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I found this excerpt mildly annoying: The cost of care is nearly $8,000 per month, but the Dutch government subsidizes the residents—all of whom receive priv
by fastball 3y ago
I found this excerpt mildly annoying:
The cost of care is nearly $8,000 per month, but the Dutch government subsidizes the residents—all of whom receive private rooms—to varying degrees; the amount each family pays is based on income, but never exceeds $3,600.
To put it into perspective, a private room at a U.S. nursing home cost an average of $248 per day in 2012, or more than $90,500 annually—a figure that’s even more staggering when applied to the rapid increase in dementia patients globally.
Making me do the math in my head only to find out that the private room in the US is actually cheaper than the Dutch one (at $96,000/year) feels pretty misleading. Sure, I bet the quality of care is much much better than what you'd find in the average US nursing home, but that's exactly why you don't need to be sneaky with the numbers!
- solumunus 3y agoIt’s cheaper but the government isn’t paying for more than half of it, I guess that’s the comparison. Poorly written though, for sure.
- fastball 3y agoSure, but subsidizing elderly care is a different discussion than how the elderly care is carried out. I'm sure the Dutch government would also be capping family expenses at $3600 even if this was just a run-of-the-mill nursing home we were talking about.
- dutchdev 3y agoHow much of that figure is paid by the government/insurance? I think it's more about comparing the costs that are actually paid by patients. The family of the patient never pays more then €43,200, and probably more close to half of that for most the families.
- ljlolel 3y agoI agree that was purposely chosen to hide the comparison
- jacquesm 3y agoIt's also off by a factor of 10 on the residents side. Not sure where that figure came from, and the residents do not have much privacy, they live with 6 people to a home, which has a fixed team of caretakers.
- paulluuk 3y agoThe amount of money that the families pay is considerably lower, though ($43,200/year). Though honestly, that's still a lot of money.
- carlmr 3y agoEspecially if you adjust for Dutch salaries which are on average lower than American salaries.
- AlecSchueler 3y agoIsn't that driven up by more extreme outliers in the US? From my expertience "on the street" the people of the Netherlands generally seem better off.
- carlmr 3y agoThe people are better off in the median because there's more social services, but that means higher taxes and lower net income. Which makes paying x amount even harder.
- AlecSchueler 3y agoFrom my quick searches it looks like people in the Netherlands have about double the bank balance, again on average, than people in the US. I'm not sure why being better off makes it harder to make purchases? The social services actually help people, they're not just a money vacuum.
- carlmr 3y agoThe social services help people, but having to spend an amount for additional services on top of what you already pay more than Americans is extra hard, no?
- AlecSchueler 3y ago