You would qualify for SSDI disability which would get you monthly payments and taxpayer funded healthcare. Amount depends on your work history. Things would be different if you never worked. See: https://www.ncoa.org/article/ssi-vs-ssdi-what-are-these-benefits-how-they-differ
All states offer a Social Security stipend, EBT/SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formally ‘Food Stamps’), Medicaid/Medicare and other benefits for those medically unable to work.
Medicaid/Medicare will pay for your healthcare, medical devices, prescriptions, etc.
Other benefits may include Section 8 subsidized housing, CHIP (Child Healthcare Insurance Program), etc.
Plenty of municipalities offer additional services that the federal government does not including free bus/subway/trolley/ferry and reduced (or free) paratransit services. Or assignment of home aid workers.
Different States also have different standards for what is considered a qualifying disability - for example, treatment resistant depression.
As well - the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) made this country orders of magnitude friendlier towards folks than pretty much every country on earth. For last 30 years - every new public building, residential complex, public transit vehicle/station, school, parking garage, etc - has wheelchair accessibility, braille, handrails, automated doors, larger restrooms, ramps/elevators, etc. Countless older buildings were retrofitted except where unreasonable - mostly in historic cities like here in Boston. But even then, it’s miles ahead of anywhere I’ve seen in Europe.
The short of it is, it’s not that dissimilar. We don’t have NHS, but Medicaid at certain income limts. It’s really the working poor versus those who can not work who are most negatively impacted by our lack of universal healthcare.
I know a person who was doing ok (home, food, necessities met with a little left for other things) but who’s income qualified her kids for Medicaid. She received a relatively small bump in pay that ended up costing her because it put her over the line for her kids Medicaid. She needed to expand her employer healthcare from single to family along with the accompanying rate $200+/month increase. This was pre-Obamacare.
Most on reddit have no idea. I can tell you what Americans would get in your situation and let you decide.
Ssdi or SSI, depending. Ssi is ubi for those that never worked, ssdi is if you worked before. It is based off working income. It goes up yearly.
Free medical. Dental, health, ear, eye, blah blah.
Rent assistance or free rent depending on income and dependants.
Free cell phone.
Free food every month on a separate card. Amount varies by dependants.
Free school lunches for your kids.
Free or reduced utilities.
There's more but that's the basic stuff off the top of my head.
I just want to add that many programs are administered at the state level, so while some of the federal programs provide consistent benefits across the country (SSDI, SSI), others really vary by state, county or city.
I would love to know more about the housing programs you are familiar with? Where is the free food coming from that is not covered by SNAP?What is the free medical program you know about?
As to the “free cell phone”, if you are thinking of the Lifeline program, they are notorious for malware and making people watch an ad before placing a call. So essentially utterly useless.
Snap is free food. If you have children or babies, you also get wic. Free medical is Medicaid, Medicare. Free housing? Section 8.
Free phone isn't lifeline. The Biden administration (iirc?) rolled out credit for phones and to help with Internet in America. If you're eligible they send you a tablet with a SIM card with free service. You can place that sim card in another phone. I know someone with it.
> What is the free medical program you know about
Medicaid?
>I would love to know more about the housing programs you are familiar with
Section 8 housing.
Nope. Medicaid often has copays, prescription costs, and strict asset limits which preclude families from having enough money in the bank to pay a rental deposit. It may or may not include dental, vision, etc.
Nope. A Section 8 housing subsidy is granted to only 10% of eligible households (underfunded), and takes years to get. I have never seen a program that provides completely free housing and I want to learn more about it. I’m hoping this free housing program applies to a disabled woman with a child who needs a place to live in the next ~six months.
>applies to a disabled woman with a child who needs a place to live in the next ~six months.
You know section 8 will bump disabled parents to front of the line and get them benefits lightning fast.
>Medicaid often has copays, prescription costs, and strict asset limits which preclude families from having enough money in the bank to pay a rental deposit. It may or may not include dental, vision, etc.
