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Comment by wink | Hacker News Reader

When I compare that to German health insurance, it comes out to an income of ~1600 EUR per month before taxes, but you pay more of if you earn more.

Quite an interesting concept though that their rates don't seem to up no matter if you just get by or make millions...

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Why should health insurance be progressive? I'd be willing to bet that healthcare costs scale sub-linearly with income, so why would a private insurer charge more to somebody who makes more money?

In the case of a properly functioning public healthcare system, I totally buy and support it, though.

My complete guess would be that this is an intra-union agreement. The insurer could be charging a fixed rate per member with the union enforcing a progressive scheme.

Good question, but I'm not opposed to this. I'd say the German health care system is mostly a good one, and I'm absolutely happy to pay a percentage of income. Sure, if they managed to have it running at a flat fee that doesn't disadvantage people with minimum wage jobs, I'd gladly pay less - although I think 10% is totally fair, especially when comparing it to the US system and people doing kickstarters for their cancer treatment...

I actually agree with you, for a system run as a public service (which I think healthcare should be), I just don't see a workable justification for it under a private system.

The difference is, I think, in the word "insurance". If a USAn doesn't pay for health insurance, they have to pay for healthcare. I don't particularly know how Germany's system works, but I'd assume that non-payment of taxes, while it probably has other repercussions, does not preclude receiving healthcare.

Same in UK - you pay a % of your salary above a certain level, so the more you earn the more you pay. But you are always covered for absolutely everything without co-pays, limits etc etc no matter whether you earn zero(and pay nothing towards it) or are a millionaire. Using it also doesn't affect how much you pay, it's just a flat % of your salary regardless of whether you are healthy or chronically ill.

If you're talking about national insurance, which is more or less fixed, then you are incorrect. The NHS is not funded by it. It's still payed by taxes but it's not a flat rate tax.

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