@moth_ball Well average is a bit misleading.. Many people who get insurance in the USA get it to cover elective treatments too which foreign insurance doesnt cover and would need supplemental insurance to get.

But on average our insurance is 425$... what is more telling is the **minimal** cost for insurance. In other words, whats the cost for insurance that covers only medical necessities and none of the nice optional stuff. for that its int he range of 200$ - 300$ for middle class families with decent income.. the poorer you are the cheaper it can be as there are programs the subsidize insurance cost for low-income families. Below a certain income level it becomes free.

You're right, I should've said "typical". Is that amount for a month or a year?

Social services cover a lot of elective treatments as well, most notably the lion's share of all prescription drugs' costs (still gotta pay a part of a relatively very small part of it, this is probably why they cant pump prices forever). My shoulder surgery was also paid for, not to mention countless other things as I'm made out of spare parts apparently. My insurance is 200€ and change for a year and that includes home insurance and travel insurance too. For costs not subsidized by the social services, my insurance covers healthcare costs after 500€.

What comes off as weird to me is that rather than make the government pay for health costs, govt assists you in paying corporations for the pleasure. isn't that just extra steps?

Interesting to hear about all this. Thanks for your insight.

@moth_ball Those were monthly prices.. for comparison in the netherlands I was paying 200 euro a month.. european prices are certainly a bit cheaper, but not by the huge margins people usually claim.

Keep in mind there are other limitations in european healthcare.. you dont have access to certain medications (like adderall), and you do not have the guaranteed privacies you would in the USA (for example in most universal healthcare countries if you have a prescription for controlled substances it is tracked on a public list).

@freemo
>tracked on public lists
Patient data is confidential. The local FDA does make inquiries if you prescribe controlled substances too liberally, so that much is true. But that data is confidential on their end too, so calling it public isn't right either.

There are pretty good reasons they don't just give Adderall to every student who heard from his friend that it works wonders. This is a powerful stimulant and there are risks involved with it. If you're implying that controlling abusable substances is bad, I suggest coming to work in a hospital with me and you'll change your mind pretty quickly. On top of the individual we must also take care of the populace on a wider level. I think you might know something about opioids over there.

While I can't say much about insurance other than what I have, regulating healthcare and the industries associated with it is absolutely a must if we want to have a healthy populace. Healthcare (public at least) wants you to be healthy, and that's what decisions like this are based on. Recommendations are reevaluated all the time based on new findings, too.

We have a saying: "Private healthcare gives you what you want, public healthcare gives you what you need."