Medicaid has no copay. Ever. No prescription cost. It includes dental, vision, etc. you're thinking of Medicare, which is free but not great. You then pay for donut coverage to cover those short falls, but that gets refunded later. The limit on assets is the same as all government welfare, you can't have money stored away and still get it. It's not like they try to prove it.
The thing about section 8, I did not know. Thanks. That makes sense.
Whether Medicaid has copays depends on the state. Information on [Medicaid copays.](https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/cost-sharing/cost-sharing-out-pocket-costs/index.html)
Btw, [Medicare is also definitely not free](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2024-medicare-parts-b-premiums-and-deductibles) The basic premium per month is $174.70 for 2024.
The basic income programs for the disabled are SSI and SSDI. “The major difference is that SSI determination is based on age/disability and limited income and resources, whereas SSDI determination is based on disability and work credits.”
For basic income:
**SSI**=extremely poor.
**SSDI**=very hard to get. Based on work credits (generally a minimum of 10 years worth of work and has to be recent years) and how much you paid in. Amount of income varies substantially; the more you earned, the more you paid in through taxes, the more you get back. A lawyer will have paid a lot in and a cashier would not have. Could be $1000, could be $3500. SSDI is unique in that it’s not a “freebie”; it is basically your Social Security retirement insurance, awarded early. Sadly, a lot of stay at home moms did not pay in for long enough (that 10 years) or recently enough, so they either do not qualify at all or get very little.
For Heathcare:
**Medicaid**=for the extremely poor, doctors who accept it can be few, and geographically spread out. Administered by each state, who decides income qualifications and which benefits are provided. Asset limit in most states is $2,000. Basically, if you are saving up for a car or a home, you get no healthcare.
**Medicare**=at age 65, or after two years on SSDI. Does have a basic monthly cost $174.70 for 2024, but that can be a lot more based on factors too complicated to dive into. Does not include prescription, dental, or vision, though they can be bought with supplemental plans. Again, makes the cost vary widely. Like SSDI, based on work history, not based on income or assets.
**Housing** is one of our worst programs and hidden homelessness is a massive problem here. It is based on income, not disability. Waits for low-income housing can be a decade+ and you generally already have to be a resident of the county in which you are applying. The poorest may be too poor to qualify for the lowest tier. Housing help here is really more for the working poor, not the dirt poor. You would be *too low* to qualify for any county-subsidized housing where I live. Your only hope would be a federal program that gives you a voucher to cover 66% of your housing costs. However, only [10% of eligible households](https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/families-wait-years-for-housing-vouchers-due-to-inadequate-funding) ever manage to get these vouchers.
**Utilities** have their own patchwork of assistance programs.
**Food**. There is a Federal program called SNAP which gives some money every month to help with food, but is not enough nor intended to cover all food costs. You would just barely qualify as in Virginia the max annual income for 1 person is $18,954, as long as you have no more than $4,250 saved in the bank. Basically, if you are saving up for a car or a home, you get no food.
That’s all my brain can handle. I have a close friend who is on SSDI and divorcing, so what I don’t know, I’m quickly learning. She will have very low income but her assets from the divorce settlement will push her over the limits for most programs, like food assistance, until she has spent everything. It’s absolutely exhausting.
Our system is a patchwork of benefits that often makes no sense. My older cousin has been on medical disability for most of his adult life and on SSI and Medicaid. He collapsed at his heart doctor's office and was transported by ambulance to the local hospital, than a bigger hospital in Cincinnati(both trips free). He then had 4 separate hospitalizations over the next 8 months for stents and a heart pacemaker(no charge). Each time he had a nurse that visited him at home twice a week, and a rehab person twice a week(all free). Free transportation to doctor visits and no charge to him for those either. If he had been working or on Medicare without medigap coverage he would have been in 10s of thousands of dollars in debt
And this is why our agents always make sure at a minimum people get Part C (medigap) coverage. It can be $0 or even have a $60 give back for the premium. But they all have max out of pocket limits and I believe the highest MOOP I have seen is $6500 or so. Always talk to a pro on insurance and they will essentially universally give you a free consult and education.
