[Taikonerd]

I'm not sure which country you're from, but many EU countries do have private health insurance. The Netherlands, for example, has a system of subsidized private insurance, and a mandate that everyone buy a policy.

(If Americans are thinking, "huh, that sounds like Obamacare / the ACA marketplace!" then you're right.)

[taejo]

Painting in such broad strokes, the German system also sounds like the ACA, but it's really not: the high level description really erases key differences.

In Germany there is nothing like bronze/silver/gold plans. All statutory health insurance covers what is required to be covered by regulations, with just a few bonus services, at the regulated tariff plus just a few percentage points of variation. So the 90% of people in Germany who have statutory health insurance [1] have essentially the same coverage. The tariff is a percentage of income (up to a cap), not a flat fee.

[1] not everyone is required to have statutory health insurance, for example employees above an income threshold and self-employed people

[reticulates]

The Dutch system and the U.S. system are not comparable. Health insurance in the U.S. is a “free market” that the government dabbles in with a little policy here and there. Health insurance in The Netherlands is controlled by the government, it is heavily regulated.

[lII1lIlI11ll]

Still it is worth highlighting on this forum since many Americans believe that healthcare is "free" across Europe.

[reticulates]

Healthcare is "free" across Europe, including in The Netherlands. The choice of The Netherlands' to structure their system as mandatory insurance doesn't change the nature of it, it is free at the point of service with the mandatory insurance costs paid for by the government when someone is unable to pay themselves.

[lII1lIlI11ll]

No matter your mental gymnastics that is not how those Americans imagine health care in Europe works. And just for your (and our confused American friends) information there are several countries in Europe where "a point of (healthcare) service" will send you a bill.

[reticulates]

Which European countries have a healthcare system similar to the American system? A system that has "insurance" (e.g: The Netherlands, Germany) is no less "free" healthcare than a system without insurance (e.g: England) or a system that will "send you a bill" like France. "Free" healthcare means that the patient will never need to worry about the cost of their treatment because it is covered by the system (whether through taxation, reimbursement, insurance does not matter). How many people have been bankrupted by healthcare in Europe?

[lII1lIlI11ll]

The word you are looking for is "universal" not "free".