Non-Americans Stunned By American Health Care Costs

[Bofferbrauer2]

Here in Luxembourg doctor visits are first paid in full, but you get 80-100% of your money back (generally 80%, and if you're very poor then the government will cover the costs without you having to pay for it first).
For dental, we got 56 Euro free each year (the price of a routine checkup) and anything above you'll pay the bill, but again you get 80-100% of your money back depending of insurance.
Hospital visits, unless it's just the urgency and not a stationary treatment or a specialist, are fully covered and paid for by the healthcare. You do get a copy of the bill to check if everything is correct (at least they did so 15 years ago during my last stay, not sure if it's still the case)
Blood analysis and vaccines are fully covered and you won't even see a bill here.
As for medication, it depends what they do. Coverage in percent:

• 100% for specialized drugs and treatments for a disease.
• 80% for wide spectrum antibiotics
• 60% for other, nonviral/bacterial treatments (like diarrhea treatments)
• 40-20% for symptoms relievers like painkillers or cough syrups (depending on effectiveness and availability of generica versions. Non-generica if there are generica available will always be 20% for instance)
• 0% for food supplements, vitamins, teas and stuff relying on the placebo effect.
  
  

Since Luxembourg has a pretty small population, they have also a small negotiation power towards pharma companies. So our health ministry puts the pressure on them by flat-out forbidding to sell some non-essential medicines (most well-known example is the Vicks VapoRub) and threatening to do so with other products if the pharma companies don't accept the prices Luxembourg is willing to pay. Also most medicines are generica to further allow to lower the prices.

Oh, and Luxembourg has private insurance companies. You automatically enter the CNS, our national healthcare, if you live or work in Luxembourg. And even if you don't (or opted out, which is possible at any moment), you can get the same coverage by paying 120€ per month, which is well below the price of premiums in the US while those give you less coverage. The thing is, private insurances are not trying to replace the CNS here. Instead, they act like an add-on or DLC by extending your coverage or giving you better meals/beds in hospitals. I think this is a model that could work in the US too, since it gives good coverage to everybody but also lets private insurance companies do their stuff and compete for clients, thus not infringing on the capitalistic model so many seem to swear upon...

Last edited by Bofferbrauer2 - on 29 April 2021