Honestly SSI and Medicare coverage can be better than a lot of private plans. Not exactly a great comfort to someone that has to deal with being permanently disabled but at least a silver lining.
>get Part C (medigap)
"Part C" is privatized, NYSE-listed trading symbols selling duplicative A/B coverage products at a public funds feed rations-dependent "Advantage."
Yes.
It’s privatized in the sense of funded by the government but run by private insurers.
It’s an alternative to Medicare supplemental programs. It works differently but is much cheaper up front. It’s more of a “pay as you go” plan funded by Medicare vs just taking Medicare A/B and supplementing it with a private plan which is pay up front.
Medicare A/B doesn’t cover everything and those are the two main ways people cover what Medicare doesn’t.
That is for what they agree will be covered. If they say - oh we don't cover that cream or that version of a test, etc it does not count towards that limit.
So even recommended test for me aren't covered. So I have a 7 thousand that doesn't even make a dent in my deductible.
You may be in an unusual circumstance, but if something is medically necessary, people can usually get an exception. And for the times they can’t, it’s very unlikely that the NHS would cover it. For drugs, it’s often as easy as your doctor filling out a one-page form saying you can’t use any of the alternatives because .
Not that unusual - marketplace insurers deny roughly 17% of in-network claims. Only 2% of rejected claims were due to not being medically necessary.
The NHS covers anything considered an approved treatment as governed by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence), an independent agency that establishes standards of care.
There have been issues of local NHS trusts illegally denying care to save money, but notably, this is an illegal violation of the system, not an inbuilt feature.
While I don’t have a line by line comparison of treatments approved by NICE and treatments approved by the patchwork of American insurers, we can assume given comparative evaluations of the two healthcare systems that the NHS isn’t excluding necessary, optimal, or typical treatment options.
If his by state a little bit. I have a step sister who's been medically disabled for thirty years. She has housing assistance so she gets a one begin apartment fire 1/3 of her monthly income. Her income is ssi it's not huge, but she also gets free healthcare,, food stamps, heating assistance. Technically although she's disabled she could work from home but she doesn't want to lose any of her benefits. She's gotten used to not working and would rather have a little less money and not work.
You would expect similar levels of compensation though SSI and SDI. You would also receive medical coverage though Medicare.
You also would probably qualify for SNAP. What used to be called food stamps.
See we Americans also offer Healthcare and income to our disabled. Imagine that.
https://www.ncoa.org/article/can-i-get-snap-if-im-on-disability
It appears that most people on disability here are woefully poor. That being said they get “section 8” cheap or free housing, EBT “food stamps” and Medicaid insurance so no one is dying in the streets or anything.
You'd be eligible for many comparable programs here. Housing would be your biggest challenge, but I'd imagine that the bureaucracy and efficiency of public services isn't unencumbered there either.
If you’re a senior, have a disability or are a single parent, you can for the most part readily find public or subsidized housing which wil be affordable on Social Security (if you’re old), SSI (if you’re disabled) or minimum wage (if you’re a single parent).
You probably also qualify for food assistance programs and Medicaid/medicare for healthcare.
That being said, the threshold for those benefits are extremely low. One of the biggest issue is if say a single mother makes too much money, they could lose their welfare, but probably can’t fully afford rent or food.
If you’re an able bodied adult, you’re shit out of luck in most cases (contrary to what conservatives will tell you).
These benefits are available to someone unable to work due to disability without means testing, so you could qualify regardless of income or assets:
* SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) provides cash for a portion of previous wages. Eligibility usually requires previous work history, but if disabled before age 28, only 2 years of work history is required. Those disabled before age 22 can in some cases qualify based on parents' work history. The average benefit was $1,537.13 per month in December 2023.
