4 ms·

Europe consists of many countries, and one of them is more than happy to take 9% / 5% of your income in exchange for one quite crappy public health care system

Europe consists of many countries, and one of them is more than happy to take 9% / 5% of your income in exchange for one quite crappy public health care system - think whenever you need to see a specialist, you have to pay with your own money anyway (or wait months, years to get an appointment). If you want private health insurance, you have to fund the super expensive good for nothing public one anyway.

gambiting 4y ago
I...don't see how that's relevant to what I said, but.....ok? I don't really disagree.
- mckravchyk 4y ago
  It's relevant because sure you can get a private insurance but you are already spending 5% of your income before tax on the public one and can't opt out from it. Like that's too much expenditure already to think about private health insurance.
ta1243 4y ago
Which country? In the UK I earn a decent wage (well more than 80% of people in the UK), and last year I paid less than £3k / $3.5k for healthcare which covered me, my wife, my 2 children. It also covers my 70+ year old mother and my 90+ year old grandmother who don't earn enough to pay income tax. 80% of people pay far less than I do. What type of health insurance can I buy in the US for $290 a month to cover a family with no co-pays.
- mckravchyk 4y ago
  Poland. This is a recent change introduced in 2022. It used to be some $100/mo
  - gambiting 4y ago
    So I disagree with this statement where you said >>you have to fund the super expensive good for nothing public one anyway. My father had battled cancer in Polish oncology hospitals and has received nothing but top tier treatment wherever he went. What's more, NFZ completely funded the treatment with then-experimental Glivec for him, which was billed at around 200k zł/year(in US, a year of Glivec treatment is around $100k). In the course of 8 years of cancer he had to stop working due to the ilness, and yet was still fully covered and received the same treatment as always. So no, it's not "expensive but good for nothing". It's not expensive compared to private treatment, and it's extremely good if you have a major ilness. I agree that routine treatment and appointments are in shambles, but that's universally true pretty much everywhere in Europe right now, the waiting times in countries with public healthcare systems have inflated into infinity due to a combination of factors. But even in Poland, I wouldn't dare to not pay into the system - it's too good not to pay for it(and I do, in fact, pay for it).
    - mckravchyk 4y ago
      I'm sorry, I have been lucky to only have limited experience with the system to date and it did not make a good impression. I take it back but I still think that 5 - 9 % of income before tax for healthcare is outrageous. > but that's universally true pretty much everywhere in Europe right now, the waiting times in countries with public healthcare systems have inflated into infinity due to a combination of factor I have heard that's not the case in Germany and the private appointments are almost not a thing. I could be wrong though.
      - ta1243 4y ago
        Is it really that high? https://www.icalculator.info/poland.html https://www.icalculator.info/poland.html Says that people pay 1.25% in health insurance. Poland in general pays 6% of its GDP on health care. The US spends 3 times that.

gambiting 4y ago

I...don't see how that's relevant to what I said, but.....ok? I don't really disagree.

mckravchyk 4y ago
It's relevant because sure you can get a private insurance but you are already spending 5% of your income before tax on the public one and can't opt out from it. Like that's too much expenditure already to think about private health insurance.

ta1243 4y ago

Which country? In the UK I earn a decent wage (well more than 80% of people in the UK), and last year I paid less than £3k / $3.5k for healthcare which covered me, my wife, my 2 children. It also covers my 70+ year old mother and my 90+ year old grandmother who don't earn enough to pay income tax. 80% of people pay far less than I do. What type of health insurance can I buy in the US for $290 a month to cover a family with no co-pays.

mckravchyk 4y ago
Poland. This is a recent change introduced in 2022. It used to be some $100/mo
- gambiting 4y ago
  So I disagree with this statement where you said >>you have to fund the super expensive good for nothing public one anyway. My father had battled cancer in Polish oncology hospitals and has received nothing but top tier treatment wherever he went. What's more, NFZ completely funded the treatment with then-experimental Glivec for him, which was billed at around 200k zł/year(in US, a year of Glivec treatment is around $100k). In the course of 8 years of cancer he had to stop working due to the ilness, and yet was still fully covered and received the same treatment as always. So no, it's not "expensive but good for nothing". It's not expensive compared to private treatment, and it's extremely good if you have a major ilness. I agree that routine treatment and appointments are in shambles, but that's universally true pretty much everywhere in Europe right now, the waiting times in countries with public healthcare systems have inflated into infinity due to a combination of factors. But even in Poland, I wouldn't dare to not pay into the system - it's too good not to pay for it(and I do, in fact, pay for it).
  - mckravchyk 4y ago
    I'm sorry, I have been lucky to only have limited experience with the system to date and it did not make a good impression. I take it back but I still think that 5 - 9 % of income before tax for healthcare is outrageous. > but that's universally true pretty much everywhere in Europe right now, the waiting times in countries with public healthcare systems have inflated into infinity due to a combination of factor I have heard that's not the case in Germany and the private appointments are almost not a thing. I could be wrong though.
    - ta1243 4y ago
      Is it really that high? https://www.icalculator.info/poland.html https://www.icalculator.info/poland.html Says that people pay 1.25% in health insurance. Poland in general pays 6% of its GDP on health care. The US spends 3 times that.