Posted on 02/16/2005 4:42:02 AM PST by Eurotwit
It is not just Britons, fed up with overcrowding and poor weather, who look to another continent for a new life. Across the Channel, the Dutch middle classes are quitting clogged roads and street violence in numbers unheard of in living memory.
Australia is a top destination for a wave of migration among educated Dutch people, sparked by racial strife and increasing unrest in the Netherlands. The murder of homosexual populist politician Pim Fortuyn and film-maker Theo van Gogh are seen as linked to the exodus. More people left Holland in 2003 than arrived.
The trend is likely to continue. A typical reaction comes from Els Booij, human resources consultant for the Japanese company Kawasaki. Away from home in Amsterdam for a holiday in the French Alps, she told me: "Most sensible people think things have gone too far. There's a lack of drive among politicians to get to grips with the problems. Instead, a sense of resignation reigns – nothing changes."
Europeans arriving Down Under should not be disappointed as far as medical services go. Australia emerges well in comparisons of healthcare provision between developed countries. It has blended state and private provision to such effect that Dr Liam Fox, former shadow health minister, sees it as a possible future blueprint for Britain's health service.
One advantage for new immigrants is quick access to good emergency medicine within the state system. For non-emergency medicine, the picture is less encouraging. But state subsidy of private medical insurance is a help. Premiums attract a 30pc tax rebate.
The upshot is that more than four in 10 of Australia's 20m citizens have private medical cover for treatment of conditions from cancer to cataracts.
The numbers insuring privately are continuing to rise. In Britain, the take-up of private medical insurance barely exceeds one in 10 of the population. The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, is no fan of private medicine. Among his first moves when he moved into No 11 in 1997 was to scrap tax breaks for the over-60s. He later set up an inquiry which earmarked general taxation, some say predictably, as the best way of funding healthcare.
Well placed to compare healthcare in Europe with that in Australia is Dean Pollard, an Australian based in Brighton as development director of Bupa International, which claims top spot among expat insurers.
"Someone going to Australia will be pleasantly surprised at how easy the public and private system is to navigate – I found it difficult coming from Australia into the UK," he said.
"There are, like any place around the world, queues for elective surgery – probably between three and six months. I've heard shock stories of people shunted down the line for upwards of a year. But overall the public system is good."
People in Australia pay 1.5pc of gross salary towards its universal health system, Medicare. The tax rises to 2.5pc of gross salary for anyone earning more than A$50,000 (A$100,000 for families) who does not have private medical insurance. For those using the public system, Medicare refunds 85pc of primary care, that is non hospital, costs. It fully meets hospital costs for the non-private patient.
By opting for private treatment in a public hospital, patients can select their doctor. They face accommodation charges and fees for medical services. Under most private insurance plans, patients are fully reimbursed.
Given the overall standard of medicine, how strong is the case for the prospective expatriate buying insurance before departing? Crucially, someone newly arrived in the country would get free emergency treatment. Unsurprisingly, charges apply for other treatments. Most insurers – or health funds – provide a "non-residence cover" for those making extended visits.
Mr Pollard commented: "There is often a delay in getting non-residence cover. For instance, in the case of the Bupa Australia product you would have to enrol on that product about two months before arriving." Any pre-existing ailment would be excluded for a minimum of 12 months.
Non-resident insurance provides private and public hospital cover. This is important as non residents are ineligible for benefits under the Medicare system.
These plans often carry "menu" options. These allow the policyholder additional benefits such as dentistry, physiotherapy and forms of complementary medicine, such as acupuncture and chiropractic. "This is very popular – probably about 60pc of the private market has some form of extras," added Mr Pollard.
However, most immigrants who come as individuals under their own steam, rather than company employees on secondment, do not have insurance cover.
Peter Rousseau, development director of insurer InterGlobal, said: "Dealing with the corporate side, employees get everything tied up in advance. On the individual side, people tend to get onsite first then ask around for everything from medical insurance to where the best hairdresser is."
Much can be found on the websites of international relocation companies, governments and international insurers.
Australia is the biggest market for PPP International, Britain's second biggest medical insurer. And the firm expects this trend to continue. John Hunt, the company's international spokesman, said the country offered "a unique mix of commercial centres, with the latest medical facilities and technologies available, and isolated wildernesses".
Welcome to the future.
Or the past :-)
There was a study in the Norwegian media before christmas about how several hundred Dutch had relocated to the Western Fjordlands of Norway in order to get away from their multicultural paradise.
ping...thought you might be interested.
I'm from the Netherlands and I'm leaving too. Within 2 years I hope, preferably to USA but I wouldn't rule out Australia, I got relatives there so that might work :-)
"More people left Holland in 2003 than arrived."
Why would anyone move to Holland?
Lived in Australia for 4 years. Great place to live.
Most western Europeans and Americans with half a brain have finally realized that this liberal obsession with multi-culturalism in nothing but a hugh lie. Handing your country over to people that hate you and want to kill you and refusing to do nothing about it is a mental disorder. There is something about the western European mind that causes it to think this way. It is called "GUILT". It's time to get over it before we lose everything(including our lives).
The article doesn't make the immigrants sound like rugged individualists. It makes the immigrants sound like wards of the state, who need to know they'll be taken care of before they'll move.
I'm glad the Pilgrims to North America, and other immigrants here, we not so timid and wimpy. Otherwise this country would still be a wilderness.
Thanks. Brother-in-law did this a few years back. Obviously, this is not a good trend for Holland/Europe. Classic case of Brain Drain. The wealth creator leaving and the welfare participant arriving.
This is the ultimate indictment of wealthy white liberals in search of their hedonist utopia. They trash a whole continent with their progressive rule, when things get ugly after their despoiliation, no problem, they skip to the next resource rich island.
Exactly.
That's what I was thinking. Is anyone strong enough to stand and fight?
My family left Holland for the US back in 1648, guess we just got a little bit of a head start. If I ever were to go somewhere else it would be Australia.
Who is John Galt?
I guess we shouldn't be too hard on immigrants to Australia. They have the guts to make a big, bold change in their lives. It's just this reporter who seems obsessed with state-provided health care benefits.
Well, of course, because social services are "free."
And, for the final Mohammedan conquest of Europe.
I guess they got their lessons from France and bugged out vice fighting for their nation. So much for Europe.
In a related story, Europe has changed it name to Eurabia today....
The EU is a pretty frightening place. A 3,000+ page constitution regulating life to be enforced by lifelong bureaucrats just boggles the mind. The sheep are just being calmly herded into the EU pen. And there is no way for the signatures to secede from the union. Oh well, the EU does not learn from its own history. Too bad! They have a few successful models to copy from instead they devise a monstrosity. They devised a monstrosity that has very little potential to evolve into anything except into a larger monstrosity. The only hope is that, to the best of my knowledge, the constitution has not be ratified yet.
It would be hard to argue with that.
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