How Much Does Basic Health Insurance Cost Around The World?

Zero Hedge ^ | 05/14/2014 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

How does one define most basic health insurance? If one is Deutsche Bank, as follows: "Health insurance annual premium is for a basic policy for a local resident between 25-35 years. Since the definition of a standard package varies between countries, we have tried to stick to an insurance policy which covers inpatient events and no extra covers like dental, etc.... The data has been sourced mainly from local providers of heath insurances, reports of organizations engaged in research of health care and news clippings."

And how much does "most basic health insurance" cost around the world? According to Deutsche Bank the answer, when presented in dollar terms, is as follows:

Clearly what the US, with its highest in the world costs, needs is for the government to step in and really fix the problem.

[Dr. Sivana]

Of course, you aren’t legally allowed to just have “basic” health insurance. Under our laws, the base package must include all sorts of non-sense.

[Izzy Dunne]

Clearly, what we all need to do is to buy Mexican health insurance.

[DoughtyOne]

While I do think there is something terribly rotten in relation to the costs in the U. S., we also need to realize that some of those nations that look great, provide abysmal service so bad that people have to leave their own nation to get care.

Canada looks great, but it’s system is seriously screwed up if you actually need to use it for some things.

Surgery centers are few and far between. Not many of us would be happy to have to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to have surgery. Most of us wouldn’t want to wait for services for months either.

[Gay State Conservative]

It's not just the cost...it's the quality and the timeliness of the treatment.I had a hip replacement a few years back.Twelve business days after I called for the initial consultation with the surgeon I was in the recovery room of a world famous Boston hospital sporting some new titanium.I,an ordinary middle class guy...not rich,powerful *or* connected,was operated on by a full professor at Harvard Medical School and it was done in a matter of days.

Match *that* Canada...match *that*,Britain...match *that*,Switzerland.

[trebb]

Clearly, what we all need to do is to buy Mexican health insurance

I think it entails giving the cartels and police money so they don't target you and your family.

[Vigilanteman]

There are several reasons why the cost in Japan for the same basic brand of first world medicine is about one-third of ours:

1. Everybody is expected to pay something, roughly 20% of the actual cost.
   
2. As a result, there isn't an endless parade of those expecting to get everything free, illegal aliens, chronic winos, druggies and the like.
   
3. No single payer or centralized government control. The government plan (based on income) is purposely designed as a last resort type of plan, for those who can't get better coverage elsewhere.
   
4. There is not a jungle of mandates where plans are expected to cover certain favored classes at the expense of everyone else. i.e. the promiscuous, drug addled, homosexuals and other typical Obama voters.

[Nachum]

The chart is a complete misrepresentation of fact.

It isn’t merely the cost of health insurance in the foreign countries, it is the high rates of taxation, wage and price controls on doctors and nurses, the lack of funding for new drug research, long waits for necessary services, and denial of service for arbitrary reasons.

Sorry, no sale.

[Oratam]

It’s disconnected from market forces.

[BipolarBob]

Not many of us would be happy to have to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to have surgery.

I've known of people have done just that. Either because the treatment they need is not available in the US (not AMA approved) or costs. A medical vacation that prevents bankruptcy is a distinct possibility for middle income Americans.

[BipolarBob]

You’re either rich OR have great insurance. Obama will have something to say about either of those two possibilities.

[JimSEA]

In Thailand, I can easily afford private care. My in-laws have a mix of public and private health care depending on income level. The public health care is a lot better than our own VA hospitals. One thing that is different is the compensation levels for law suits - they are limited to actual loss with formulas for loss life, etc. an lawyer’s fees are fixed. There is a lot to be argued about in this arrangement, but it helps keep costs down.

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, I’ve heard of that too. It’s true.

[afsnco]

It doesn’t really address socialist welfare states that tax at 80% rates to maintain cradle to grave socialized medicine. I’m thinking of the Swedes, Norwegians, etc.

[Noob1999]

If this chart doesn’t include what an individual pays in tax support to its government run health mandates, then the comparison is totally BOGUS, even including the US statistic!

[americanbychoice3]

Yes, For instance, in Germany the rates are 17% of income. It is not premium based.

[Organic Panic]

What is ignored is the amount of taxes that the “sophisticated” socialize states pay. Germany for example, has a 45% top income tax rate plus a 19% VAT (less for groceries). We US taxpayers also fund most of the military costs of these nations.

The true blame for our costs are government meddlers. Ever since Kaiser shipyards started offering self insured plans to attract workers to hellish conditions clowns like Kennedy have stuck their disgusting fingers in to the pie. It has grown and grown and been perverted to the health plans we have today. Now that we are all required to buy insurance, hello obamacare, the prices will raise indefinitely. There is zero market forces on insurance in this nation.

[VanShuyten]

Don’t forget the huge subsidies the Japanese government pays out of general funds. Premiums only cover about half the cost with co-pays about another 20%. The taxpayers foot the rest, which has been rising dramatically due to the aging population.

[LFOD]

I have family in Colombia. Last June I traveled there for medical reasons.
In one business week (5 days)I had my yearly checkup with an oncologist, three appointments with a cardiologist to include wearing a heart monitor, blood workup, echocardiogram, prescriptions for afib plus two visits with an optometrist to include two fitted pairs of reading glasses.

Total medical bill - $561 US + prescriptions as a non-citizen. Not bad.... A Colombian citizen would have paid an administrative fee - that’s it. All severe conditions and surgeries do get reviewed to keep the system honest.

They do not have entire classes of leeches, parasites, gimmeedats, sue happy lawyers or recalcitrant politicians on a scale that we have in the US. Everybody who is able bodied works.

I have no complaints concerning the treatment or respect I received. I couldn’t get my foot in the door here in the US because I don’t have “insurance”.

[DoughtyOne]

I pretty much agree with where you’re headed there.

I will say that the medical industry worked fairly well until around the time Medicare was introduced into the mix.

Once government becomes involved, things go south.

If we got back to a direct relationship financially between patients, physicians, and medical centers, a lot of the problems would evaporate.

People would be more cognizant of the costs. The different entities would have to compete for business. All the money would go to providers, and not to middle men who siphon off hundreds of billions of dollars each year.