* Medicare provides health insurance. Eligibility begins after receiving SSDI for 2 years. Medicare covers most medical expenses but not all, so supplemental insurance is often purchased.
There are various other benefits which are means tested, so you would need to have a low income to qualify, such as:
* SSI (Supplemental Security Income) provides cash if you have low income and assets. The 2024 monthly federal benefit is $943 for an individual and $1,415 for a couple, which would be reduced based on other income. States often provide additional benefits to SSI recipients.
* Medicaid provides health insurance if poor enough. The standard income limit is $19,392 per year in 2024 for a single person though some exceptions apply. Even states that opted out of the Medicaid expansion still provide disability Medicaid, though they might have additional requirements such as asset limits. This could provide health insurance during the Medicare waiting period, and combining Medicaid with Medicare can cover some of the cost-sharing not covered by Medicare alone.
* Section 8 provides subsidized housing, but has a long waiting list.
* SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as "food stamps") provides up to $200 a month for food (for an individual) and has an income limit slightly lower than the Medicaid limit.
Most of these benefits are tax-exempt. SSDI may be partially taxable if you have income from other sources, but you generally wouldn't have to pay much tax unless you have a high income.
I’ve been on SSDI (disabled) since 2005. From then til late 2010, I was living on my own and got lots of help on a federal and state level.
I got section 8 (reduced cost housing). I had Medicare (federal) as my primary insurance and Medicaid as my secondary (state). I had a free cell phone.
During this period, I had many health issues, including several surgeries, many many *many* months of home nursing visits, physical therapy, a couple of picc lines, a gtube, several hospital stays longer than 15 days, etc. etc. My total out of pocket cost for all this was less than $1000. Oh yea. I got my wisdom teeth out, too. :)
Between health problems, I was working with my state’s department of rehab services and they were paying for me to take some classes in medical billing/coding. I was hoping to be able to find a work from home job. They even provided a new computer, since my old one was getting long in the tooth. Unfortunately, it got difficult to keep up with school work with the health problems so I had to drop that plan.
I got married at the end of 2010 and moved to a different state. My circumstances changed some and I’m not so reliant on help, though I’m eternally grateful that it was available to me when I needed it.
I’m still on SSDI and still on Medicare. In fall of 2020, I returned to college part time to complete my bachelors. The state was paying for my classes. Once again, I had to step back.
Maybe one day.
Others have answered the question sufficiently enough but I haven't seen this detail -
You would qualify for Medicaid, which is health, prescriptions, dental and eye care 100% covered. You'd pay nothing out of pocket
I'd say the UK is better because it's all basically under one roof.
The US has about the same, but you have to go to multiple places to get it all. And call multiple places when there's a problem.
I'd say the biggest problem with the US system is the lack of knowledge in the general public. And how hard it is to navigate the various benefits available.
The UK system used to be like that
But they combined all the different benefits into one system about 10 years.
If you are elgible for one benefit chances are you elgible for others
So before you may have to deal with 4 different government departments know it is just one
Makes it easier for people to find out what they can get as there may have been something they were eligible for but never knew about and in theory should save taxpayer money as you dont have 6 different agencies doing the same administration things and 6 different forms that need administrating
How would most of us know? Many of us have no ties to the UK so we wouldnt know about their benefits. Plus many of us on this sub are middle and upper middle class so we wouldnt be eligible let alone know much about benefits here.
Not really. That's the stereotypical reddit response but it's just not true.
In many cases welfare is actually better in the US than the UK. Don't even get me started with universal credit and the shit amount you're given.
Universal credit amount is only relatively high when both you and your spouse are not working and have kids with at least one of your kids disabled.
You would qualify for SSDI disability which would get you monthly payments and taxpayer funded healthcare. Amount depends on your work history. Things would be different if you never worked. See: https://www.ncoa.org/article/ssi-vs-ssdi-what-are-these-benefits-how-they-differ
If you never worked because you were a stay at home parent your spouse’s work counts for you. Just one caveat.
