Comparison of US and UK pay

geordiegirl2 · Mar 18, 2007

I agree its wrong to convert pounds to dollars but its hard not to at least initially.

We I think are probably much better off here but I really miss the protection of sick pay and vacation pay not tied to it. I feel like we had a really good life at home and we have a really good life here but I constantly stirve to have money in the bank as I believe this is probaly the only country in the world you could go from wealthy to bankrupt due to an illness.

I came here with OGP earning $24 an hour and left a top g grade at home which I think at the time was about 17 pounds an hour. At home my husband whose a carpenter was the main earner, we chose when we got here for him not to work for 3 months until our children were settled.

At the end of my ogp contract I stayed at the hospital I was at as they were really good to me and after taking the summer off with my kids I went into their seasonal contract which has a sign on bonus, completion bonus and a monthly housing allowance, its a 9 month contract so my plan is to take this summer off too, then I have been offered a management position which comes with a large relocation bonus.

I think here there is the ability to make big money as some of the contracts are very lucrative however its important to remember tp plan for a rainy day.

Hope this doesn't sound like I'm preaching I've just seen a few people get into severe financial difficulty through no real fault of their own.

cariad · Mar 18, 2007

just to point out that you can only take time off if your spouse has the medical insurance etc covered. too risky to go without it.

i have looked at the seasonal jobs available here but a lot of them dont give any benefits, great pay and lucrative extras., but i need the medical cover so i couldnt do it.

its so unfair that when your employer pays for your benefits they get huge discounts and then the insurance people are given discounts off the bill as well, but when you have to pay your own, the premiums more than double and if theres a medical bill that you have to pay then theres no discount for joe public.

geordiegirl2 · Mar 18, 2007

Your right to point that out my health benefits are through my husbands work, though he's employed by the same hospital as I am its much better for us that he takes the benefits as even if I were core staff nurses who dont take benefits get an additional 17%

There was the potential to take medical coverage with my seasonal contract and while it was more exmemberive than my husband taking them it was still worthwhile.

While I would never recommend being without health benefits the hospitals will normally negotiate large discounts if your paying cash.

cariad · Mar 18, 2007

most uk nurses who come, just have to be aware that if they are the main breadwinner then they have to be in a position of the other half working and being able to use their medical coverage, for them to take time off for any reason.

nothing worse than suddenly being sick or terminated for reasons thats not your fault and finding yourself with no coverage.

its obviously better for the agency nurses to choose to pay for disability coverage when they come and the hospital employed nurses i think are in a better position.

i worked my 18 months 40 hours a week and didnt choose to take the extra coverage, luckily for me i didnt need sick time, but now i look back and think that i was very foolish to have taken a chance like that.

this is the first time that we have had to access the health system and to say that it sucks would be an understatement.

also didnt know that we could negotiate payments with the hospitals.

we have great west coverage which is what ogp use and they only pay for 70% of hospital visits and if they break the skin in the doctors office,,,ie, an injection then its classed as surgery, so we have to pay 30% of all that.

my day surgery was over $20,000 and dh's er visit was over $16,000 and they only pay 50% of that,

.so as you can see we have landed in a nightmare right now.

i am still waiting to be fit to go back to work and it will seem like heaven again.

english_nurse · Mar 18, 2007

would you say then that OGPs coverage isnt worth taking?, it doesnt sound very good, and it seems expensive to me,

they do try to hard sell it to you, but then they probably know that we have no knowledge of the system, i expect there are bonuses involved, hence the hard sell

geordiegirl2 · Mar 19, 2007

would you say then that OGPs coverage isnt worth taking?, it doesnt sound very good, and it seems expensive to me,
they do try to hard sell it to you, but then they probably know that we have no knowledge of the system, i expect there are bonuses involved, hence the hard sell

It certainly isn't the best and it was more expensive than we pay now but the only positive in it for me was that we were covered as soon as I started work, which I know might not be the case now.

I know there are nurses who have found better deals taking it out privately but usually you do get better coverage through an employer.

whitman · Mar 19, 2007

Hey there, have you considered further a field? I have worked in the uk and loved the experience but can relate to the threads with the one nurse, loads of patients and an HCA. At times very scary! The nurses were all great though!!!! Down under I think we get a similar pay round $27 NZ, for experienced, but standard of living is less. What I like is that we have a RN nurse for 4-5 patients, and this happens most of the time. Of course every country seems to have shortages. Have a nice day!!!!!

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Mar 19, 2007

would you say then that OGPs coverage isnt worth taking?, it doesnt sound very good, and it seems expensive to me,
they do try to hard sell it to you, but then they probably know that we have no knowledge of the system, i expect there are bonuses involved, hence the hard sell

Take the coverage it is very very hard to get coverage initially unless anybody on here can recommend where you can get good coverage for people who have come from oversea's. Once you have a year under your belt then it is better for you

cariad · Mar 19, 2007

the coverage that ogp provide is just like bulk buying, they get discounts and you get the cover cheaper, they should provide it free for you and you pay for your family.

its difficult to come direct from the uk and to get coverage, and usually if you do then its more expensive as you dont get the company discounts.

because i am not working the government provided health care has taken over, so i have gone from paying $150 a month for dh to paying over $640 for both of us each month, but the care is still provided by great west who we were with anyway.

theres always a catch, because most health care insurers wont pay for pre-existing conditions, if you havent had 11 months continuous cover prior top a claim, thats why you really have to take what they offer you, but be sure to take disability cover with them as well.

english_nurse · Mar 19, 2007

thanks

there a a few companies who deal with newly arrived greenies, if i find the links i will post them

:)

suzanne7575 · Mar 19, 2007

The agency i am going with use great west health as well and looking at the policies and the costs I was not impressed either. We are looking at $500 per month to add hubby and kids on the 30% one, or for another $150 per month we can have the buy up one, which covers both in and out of network facilites, and it is something like $20 co-pay for physician visit, and 10% co-pay on everything else, with a $1500 family deductible and a max yearly out of pocket of $6000. It's still a lot to find if need be and the cost per month is astronomical but I think for the ease of getting cover sorted without any hassles it will be worth it, especially with kiddies. It also seems that hubby gaining coverage through employemnt is a qualifying event in which we can change our policy, so if he gets work with his own insurance then we can just pay for the kids which is a lot cheaper. My contract is an hourly one for 18 months (ish) but any on call, overtime etc. is all counted towards the hours, so if i do a bit of overtime (and everything works out okay) I can reduce the contract down to around 15 months, then i will be able to get direct hire employment and the better benefits.

suzanne7575 · Mar 19, 2007

thanks
there a a few companies who deal with newly arrived greenies, if i find the links i will post them
:)

I've also found a couple of policies that deal with immigrants (immigrationhealth.com or something) they seem to have a good policy underwritten by lloyds of london, which is a low deductible, 20% co-pay which is waived if you use the network providers. Only thing is it doesn't cover well child and adult health checks for the first 12 months (not sure how many people use these services ?)The company is based in Gilbert AZ I think so maybe sme of you AZ girls have heard of it. It would work out cheaper for me to insure hubby and kids through them and me take the free cover, but not sure if they are legit or any good?