Quote (Plaguefear @ Nov 13 2019 09:24am)

No it really isn't.
One, our land mass is huge for our population, and numbers do not mean anything.
If a sandwich costs 1$ for each person who buys one you can buy 24 million sandwiches or 300 million and the price per person will not change.

Quote (Thor123422 @ Nov 13 2019 09:29am)

When you negotiate for more customers you actually tend to get better per person prices

Quote (Plaguefear @ Nov 13 2019 09:36am)

An MRI costs $80 here, look up what it costs in your state and post it, wonder how close in price it is.

Quote (Thor123422 @ Nov 13 2019 03:29pm)

When you negotiate for more customers you actually tend to get better per person prices

Quote

The Netherlands has a dual-level system. All primary and curative care (i.e. the family doctor service and hospitals and clinics) is financed from private mandatory insurance. Long term care for the elderly, the dying, the long term mentally ill etc. is covered by social insurance funded from earmarked taxation under the provisions of the Algemene Wet Bijzondere Ziektekosten, which came into effect in 1968. Netherlands and Germany health care triangle chart.

Private insurance companies must offer a core universal insurance package for the universal primary curative care, which includes the cost of all prescription medicines. They must do this at a fixed price for all. The same premium is paid whether young or old, healthy or sick. It is illegal in The Netherlands for insurers to refuse an application for health insurance or to impose special conditions (e.g. exclusions, deductibles, co-payments, or refuse to fund doctor-ordered treatments). The system is 50% financed from payroll taxes paid by employers to a fund controlled by the Health regulator. The government contributes an additional 5% to the regulator's fund. The remaining 45% is collected as premiums paid by the insured directly to the insurance company. Some employers negotiate bulk deals with health insurers and some even pay the employees' premiums as an employment benefit. All insurance companies receive additional funding from the regulator's fund.

The regulator oversees the claims made by policyholders and therefore can redistribute the funds it holds on the basis of relative claims made by policy holders. Thus insurers with high payouts receive more from the regulator than those with low payouts. Thus insurance companies have no incentive to deter high cost individuals from taking insurance and are compensated if they have to pay out more than a threshold. This threshold is set above the expected costs. Insurance companies compete with each other on price for the 45% direct premium part of the funding and should try to negotiate deals with hospitals to keep costs low and quality high. The competition regulator is charged with checking for abuse of dominant market positions and the creation of cartels that act against the consumer interests. An insurance regulator ensures that all basic policies have identical coverage rules so that no person is medically disadvantaged by his or her choice of insurer.

Insurance companies can offer additional services at extra cost over and above the universal system laid down by the regulator, e.g. for dental care. The standard monthly premium for health care paid by individual adults is about €100 per month. People on low incomes can get assistance from the government if they cannot afford these payments. Children under 18 are insured by the system at no additional cost to them or their families, because the insurance company receives the cost of this from the regulator's fund.

Dutch consumers and expats working in the Netherlands who are obliged to be mandatorily insured by Dutch law have the opportunity to switch insurance companies each year. The health insurance companies have to publish the premium for the coming year before the open enrollment period. Any health insurance costs in the case of cancellation will be covered by the current health insurance agency until the switch is finalized.

Quote (Plaguefear @ Nov 13 2019 08:36am)

An MRI costs $80 here, look up what it costs in your state and post it, wonder how close in price it is.

Quote (Thor123422 @ Nov 14 2019 01:39am)

Its likely gonna be iver 500 if not 1k

Quote (Plaguefear @ Nov 13 2019 03:36pm)

An MRI costs $80 here, look up what it costs in your state and post it, wonder how close in price it is.

Quote (balrog66 @ Nov 14 2019 01:42am)

To be honest, that's not what the insurer pays, that's what you pay as a patient. The $80 is likely a bit higher in terms of real billing costs, but nowhere near the insane US prices. Hospital billing to insurers here has MRI ranging from ~€3-400 to a couple thousand max for more complex imaging procedures.

Quote (Ghot @ Nov 13 2019 03:46pm)

Yeah guys. Let's ignore what I'm talking about in post #33741 and dwell on the utterly non-important (and what would turn out to be self regulating anyway) issues of differences in costs of drugs or procedures. :/

Quote (fender @ Nov 14 2019 01:49am)

all the studies say it's gonna be cheaper than the current system
all peer countries with socialised healthcare system show it's cheaper

ghot & friends: 'b-b-but how are we gonna pay for it? i trust the people who directly profit from the current system when they tell me that it's bad'...