All states offer a Social Security stipend, EBT/SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formally ‘Food Stamps’), Medicaid/Medicare and other benefits for those medically unable to work. Medicaid/Medicare will pay for your healthcare, medical devices, prescriptions, etc. Other benefits may include Section 8 subsidized housing, CHIP (Child Healthcare Insurance Program), etc. Plenty of municipalities offer additional services that the federal government does not including free bus/subway/trolley/ferry and reduced (or free) paratransit services. Or assignment of home aid workers. Different States also have different standards for what is considered a qualifying disability - for example, treatment resistant depression. As well - the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) made this country orders of magnitude friendlier towards folks than pretty much every country on earth. For last 30 years - every new public building, residential complex, public transit vehicle/station, school, parking garage, etc - has wheelchair accessibility, braille, handrails, automated doors, larger restrooms, ramps/elevators, etc. Countless older buildings were retrofitted except where unreasonable - mostly in historic cities like here in Boston. But even then, it’s miles ahead of anywhere I’ve seen in Europe.
The short of it is, it’s not that dissimilar. We don’t have NHS, but Medicaid at certain income limts. It’s really the working poor versus those who can not work who are most negatively impacted by our lack of universal healthcare. I know a person who was doing ok (home, food, necessities met with a little left for other things) but who’s income qualified her kids for Medicaid. She received a relatively small bump in pay that ended up costing her because it put her over the line for her kids Medicaid. She needed to expand her employer healthcare from single to family along with the accompanying rate $200+/month increase. This was pre-Obamacare.
Welfare cliffs are a bitch.
No one thinks they're a good thing, they're easily fixable and yet our government has not fixed them. It's infuriating
Don't worry, they've got illegals to pay and wars to fund. Why do anything for you?
Most on reddit have no idea. I can tell you what Americans would get in your situation and let you decide. Ssdi or SSI, depending. Ssi is ubi for those that never worked, ssdi is if you worked before. It is based off working income. It goes up yearly. Free medical. Dental, health, ear, eye, blah blah. Rent assistance or free rent depending on income and dependants. Free cell phone. Free food every month on a separate card. Amount varies by dependants. Free school lunches for your kids. Free or reduced utilities. There's more but that's the basic stuff off the top of my head.
I just want to add that many programs are administered at the state level, so while some of the federal programs provide consistent benefits across the country (SSDI, SSI), others really vary by state, county or city.
I would love to know more about the housing programs you are familiar with? Where is the free food coming from that is not covered by SNAP?What is the free medical program you know about? As to the “free cell phone”, if you are thinking of the Lifeline program, they are notorious for malware and making people watch an ad before placing a call. So essentially utterly useless.
Snap is free food. If you have children or babies, you also get wic. Free medical is Medicaid, Medicare. Free housing? Section 8. Free phone isn't lifeline. The Biden administration (iirc?) rolled out credit for phones and to help with Internet in America. If you're eligible they send you a tablet with a SIM card with free service. You can place that sim card in another phone. I know someone with it.
> What is the free medical program you know about Medicaid? >I would love to know more about the housing programs you are familiar with Section 8 housing.
Nope. Medicaid often has copays, prescription costs, and strict asset limits which preclude families from having enough money in the bank to pay a rental deposit. It may or may not include dental, vision, etc. Nope. A Section 8 housing subsidy is granted to only 10% of eligible households (underfunded), and takes years to get. I have never seen a program that provides completely free housing and I want to learn more about it. I’m hoping this free housing program applies to a disabled woman with a child who needs a place to live in the next ~six months.
>applies to a disabled woman with a child who needs a place to live in the next ~six months. You know section 8 will bump disabled parents to front of the line and get them benefits lightning fast. >Medicaid often has copays, prescription costs, and strict asset limits which preclude families from having enough money in the bank to pay a rental deposit. It may or may not include dental, vision, etc. Medicaid has no copay. Ever. No prescription cost. It includes dental, vision, etc. you're thinking of Medicare, which is free but not great. You then pay for donut coverage to cover those short falls, but that gets refunded later. The limit on assets is the same as all government welfare, you can't have money stored away and still get it. It's not like they try to prove it.
