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jonherries:ScuL:
Reduced per capita costs for healthcare (the US has the highest per capita cost of healthcare in the world by a massive margin). This will be brought about by forcing young people and healthy people to have insurance, which improves the risk pool.
Effectively they end up with a screwed up/complicated version of of universal healthcare (eg. Netherlands), but not single payer healthcare (eg. NZ, Australia, Canada, UK, France etc)
I'd like to share some insight as I can contribute from 2 perspectives (having lived in The Netherlands for 28 years and in the UK for 4 years now).
- healthcare in NL used to be provided by the state, you could purchase additional private insurance that would cover more (lower excess) and use services the government system wouldn't cover
- in 2002 when I was going to Uni I paid 39 euro (NZ$63) in private healthcare per month (voluntarily)
- the government then continued to make healthcare obligatory in 2006 and privatised the entire system
- consequentially the private healthcare cost then rose to around 75 euro per month (NZ$122), nearly double compared to just 4 years before that
- the private healthcare cost has kept on climbing and is on a current level of around €110 (NZ$180) per person per month - triple the cost of 2002, in just over 10 years!
- hold on stop the story here for a sec
This means that in 2013, in The Netherlands, you are paying €110/$180 per person per month, this means for a family of 4 it costs €440/$718 per month! Multiply this by 12 months and your annual private healthcare charge is €5280 or NZ$8620 .. **SLAP** .. yep that hurts
- before it reached these extremes I got a job offer in the UK and moved over here where I pay £0 per month to receive free NHS treatment
- if I want to get better treatment, coverage and lower excess on any charges not covered I can get a private healthcare service here for around £29/NZ$57 per month .. waay more tolerable
but
- it's not ever yet.. what happens if you can't afford the ridiculous cost that the state forces you to pay in NL?
well after 3 monthly warnings, the tax department will take over and they will levy the healthcare charges as a tax over your income.
this means that it will be taken right off your pay-check without your intervention
if you are not working it will be decreased from your benefits and if you are studying you won't be able to take out a full student loan
the only way to escape the forced healthcare charge is to leave the country and notify your council that you are no longer a citizen, that's the only way to get rid of it..
hmm..
Yep, the Dutch system is quite interesting, I had someone come and talk to me in the last couple of months about the system there and how they could improve, she was trying to learn from what we are doing as NZ has probably the best value for money health system in the world.
Also you realise you are paying for the NHS as part of the "national insurance" in your paycheck...
Jon
Azzura:ScuL: The biggest bummer is for tourists visiting the US!!
Parks like the Grand Canyon are now officially closed.
I don't have a trip booked over there until March 2014 but I do hope things will be sorted by then!
I'd be willing to bet you could still somehow manage to see the Grand Canyon if you are in the area. I found it pretty hard to miss!
So many people complaining about yogurt these days....it's becoming a culture.
P1n3apqlExpr3ss: There were officials putting up fences around war memorials in DC that are normally open to the public 24/7...! Visiting veterans righteously knocked them down and got to pay their respects
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