Health care reform almost at the finish line... correction: it's finished

How the hell do you pay that much a month to health insurance?I pay about 80 euros (like 70 dollars or something) a month, my employer pays about 120 euros.What the hell did you do wrong when you need to pay around 500 euros combined a month for health insurance?

Damn! I've got a deductable of 200 euros with that (a year). All prescriptions are coverred, I can go to whatever doctor I want (sometimes even in other countries). What's that "co-pay" you refer to?

Ah, I see. Nope, none of that.I do see I made a mistake, though. 80 euros isn't 70 dollars, it's more like 95 dollars. Damn again! Next time anybody here starts whining about the costs of healthcare, I'll slap them over the head

There are some. It's not really that bad though. There are only so many doctors or OC's, wait times are inevitable. People should realise this before complaining. Also, of course, the whiners are heard far more often then the people who are satisfied with the system, which is the vast majority (I've heard figures of more then 85% fro the U.K., I think ours are similar, but I don't have any figures ready.) If I had to choose between our system and what you describe to me, I know what I'm gonna choose. If that makes me a liberal nazi communist, so be it. Like a brain surgeon? Covered, in full. Damn. So, even with ensurance, you can still run up one hell of a bill? Triple damn!

The income tax I pay is 38% (the lowest you can pay here). That's probably a lot more than you guys pay over there. But bear in mind that I can still pay for my mortgage, electricity, water, food, lots of other stuff for fun, and so on. And still have money left each month for savings. And I don't have the largest income either, as the lowest tax scale should tell you. I hope that helps.

Are you guys ready for another shocker?I dug a bit deeper into our healthcare insurance companies, and guess what?Their profits are for the benefit of the people who are insured there, meaning that if there is any money left from a year, the amount you pay will go down, or not rise as much. There aren't any stockholders, the people insured are "members" of the company, and a "member council" keeps watch over the management of the company.Yes, that's right, these guys aren't doing it for the profit!

Wait.... You make about 45,000 dollars a year and can't afford insurance? That's about twice as much as I make. I'm insured. There's something seriously wrong here...