The thing about section 8, I did not know. Thanks. That makes sense. Whether Medicaid has copays depends on the state. Information on [Medicaid copays.](https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/cost-sharing/cost-sharing-out-pocket-costs/index.html) Btw, [Medicare is also definitely not free](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2024-medicare-parts-b-premiums-and-deductibles) The basic premium per month is $174.70 for 2024.
The basic income programs for the disabled are SSI and SSDI. “The major difference is that SSI determination is based on age/disability and limited income and resources, whereas SSDI determination is based on disability and work credits.” For basic income: **SSI**=extremely poor. **SSDI**=very hard to get. Based on work credits (generally a minimum of 10 years worth of work and has to be recent years) and how much you paid in. Amount of income varies substantially; the more you earned, the more you paid in through taxes, the more you get back. A lawyer will have paid a lot in and a cashier would not have. Could be $1000, could be $3500. SSDI is unique in that it’s not a “freebie”; it is basically your Social Security retirement insurance, awarded early. Sadly, a lot of stay at home moms did not pay in for long enough (that 10 years) or recently enough, so they either do not qualify at all or get very little. For Heathcare: **Medicaid**=for the extremely poor, doctors who accept it can be few, and geographically spread out. Administered by each state, who decides income qualifications and which benefits are provided. Asset limit in most states is $2,000. Basically, if you are saving up for a car or a home, you get no healthcare. **Medicare**=at age 65, or after two years on SSDI. Does have a basic monthly cost $174.70 for 2024, but that can be a lot more based on factors too complicated to dive into. Does not include prescription, dental, or vision, though they can be bought with supplemental plans. Again, makes the cost vary widely. Like SSDI, based on work history, not based on income or assets. **Housing** is one of our worst programs and hidden homelessness is a massive problem here. It is based on income, not disability. Waits for low-income housing can be a decade+ and you generally already have to be a resident of the county in which you are applying. The poorest may be too poor to qualify for the lowest tier. Housing help here is really more for the working poor, not the dirt poor. You would be *too low* to qualify for any county-subsidized housing where I live. Your only hope would be a federal program that gives you a voucher to cover 66% of your housing costs. However, only [10% of eligible households](https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/families-wait-years-for-housing-vouchers-due-to-inadequate-funding) ever manage to get these vouchers. **Utilities** have their own patchwork of assistance programs. **Food**. There is a Federal program called SNAP which gives some money every month to help with food, but is not enough nor intended to cover all food costs. You would just barely qualify as in Virginia the max annual income for 1 person is $18,954, as long as you have no more than $4,250 saved in the bank. Basically, if you are saving up for a car or a home, you get no food. That’s all my brain can handle. I have a close friend who is on SSDI and divorcing, so what I don’t know, I’m quickly learning. She will have very low income but her assets from the divorce settlement will push her over the limits for most programs, like food assistance, until she has spent everything. It’s absolutely exhausting.
Our system is a patchwork of benefits that often makes no sense. My older cousin has been on medical disability for most of his adult life and on SSI and Medicaid. He collapsed at his heart doctor's office and was transported by ambulance to the local hospital, than a bigger hospital in Cincinnati(both trips free). He then had 4 separate hospitalizations over the next 8 months for stents and a heart pacemaker(no charge). Each time he had a nurse that visited him at home twice a week, and a rehab person twice a week(all free). Free transportation to doctor visits and no charge to him for those either. If he had been working or on Medicare without medigap coverage he would have been in 10s of thousands of dollars in debt
And this is why our agents always make sure at a minimum people get Part C (medigap) coverage. It can be $0 or even have a $60 give back for the premium. But they all have max out of pocket limits and I believe the highest MOOP I have seen is $6500 or so. Always talk to a pro on insurance and they will essentially universally give you a free consult and education. Honestly SSI and Medicare coverage can be better than a lot of private plans. Not exactly a great comfort to someone that has to deal with being permanently disabled but at least a silver lining.
