I know there's a lot of debate on in the US world lately about healthcare and specifically, socialized healthcare. Coming from Canada, I know nothing other than socialized healthcare. For 37 years, I had the comfort of knowing that if I was sick, I went to a doctor or hospital. I didn't have to worry about what or with who I had coverage. Of course, medications and supplementary healthcare like dental, massage etc... was dependant on your employer, but for most of my life, that was looked after and deciphering what you were covered for was "fairly" straightforward. For the cost of about $40 Canadian dollars a month, most of my medical and dental needs were met.
Then, I moved to Europe. When I lived in Germany, I was introduced to 2 tier healthcare: public and private. There were a plethora of companies you could pick from, but you had to pick one. I wasn't really clear on the differences between the two, but in the end I picked private. I figured that I needed a perspective after 37 years of public healthcare. As to what my private insurance covered, I have no idea. Though my welcome letter was in English, everything else was in German. When I had a friend read thru it, they just said "everything" was covered. It turns out that in my 15 months of living in Germany, I got a pretty good idea of what "everything" entailed. For the ripe price of 380 euros a month (of which I paid half) "everything" was covered. Because I had private insurance, I learned that that meant I could get a same day appointment with my doctor and he encouraged me to come back because as he said "It's nice to see you when you come back, I make money" he was half joking. I think. My insurance seemed to cover me for everything from doctor's visits, blood tests, ankle braces, crutches, dental visits and everything I could dream of when I was in the hospital. Including, the very random clause of choice of doctor and using the chief doctor. I'm not sure if being in agony with appendicitis and communicating in charades is the time to start asking for the doctor's qualifications because at that point in time, I would have settled for a drunken Romanian butcher with a rusty knife. But the option was there. I do remember 5 minutes before the operation being asked to sign a paper saying I couldn't have the chief doctor because he was off that day. Again, I wasn't in a position to argue, fight or understand what was going on!
Now that I've moved to Switzerland, I have to go thru the whole rigmarole again but with a different system. The Swiss system is different in that it's exclusively your responsibility and not at all tied to your work. For a population of loosely 7.5 million people there are something like 150 different health insurance companies. Insurance companies have to run not for profit on the compulsory insurance. For the compulsory insurance, you choose a deductible ranging from 300 CHF a year to 2500 CHF a year. Insurance companies are not allowed to refuse you compulsory insurance and cover any pre-existing conditions. You usually pick your insurance company based on supplementary insurance and that's where the big business is. You can pick an insurance company that will cover your exercise classes, cover medical spa treatments and everything in between. Most insurance companies require you to fill in a questionnaire and can limit your treatment accordingly. For instance, if I hurt my ankle again, they'd have to cover doctors visits and medication, but they could refuse physical therapy. If I have any further internal complications, they could limit the procedures they'd cover. It's all extremely confusing. What makes it more confusing is that until I moved to Germany, I didn't really have any health issues. Other than allergy pills and muscle strain from sitting at a desk all day, I was pretty good. And now with all of my recent health issues, it makes picking health insurance that much more confusing! Which one do I pick? What deductible do I pick? I've found an insurance consultant that's helping me thru and he's encouraging me to go with one that doesn't have a medical questionnaire and to pick a low (300CHF) deductible. of course, the lower the deductible, the higher the monthly premium and right now, most premiums are in the 350-400CHF PER MONTH range and forget about that including any dental care! I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.
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