If your country has socialized medicine does that mean you don't have to pay for coverage on your home owners and auto insurance?

You do mean liability coverage don’t you because homeowners and auto cover a lot more than just liability?

In Canada, we all have access to medicare, but some people have additional health insurance through a private company. Sometimes an employer will match premiums if the insurance company is associated with the employer, but not always.

We do pay for insurance coverage for cars and houses. Where driving is concerned, we have no-fault insurance. One’s auto insurance covers the cost of the damages to one’s own car, and rates may go up as a result, but we don’t sue each other over damages.

I’m not a home owner, so I can’t speak to that. Are you referring to the type of insurance that covers the mortgage if the homeowner dies? We do have something like that here, but I’m not sure how it compares to what you have. I’m not sure about liability insurance – we are generally a much less litigious society than the US, so I’m not sure most people would find it necessary, if it exists. But it may be one of those things everyone pays for but never talks about.

@janbb Yes, I only mean what would cover and pay for medical care. Obviously, one would still need to pay for wind or earthquake damage to the house and alike. Car insurance for fixing the car after a crash or theft. Moreover, I would expect there is still some coverage for the impact an injury might have in enjoying life and being able to work. I am just wondering about medical costs.

@JLeslie No, there’s no need for any of that here.

Oh – I should add because you asked – workman’s compensation is a government thing here, not an employer thing. I assume it’s not easy to claim; I know one man (he was a friend’s parent) who had severe back problems his entire life due to his job, and he spent a great deal of time over the years continually having to prove that he hadn’t “got better”. I haven’t worked in industries where this sort of claim occurs, so have no other anecdotes for you.

Australia : your homeowners insurance is a part of your mortgage payment. Your auto insurance is part of the cost of car registration. This is for medical only, if you want comprehensive then you buy it from a third party. Workman’s comp: this is a government issue, usually involving a payout. When you seek employment, they always want to know if you’ve ever had any claims. Important for truckers and labourers.

Although your question is somewhat a non-sequitir – health insurance doesn’t have a lot of parallels with homeowners or auto -you accidentally stumbled on a deeper question. I doubt you meant to.

Your question gives support to the concept of “no fault“coverage for everything – all perils are covered at all times for everyone. We wouldnt need to worry about car wrecks and house fires, because no matter what, they would be taken care of my a flat membership fee that is assessed on everyone.

And the second implication of your question lends support to the ideal of single-payer insurance (what Obamacare was supposed to be) instead of the hodgepodge of insurance companies and policies.

In your question, you have not only made American life simpler, but you have also put the greedy insurance companies out of business.

Great job!

^ not sure what that means, but, we live in a bush fire prone area. So there is that figured into the premium of the homeowners insurance, which is in the mortgage payment. Every driver that registers their car pays into a victim’s fund (part of the cost of your registration) that insures victims of devastating injuries sustained on the road have medical and nursing care for as long as they need it. It is not at all the same as our single payer health care system. Whether or not you drive, you still get healthcare because you are a citizen. I just read a thing explaining the premiums and levels of coverage and deductibles for obamacare. I got a really bad headache.

I hope I’ve got the gist of your question @JLeslie, I’m sure you’ll let me know if I haven’t. We have universal health cover but house insurance usually includes coverage in case someone is injured while on my property (this would cover more than their health costs of course). We have to have third-party insurance on our cars. This is included in our car registration. Most people would also take out fully comprehensive insurance to cover their own vehicles. Employers need to pay worker’s compensation insurance. This ensures that anyone who is injured while working is covered for the time they’re off work and for health costs.

I’ve never thought about it but in the event of a car accident, a work injury or the like, apart from needing medical treatment you’re also likely to have to take time off work, you might need phsyiotherapy or treatment that’s not quickly available through the public system. You might have an injury that requires modifications to be carried out to your home so you can still get around. Insurance would cover a whole multitude of things other than medical treatment.

Plus our council rates pay for fire brigade, rubbish and some other stuff right @Earthbound_Misfit ?

Yes @trailsillustrated. Aren’t they covered by council rates in the US? Our ambulance costs are included in our electricity bill in Queensland too. Each household and business pays $30 so anyone can call an ambulance and not have to worry about receiving a bill.

