[Figment]

Not entirely true Elcyco. If you have your MRI done in Germany or the Netherlands, there can be differences in waiting lists and price.

Maybe you want the deluxe version and skip waiting lists and go to a private hospital. Maybe you want a different out of town hospital that's further away, but cheaper or with different waiting lists because they have more or less patients, personel, etc.

Maybe you want to get surgery by that one guy who's really good at it, but that costs more, or alternatively by an intern if it's not a big deal. Also, how often can you make use of it? Etc.

There's also differences in conditions under which the health threat occured, on which they do or do not pay. There's also limits to how much they will cover. For instance, new glasses fall under health care. With my insurance up to 300 euro is covered per year, but it's not lenses AND glasses, just one or the other and the remainder is up to me. So if you get cheap frames for your glasses, you can get two. Meaning it also depends with whom you are insured where you can get your glasses and what companies provide the frames.

Another thing is that I don't need to be insured the same way as someone else. Being a male, I don't think I'll get pregnant, so I won't need any care in relation to pregnancy. If you're working in construction, maybe it's more interesting for you to insure injuries out of fall risk and other accidents (very important because people often get screwed over here and there are many fall accidents each year that lead to uninsured injury! A lot of people work without ropes and then the insurance company can say: own fault - meaning it can also stimulate people to use safety gear by making them aware and prevent needing care at all).

There's a lot of things health insurance companies can compete on. The main thing is, how much risk are they willing to take that you need health care each year, meaning how much premium will they demand?


If you're not insured, it may well be that you're off worse in the end. If you never need medical care but suddenly get hit by a truck in a car crash and it costs $100.000,- to get your back patched up... Then I don't think you can easily afford it and at that point your life is ruined, you can forget about being a productive member of society and instead you'll be draining money from the state, friends and family. If only you could have afforded or were willing to get health care insurance then...



Another thing is, when everyone has health care insurance, the costs per person go down. Insurance companies fund health care by the collective premiums they get - costs, wages, new BMWs and office chairs for the board, etc. Either way, not everyone needs health care each year so they leave a surplus. Meaning if less people have to pay for the insurance of all the sick, they have to pay more surplus to get the same insurance coverage. However, if more people pay, then more can make use of it too, however, the surplus as a whole will be greater and it's easier for an insurance company to provide the care people need.

What does this mean for us? If you need medicine from the pharmacist and have a doctors receipt, most if not all the costs for the medicine will be paid by the insurance company and you only need to go and collect it. You don't have to think about whether or not you can afford it, which is what a lot of Americans do right now.

Health is a first need. It's not a luxury commodity as someone here described it. Health is also vital to an economy. An healthy workforce is a happy workforce is a productive workforce. It's in the interest of companies to have healthy, well-fed, happy and thus productive workers.




Still, the main problem with insurance companies is that they always try to get out of having to pay your bills. And that's also of course because there's always people trying to take advantage of them as well. This is where there should be heavy checks from doctor and consumer organisations to ensure quality and fair competition and practice. The second thing is that people should have the ability to compare health care packages in a really neutral fashion and tailor made to their needs. Lastly, one company might be a lot more clear than another, or have more small print.



So yeah, there's a lot you can compete with between insurance companies by offering different packages and care. And I do think it's a good thing as many people as possible are insured to lower overall costs (including to society). Just because they're too pigheaded to realise this enables them to do more with their lives and as a country, doesn't mean it's taking away their freedoms. In fact, insurance can ensure the freedom to continue living the way you want to live your life because you've got a healthy or healthier body or the accessories to make up for handicaps or ill-ness without crippling your relatives into debt and stress.

But hey.. BOOHOO DAY GOFERMEND R TAKEZORING YER FREEDUMBS.