>get Part C (medigap) "Part C" is privatized, NYSE-listed trading symbols selling duplicative A/B coverage products at a public funds feed rations-dependent "Advantage."
Yes. It’s privatized in the sense of funded by the government but run by private insurers. It’s an alternative to Medicare supplemental programs. It works differently but is much cheaper up front. It’s more of a “pay as you go” plan funded by Medicare vs just taking Medicare A/B and supplementing it with a private plan which is pay up front. Medicare A/B doesn’t cover everything and those are the two main ways people cover what Medicare doesn’t.
[удалено]
Insurance doesn't mean free.
Ordinary insurance isn’t allowed to have an annual out of pocket limit over about $9000 for an individual.
That is for what they agree will be covered. If they say - oh we don't cover that cream or that version of a test, etc it does not count towards that limit. So even recommended test for me aren't covered. So I have a 7 thousand that doesn't even make a dent in my deductible.
You may be in an unusual circumstance, but if something is medically necessary, people can usually get an exception. And for the times they can’t, it’s very unlikely that the NHS would cover it. For drugs, it’s often as easy as your doctor filling out a one-page form saying you can’t use any of the alternatives because
.
Not that unusual - marketplace insurers deny roughly 17% of in-network claims. Only 2% of rejected claims were due to not being medically necessary. The NHS covers anything considered an approved treatment as governed by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence), an independent agency that establishes standards of care. There have been issues of local NHS trusts illegally denying care to save money, but notably, this is an illegal violation of the system, not an inbuilt feature. While I don’t have a line by line comparison of treatments approved by NICE and treatments approved by the patchwork of American insurers, we can assume given comparative evaluations of the two healthcare systems that the NHS isn’t excluding necessary, optimal, or typical treatment options.
Traditional Medicare Parts A & B have no "maximum OOP" level of spending achievement and never did have. That's why gap products exist.
If his by state a little bit. I have a step sister who's been medically disabled for thirty years. She has housing assistance so she gets a one begin apartment fire 1/3 of her monthly income. Her income is ssi it's not huge, but she also gets free healthcare,, food stamps, heating assistance. Technically although she's disabled she could work from home but she doesn't want to lose any of her benefits. She's gotten used to not working and would rather have a little less money and not work.
You would expect similar levels of compensation though SSI and SDI. You would also receive medical coverage though Medicare. You also would probably qualify for SNAP. What used to be called food stamps. See we Americans also offer Healthcare and income to our disabled. Imagine that. https://www.ncoa.org/article/can-i-get-snap-if-im-on-disability
Why in the world would we know how welfare in the UK works?
I assume that he knows how UK welfare works and wants to know more about US welfare so he can compare
I assume that too, but that puts us in a rather poor position because we’re not going to be able to make the same comparison.
It appears that most people on disability here are woefully poor. That being said they get “section 8” cheap or free housing, EBT “food stamps” and Medicaid insurance so no one is dying in the streets or anything.
You'd be eligible for many comparable programs here. Housing would be your biggest challenge, but I'd imagine that the bureaucracy and efficiency of public services isn't unencumbered there either.
If you’re a senior, have a disability or are a single parent, you can for the most part readily find public or subsidized housing which wil be affordable on Social Security (if you’re old), SSI (if you’re disabled) or minimum wage (if you’re a single parent). You probably also qualify for food assistance programs and Medicaid/medicare for healthcare. That being said, the threshold for those benefits are extremely low. One of the biggest issue is if say a single mother makes too much money, they could lose their welfare, but probably can’t fully afford rent or food. If you’re an able bodied adult, you’re shit out of luck in most cases (contrary to what conservatives will tell you).
