I tend to think that socialized medicine is a great cost hedge for the individual citizen (ie even in Scandinavia we do pay for health care, so it's not 100% free like some people believe, but the cost is predictable and it can't ever get sky-high like in the US).
I think one downside to it is that it's hard to do anything out of the ordinary (ie some new drug or method or whatever) because health care is seen as a standardized gov't service. For customization, you still need privatized medicine.
Or am I wrong on this? I don't have a lot of insight into the health care system, honestly.
One possibility is France's mixed approach, where everyone is automatically enrolled in the standardized government service, but those who prefer can instead pay for a private-sector doctor to provide service customized however they wish (within legal limits for things like drug approval).
I tend to think that socialized medicine is a great cost hedge
Of course, for this to work, there has to be a lot, possibly the majority, of super-payers who pay more into the health care system via their taxes than they receive back.
So, Scandi style health care can in a way be seen as a government-enforced mandatory health insurance, except that unemployed people get it for (almost) free.
Then again, a huge socialized health care system might have better economies of scale (or they might be worse). Also, let's not forget that people can go to medical school for free in Scandinavia, which is bound to have some kind of effect.
"Of course, for this to work, there has to be a lot, possibly the majority, of super-payers who pay more into the health care system via their taxes than they receive back."
Yes... but, this is also true for for-profit non-socialized health care insurance.
We don't have to worry about health insurance in Israel, either. You pay 5% of your salary (up to a cap), and get (from my family's extensive experience) very good care.
The fact that Americans have to think or worry about health insurance -- and that they can and do go bankrupt when they cannot afford to pay for care -- is bad enough. The fact that many Americans then claim that their system is the best in the world, and needs only superficial change, is shocking on several fronts.
I was fortunate enough to have good health insurance several years ago, when my family was living in the US, when I did my PhD coursework. (We only got this good insurance when the university wanted to charge me more in insurance premiums than they paid me for a stipend.) When my wife got sick with something that's very expensive to treat (but was treated and cured, I'm happy to say), we were especially lucky.
Remember, all of you young entrepreneurs out there, that the odds of getting something might be small, but they do exist. You don't want to be without health insurance if that happens. Again, the fact that this is even possible is a uniquely American phenomenon, and a sad one at that.
The Poland state. About 100$ per month. Almost in whole deductible from directly from income tax.
Coverage? My life partner had CT, MRI, fMRI, little more than a week of hospitalization, and a brain tumor removed within a month by one of the top neurosurgeons (by Yelp-like recommendations) in Poland. Additional cost? None.
British Columbian here. In 2010 I spent over $5000 on prescriptions + dental + optical. I'm pretty sure 2011 will be in the same vicinity. In 2012 I have a good chance of hitting $10k given that I'm thinking of getting an insulin pump.
Yeah, it's nice to know that if I ever end up in a hospital I won't need to worry about what that costs, but don't make the mistake of thinking that our public health system means that private health insurance isn't a very good thing to have.
I think one downside to it is that it's hard to do anything out of the ordinary (ie some new drug or method or whatever) because health care is seen as a standardized gov't service. For customization, you still need privatized medicine.
Or am I wrong on this? I don't have a lot of insight into the health care system, honestly.