I took an ambo a few months ago. It’s not covered, but cover is 39$ a year. Our rates just got raised to cover emergency services ( fire, downed trees) and people are not happy. The us doesn’t have councils I don’t think .

That’s why I specified Queensland. I wasn’t sure what happens in other states now. It’s one of the really good things the Beattie Government introduced during their term. Nobody has complained about the ambulance fee because it makes sense.

Right, no councils. So individuals must pay for the removal of their rubbish directly, and for assistance by the fire brigade in the US? I can understand people being upset, but you live in a fire-prone area don’t you?

I do. When I lived in the us, you had a rubbish service that you paid a bill to. The fire brigade I think is taken care of by their state or federal taxes. This was before obamacare, I had health insurance which was pretty good, but if you didn’t have it and took an ambo you were up for thousands of dollars. The prescription meds were more, and you had to pay 10$ to see a dr. It was scheduled way, way out so you couldn’t go the same day. If it was an emergency you could go to an urgent care and get seen, but they would send you home for stuff that here you would spend the night in hospital. If you didn’t have insurance, you could go to same day clinics but it was really expensive.

In the US regarding fire it depends where you live. Some places the coverage is included in property taxes. Other places it is a separate fee, not paid directly to the government. It can be a completely separate bill, or added to utilities. When it is separate it is optional (at least that’s the way I have always experienced it) and the local fire truck will come to your house in case of a fire and watch it burn down if you opted not to pay.

My question was only about medical coverage, whether it be an accident involving a car or at your home. I don’t mind that the answers wandered a little, I’m interested in all the information, I’m just clarifying what I was getting at.

I absolutely understand Obamacare is not socialized medicine, and I didn’t have Obamacare in mind at all for this Q.

In America the hospitals and doctors raise their prices when insurance is involved, and then you get your “discounted rate” because your insured, and then you pay your deductibles and copays according to the plan. For instance, a three day stay at a hospital could easily be $40k, the actual required amount to pay would be around $4k and them if you have 80/20 coverage you pay $800. If there is a lawsuit or claim against the driver if the car who put you in the hospital they use the $40k number for the suit for the medical cost. You can see how the system raises everyone’s rates to cover this sort of thing. If you only get $40k from the car insurer, and used a lawyer to get it, you only wind up with about $20k-25K in your pocket after paying the lawyer. You can see how lawyers can make out really well in this system. If your injury has some sort of permanent effect you likely do want or need more money to care for ongoing problems, and you can argue that and hopefully be awarded more.

@elbanditoroso I’m not sure what you’re getting at with your post… in Canada we do have an insurance industry, it just doesn’t have a powerful grip over all citizens. There’s profit to be made, it’s just not at the expense of people’s homes and dignity. Why would anyone trade in our system for yours? I don’t often look south of the border to your healthcare system and say “Good job!”.

There are plenty of reasons to avoid car wrecks and house fires, even with no-fault insurance (which, as I said, applies to auto only). Do you think fear of being sued is the only thing keeping Americans from constantly driving like maniacs?

The short answer: whether the accident happens at home, work, or in the car, you are covered. I don’t even know if you can sue for that here, some people have gotten large compos for some accidents, but it’s mandated by the government I think.

I live in a different part of Canada than @dappled_leaves and our insurance here is a bit different. Insurance is controlled by The Insurance Bureau of Canada. Home insurance is for property (things that are permanent i.e houses, land, cottages, apartments etc) and Auto insurance is for any vehicle that is self propelled by a motor and requires registration. Both insurances are bought separately through an Independent Insurance Broker or Company and both carry their own liability to protect the policy holder in the event of accident, injury, fire, theft and even neglect in some instances (i.e. rotten deck boards that a friend walks on & falls through). Some of the coverages can cross over but, generally if the medical issue doesn’t fall under an insurance policy, the provincial medical insurance services pay the medical and then on top of that some individuals have a private medical plan as well. As far as I know there is no additional medical to be paid for on an auto or homeowners policy. Employers remit money on behalf of their employee, from their pay-cheque, to Workers Comp. There are lawsuits over different thing such as accidents but homeowners lawsuits aren’t very plentiful here. We just aren’t as ready to sue as our neighbours south of the border.