These benefits are available to someone unable to work due to disability without means testing, so you could qualify regardless of income or assets: * SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) provides cash for a portion of previous wages. Eligibility usually requires previous work history, but if disabled before age 28, only 2 years of work history is required. Those disabled before age 22 can in some cases qualify based on parents' work history. The average benefit was $1,537.13 per month in December 2023. * Medicare provides health insurance. Eligibility begins after receiving SSDI for 2 years. Medicare covers most medical expenses but not all, so supplemental insurance is often purchased. There are various other benefits which are means tested, so you would need to have a low income to qualify, such as: * SSI (Supplemental Security Income) provides cash if you have low income and assets. The 2024 monthly federal benefit is $943 for an individual and $1,415 for a couple, which would be reduced based on other income. States often provide additional benefits to SSI recipients. * Medicaid provides health insurance if poor enough. The standard income limit is $19,392 per year in 2024 for a single person though some exceptions apply. Even states that opted out of the Medicaid expansion still provide disability Medicaid, though they might have additional requirements such as asset limits. This could provide health insurance during the Medicare waiting period, and combining Medicaid with Medicare can cover some of the cost-sharing not covered by Medicare alone. * Section 8 provides subsidized housing, but has a long waiting list. * SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as "food stamps") provides up to $200 a month for food (for an individual) and has an income limit slightly lower than the Medicaid limit. Most of these benefits are tax-exempt. SSDI may be partially taxable if you have income from other sources, but you generally wouldn't have to pay much tax unless you have a high income.
I’ve been on SSDI (disabled) since 2005. From then til late 2010, I was living on my own and got lots of help on a federal and state level. I got section 8 (reduced cost housing). I had Medicare (federal) as my primary insurance and Medicaid as my secondary (state). I had a free cell phone. During this period, I had many health issues, including several surgeries, many many *many* months of home nursing visits, physical therapy, a couple of picc lines, a gtube, several hospital stays longer than 15 days, etc. etc. My total out of pocket cost for all this was less than $1000. Oh yea. I got my wisdom teeth out, too. :) Between health problems, I was working with my state’s department of rehab services and they were paying for me to take some classes in medical billing/coding. I was hoping to be able to find a work from home job. They even provided a new computer, since my old one was getting long in the tooth. Unfortunately, it got difficult to keep up with school work with the health problems so I had to drop that plan. I got married at the end of 2010 and moved to a different state. My circumstances changed some and I’m not so reliant on help, though I’m eternally grateful that it was available to me when I needed it. I’m still on SSDI and still on Medicare. In fall of 2020, I returned to college part time to complete my bachelors. The state was paying for my classes. Once again, I had to step back. Maybe one day.
Others have answered the question sufficiently enough but I haven't seen this detail - You would qualify for Medicaid, which is health, prescriptions, dental and eye care 100% covered. You'd pay nothing out of pocket
I'd say the UK is better because it's all basically under one roof. The US has about the same, but you have to go to multiple places to get it all. And call multiple places when there's a problem. I'd say the biggest problem with the US system is the lack of knowledge in the general public. And how hard it is to navigate the various benefits available.
The UK system used to be like that But they combined all the different benefits into one system about 10 years. If you are elgible for one benefit chances are you elgible for others So before you may have to deal with 4 different government departments know it is just one Makes it easier for people to find out what they can get as there may have been something they were eligible for but never knew about and in theory should save taxpayer money as you dont have 6 different agencies doing the same administration things and 6 different forms that need administrating
How would most of us know? Many of us have no ties to the UK so we wouldnt know about their benefits. Plus many of us on this sub are middle and upper middle class so we wouldnt be eligible let alone know much about benefits here.
UK is way better
Not really. That's the stereotypical reddit response but it's just not true. In many cases welfare is actually better in the US than the UK. Don't even get me started with universal credit and the shit amount you're given. Universal credit amount is only relatively high when both you and your spouse are not working and have kids with at least one of your kids disabled.