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Most (all?) European health care is not contingent on employment. With a few exceptions (notably the UK) it is contingent on being able to afford it, and one wa
by morelisp 5y ago
Most (all?) European health care is not contingent on employment. With a few exceptions (notably the UK) it is contingent on being able to afford it, and one way to do that is following the rules to have the gov't pay for it. It's guaranteed, and highly regulated in price; it's not free.
The easiest way to afford it is to have a job. However, if you are willing to pay more (still much less than equivalent US health insurance, e.g. in Germany around 180€/mo) you can buy it directly. Or, you can participate in that country's social safety net which, yes, usually requires you to actively seek a job (often for some loose definition of "actively.")
- throwaway894345 5y agoThis is just semantics. If you have to pay more because of your employment status, then the system in question is contingent on employment for all useful purposes.
- morelisp 5y agoThe claim is that "European public health insurance is commonly contingent on employment", not "European public health insurance monthly payments vary based on employment status." The only way you could end up paying more is if you previously made an average amount of money, have a lot of savings, but now make nothing. Normally this is called "retirement" and if you didn't save enough for it, you don't do it.