doesn't supply it, it's very expensive.
America has a terrible health care system. We paid out of pocket for all of our child deliveries and currently still owe $1200 on some stitches my son got, and $500 for my last exam. We pay a few hundred dollars a month toward debt. We may go to the dentist one day when that's paid off. My husband and I have been working and uninsured our entire adult lives.
If you cant' apply for aid, and aren't applying for citizenship and aren't staying, you should just go, get the bill and pay it off gradually. It's cheaper than buying private insurance. We pay $300 month in past medical bills usually, a running tab we can pay less on in tough months, but a family plan where we wouldn't still pay for all of our appointments etc would be over $900 per month.

If you are truly low income your kids can apply for medical cards through the state and get care for free.

They may be limited to what they can get, for instance braces would not be covered if they could eat okay but just had ugly/crooked teeth...

My grand kids get a state medical card and I have never had to pay any money for their dental care. Our pediatric dentist puts them to sleep in out patient surgery at the local hospital and does all the dental work while they are asleep. It takes less time and is very easy on the kids that way. Anyway, I have never had to pay anything for their medical care at all.

It cannot hurt to apply for a state medical card for the kids.

There is excellent medical care to be had in the USA. That's true.
There are so many talented doctors and health care professionals.
Unfortunately, health care in this country is kind of messed up because if you are not covered through an employer, you're kind of stuck. Add to that that many employers like to keep employees at *just* under FT, so they are not eligible for/cannot afford to participate in the plans they offer.
The alternative? Medicaid--a form of public assistance based on income as far as eligibility.
Most state programs (in Pennsylvania) it's CHiP, will cover low income families and they have plans available--but they don't often advertise that aspect. They advertise covering children. Maybe AZ has something like that for you?

Check out:
http://www.azahcccs.gov/applicants/categories/KidsCare.aspx
It's available to all residents or qualified immigrants.

Some doctors/dentists do provide a lower fee for cash paying customers. ASK about it. Any dentists office should be able to give you a breakdown of the costs involved for a procedure and possibly, a payment plan option.

Good luck.

You can ask if the dentist will work with you and do a payment plan. There is also a no interest credit card for medical expenses called CareCredit that you can get and it's not ideal, because you have the pay the balance off in a few months, but it's better than paying all at once and not getting the medical help you need. I'd recommend going with a dentist that will let you do monthly payments. One of our medical bills requires that we only pay $28 a month until it's paid! That's not too bad.

Just this month my husband lost his job and we have to get private insurance again. I'm not looking forward to the $800-$1000 monthly bills. :( No idea where that money will come from. We dropped the dental and eye coverage for now, since preventative dental care is only $115 for each of us for a cleaning and the cost of the insurance is $100/month. Fingers crossed we don't need to fill any cavities in the near future! I'll be explaining to the kids that they need to brush AND floss daily.

One more thing. My daughter had a free consultation from an orthodontist. You might ask if they will take a look at your son as a consultation for the first visit and see what it will cost and what they can help you with. I also have heard that if you are paying in cash and not through insurance they can sometimes offer you a discount. Ask as much as you can, because I think they'd rather help you than have your poor son suffer in pain. Even if they don't do the free consultation, ask them their general list of rates so you can call a couple more places and compare the rates themselves. That way you know who charges less in general. We live in an expensive area and I go to the dentist in my old neighborhood who is much cheaper. We get excellent care from them even though they charge less.

Good luck and I completely understand the anxiety of health insurance. As a self employed person, it can be rough. The government keeps talking about helping small businesses, but I have yet to see any real assistance to keep us in business. Helping to offer a lower cost health insurance plan for small business owners would be a fantastic idea and would allow more families to try the entrepreneur path. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for all that I have, but would love the health insurance part to fall into place so we don't have to decide between high monthly premiums and no insurance at all. Our cobra bill this month was $1000. I also have a pre-existing condition now and have no idea what that will do to my private insurance premiums when I go to apply this month. I'm getting treatment that is inexpensive, but even having this condition can raise my rates. I'm much healthier than when I didn't know I had this issue, but they still consider it a risk. I'm hoping the latest Obama bill to protect against higher rates for pre-existing conditions is going to help.