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I see some people talking about Germany and France offering far better and cheaper healthcare. But can you afford to look only at Germany and France? They oper
by gingabriska 7y ago
I see some people talking about Germany and France offering far better and cheaper healthcare.
But can you afford to look only at Germany and France? They operate in a broader framework of EU.
If you are going to compare services/living standards then must also directly compare Romania or Bulgaria to the US because Germany and France are able to provide cheap healthcare because their healthcare staff are willing to accept lower prices and how does it work? By importing labor from cheaper European countries. Presently, many doctors and nurses from Romania work in Germany without them good luck being able to maintain "cheap" healthcare.
If you cut off Germany and France from rest of the EU, the healthcare cost will likely shoot up far more than what it costs in US now.
There is downward pressure on wages in whole EU and this is why Europeans come to states for better employment opportunities, and better pay which can and does buy you better living standards if you are willing to spend the money you make but it seems not many want to do that, they want free healthcare in addition to taking large proportion of their wages home.
- pcardoso 7y agoI am from Portugal, a country that has many people working in richer EU countries, but I don't think this is true. Romanian or Portuguese nurses and doctors working in France or Germany or any other country will have the same wages as a french nurse or doctor. Or most of the time at least. My wife is a nurse and we did some research on this a few years ago.
- nraynaud 7y agoand there is the converse too, where people go to eastern countries to get surgeries.
- atlasunshrugged 7y agoI don't know specifically wages but often there are re-certifications needed even within the EU (currently a friend's wife who is an M.D. is trying to switch from Estonia to the UK and has to jump through several administrative hoops and get certifications in English and a few other things)
- therealdrag0 7y agoThere is still the possibility of increased worker availability reducing wages, you have less bargaining power if theres readily someone else to take your place.
- pradn 7y agoMedical workers coming in from other countries can suppress wages, but enough to cause a significant price difference in cost of health care? We also don't know the dynamic effects of a labor shortage. Maybe Germans would switch jobs into the medical field and the wages won't rise that much?
- gingabriska 7y agoGerman companies are bitching forever now that there are no workers available for them. I read that in news every other week.
- gingabriska 7y agoI am not saying they are accept lower wages then their German or French counterparts, what I am claiming is that because they are available in the market, their availability puts downward pressure on the wages and that's why German or French doctor/nurses can't charge more than what they'd pay to a worker from any other country.
- ced 7y agoIt's not like North America doesn't have its share of immigrant doctors. However, at least in Canada, their diplomas are often not accepted. I know a dentist operating a daycare, for example. Is it any different in the EU?