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Yes I am. My out of pocket + premium for my entire family is MUCH MUCH MUCH less than I save in taxes by being an American over European. Pretend health insura

Yes I am. My out of pocket + premium for my entire family is MUCH MUCH MUCH less than I save in taxes by being an American over European. Pretend health insurance is a "tax" and add it to your total tax rate. Now compare your total tax rate with someone in Germany/Sweden/Norway making similar pay. For most developer type jobs, I think you are going to find that even a $2,000 a month insurance plan a steal.

mywittyname 5y ago
I mean, you are right. For people like us, the American system works out quite nicely. But the further you fall down the income ladder, the worse the American system is.
- cudgy 5y ago
  Someone has to pay for it. You are getting paid less money as your employer pays the high premiums, so it is not working out so well for you either.
andrei_says_ 5y ago
If it was tax-based, most likely the premiums would be much much lower, and there would be no deductibles. Nor denial of service. There’s also the moral cost of participating in and supporting a system extorting the less fortunate. “Not my problem” is where we are divided - and pay an extraordinary price, becoming complicit in the extreme violence of poverty.
mtberatwork 5y ago
I can't comment on the other countries, but no one in Germany is paying $2000/month for public health insurance.
- 8note 5y ago
  Gp assumes that the only difference between US and European tax spend is healthcare
- brianwawok 5y ago
  Right, look at your total tax bill.
  - elmotri 5y ago
    Let's do the math. So how does public health insurance work in Germany? * There is a base rate of 14.6% from your gross that split between the employer and employee. The split is not important for our calculation as it will come out of the same budget an employer has for one employee I guess. * Public insurance providers can demand an additional contribution that was on average additional 1.3 percentage points. The highest I could find is 2.5 percentage points extra. * There is an upper limit. You only have to pay for your first 58050€ ($67564) a year. For everything you earn above that you do not pay more. * Family members that do not work or do not earn more than 450€ per month are included for free So that means from the money your employer has available to pay you a maximum of (14.6 + 2.5) * 58050 / 100 = 9927€ ($11556) a year or 827€ ($963) a month.
jleyank 5y ago
If your us jobs are like mine were years back, you’re only paying 20% of the cost of your insurance. Get laid off or quit and use cobra and you’ll learn the real costs.

mywittyname 5y ago

I mean, you are right. For people like us, the American system works out quite nicely. But the further you fall down the income ladder, the worse the American system is.

cudgy 5y ago
Someone has to pay for it. You are getting paid less money as your employer pays the high premiums, so it is not working out so well for you either.

andrei_says_ 5y ago

If it was tax-based, most likely the premiums would be much much lower, and there would be no deductibles. Nor denial of service. There’s also the moral cost of participating in and supporting a system extorting the less fortunate. “Not my problem” is where we are divided - and pay an extraordinary price, becoming complicit in the extreme violence of poverty.

mtberatwork 5y ago

I can't comment on the other countries, but no one in Germany is paying $2000/month for public health insurance.

8note 5y ago
Gp assumes that the only difference between US and European tax spend is healthcare
brianwawok 5y ago
Right, look at your total tax bill.
- elmotri 5y ago
  Let's do the math. So how does public health insurance work in Germany? * There is a base rate of 14.6% from your gross that split between the employer and employee. The split is not important for our calculation as it will come out of the same budget an employer has for one employee I guess. * Public insurance providers can demand an additional contribution that was on average additional 1.3 percentage points. The highest I could find is 2.5 percentage points extra. * There is an upper limit. You only have to pay for your first 58050€ ($67564) a year. For everything you earn above that you do not pay more. * Family members that do not work or do not earn more than 450€ per month are included for free So that means from the money your employer has available to pay you a maximum of (14.6 + 2.5) * 58050 / 100 = 9927€ ($11556) a year or 827€ ($963) a month.

jleyank 5y ago

If your us jobs are like mine were years back, you’re only paying 20% of the cost of your insurance. Get laid off or quit and use cobra and you’ll learn the real costs.