Subj : Re: Snitch Country
To : Dale Shipp
From : Ward Dossche
Date : Sat Aug 20 2022 10:38 am
Hi Dale,
DS>WD> There is a portion withheld from the salary which is called "social
DS>WD> contributions" and part of that health insurance system is
DS>WD> funded from that source.
DS> Is that a flat fee for all or is it income based?
It's income based. There's also a mandatory employer's portion which I have no information about.
DS> About how much is it for a normal worker?
I don't know, we're all making too much. But I looked at a salary slip of my son and it seems like it's some 14%, that is pre-taxes. This is the social security payment which goes into healthcare, pension-fund, scholarships, unemployment, more stuff.
DS> How much of the other income taxes goes into paying for medical?
No clue.
DS> I my case, I have an insurance plan that is subsidized by the federal
DS> government as a part of my having worked for the federal government
DS> before I retired from them. I pay a part of that insurance, I think it
DS> amounts to about US$300 per month out of my pocket. Almost every
DS> medical procedure / doctor visit is covered with no copay. There is
DS> only limited dental and vision benefits however.
OK. The legal system here is that the moment you work, you are enrolled in the system automatically, often even when you just run a student's summer job, and start accumulating benefits. When becoming unemployed you do not lose the benefits.
Some of those benefits include help prior to and after childbirth. You will get a free stroller for example, get a %-off at specific stores when buying a car-seat, you get a free baby-carrier, scholarships, social vacations, ...
Of course ... "free" ... nothing's free ... someone somewhere in the system also pays for that and doesn't use the benefit. And "no", it's not an opt-in/opt-out story.
DS> I can add that 45 or 50 years ago, I worked in England and was covered
DS> under their national health system. In several ways, it was
DS> substandard. There were long delays and limited availability of
DS> doctors. At that time I also carried a small private insurance and that
DS> helped cut the delay times and gave my family access to better selection
DS> of doctors.
I believe that ... England is a different world and we often joke about people living on an island, but there's some truth. I may hope services there have now improved (after all, they manage to keep their queen afoot) but until rather recently there was an influx of English women to come here and have childbirth here because of the better care. London is now just a trainride away and it was easy with the UK a member of the EU as birth certificates would be from another country if you needed one. Now with Brexit done that becomes less obvious.
