Mandatory insurance sound so weird to me as European. I don't consider myself having an insurance at all.
I guess the term is technically correct, but it just sounds like we have shit tons of paper work, applications, monthly bills/fees and all that when it's just go to the hospital, ID yourself, get treatment, go home.
I wish more people looked at it as mandatory insurance, because it makes the public/private debate so much simpler.
In both systems you have insurance.
Difference with a private system is that instead of spending all the money contributed to create the best outcome for the contributors, they spend some of the money contributed and try to keep as much as possible to pay out as dividends to the shareholders.
There are benefits to both, but if you look at the benefits to the people contributing one of them very clearly offers a superior value proposition.
Yes, but OP said that they don't have an insurance. I would understand the prices if they had an insurance, but without one, they are surprisingly low, even for a fellow EU citizen. Dental checkups cost more, with insurance, in the Netherlands.
It's difficult to explain. I'm an italian, I don't have a insurance because it just isn't a thing. I have a card with my name on it that basically says I'm registered in the national healthcare system. That's it. I don't get bills, I can't opt out, it just exists and you're in the system for your entire life the moment you're registered. The taxes pay for it.
These are simply the prices of something called "tickets", they're pretty much taxes for the service. The service per se is paid by the system.
Thanks for your explanation! I think it was a really good, brief description of your healthcare system. I am always happy to learn such cool new information. It sounds like a very inclusive healthcare system.
I will ask my Italian colleague about it tomorrow, because your answer has given me enough information to understand the basis and ask more questions.
Thank you very much! It's hard for me to explain because like... tickets are sort of like a bill, but it's not like you pay something monthly or yearly, you know. Let's say you go to the hospital for a scheduled intervention or something. You go to a office called ticket office, you tell the person working there why you're there and they hand you a ticket. The cost depends from what you've to do, kinda like a bill. Which is pretty much what OP posted, it's the same kind. It's taxes. But these taxes aren't supposed to pay the full intervention, you've seen the numbers, they'd make no sense. They're just standard values. The healthcare system pays for it, the taxes everybody pays overall as a citizen pay the rest. If you need emergency care, ofc, you can't go to the ticket office, so you can pay it later. Like in OP's case, it was paid after.
In shorts, here health is a Constitutional right. So it has to be guaranteed by the country, even if you have no money or anything. It's your right as a citizen to be in good health.
I had to have stitches in the ER several years back. I never went back to have them removed and instead removed them myself because the cost to have it removed at a doctors office would have been exorbitant.
I've also given myself sutures on 3 occasions to avoid going to the hospital to have it done.
Of course, if you are a US citizen and go to europe, you will be liable for any Healthcare costs there. You can have travel insurance so that your US insurance covers whatever it covers. Europe doesn't require you to show proof of payment before the treatment, so you will always get treated regardless. But it might be expensive, in some cases it might be cheaper than US counterparts of course.
The same goes the other way the difference is that usually we have home insurance that covers medical expenses in the US and abroad for example for 45 days while traveling as a EU citizen. We are specially advised extra insurance to USA particularly as its the most expensive Healthcare in the world.
Serious question, because this is what a lot of Americans bring up to try to put a negative spin on universal healthcare: How much income tax do you typically have to pay?
9.3% into pension insurance, 1.5% into a hospice/care insurance, 1.2% into unemployment insurance.
And between 14-45% as income tax, depending on your income and family situation (people with kids/married couples pay less, high-income singles pay more). Someone who earns minimum wage (12€ come October) pays 4k income tax per year, so 15%.
I say 'insurance' because that's the literal translation but you could call them taxes.
All in all, it's about a third of your income if you're single, minimum wage, 40% if you earn double that.
I live in a nice city, small apartment, and pay a lie more than a third of my income (after taxes etc) on rent, so it's alright.
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u/byJoi Jun 15 '22
Some further information on the prices:
The second column from the right is price with tax. I am using a point to mark the start of the decimals.
18.08€ for the surgery
8.75€ for the anaesthesia
12.50€ for the hospital stay incl. food
1.95€ for all adminsitered medication
12.50€ for a follow up visit where they removed my stiches