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Comment by consp | Hacker News Reader

"free" is relative. For instance we have a tax on chronically ill people here called "eigenrisico" (literally your own risk) which is not a tax but is meant for people to not seek help unless it is absolutely necessary and then pay for the cost. Some things are excluded but as soon as you need more than basic help or any medicine it comes into play. So it's a tax on being ill in all but name since it resets every year.

So "free" comes in many forms, not all single player.

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I'd be wary of calling it a tax. As you pointed out it's an amount large enough to warr off spurious medical needs and small enough that if you're really injured or suffering, it can be extremely helpful and is a miniscule part of your medical fees.

What's broken is the huisarts system where any efforts to get specialized care when you're in pain must pass through your GP. This often leads to a longer waiting period that can be excruciatingly painful for some.

In the US it’s called “needing a referral.”

The literally translated equivalent in the US is a “deductible”.

“Eigenrisico” yes, but the Huisarts system is what GP was referring to as being analogous to “needing a referral”.

It's called a deductible in usa.

https://h4i.nl/2018/11/30/health-insurance-understanding-eig...

Does eigenrisico apply to each event separately or is there an annual limit?

We have a similar idea here in Norway. I pay about 20 euro to visit my GP and I pay for drugs. An MRI costs me about 25 euro. But there is a limit of about 200 euro per year. Anything I pay over that will be refunded in the tax settlement for the year and if I have a chronic need for drugs I will be given a frikort to exempt me from paying for them at the pharmacy.

In NL eigenrisico works like you describe (well, actually, it doesn't: after the eigenrisico you don't pay for stuff anymore, the insurance company covers the cost directly and you are not even billed), but is 350 euro, annually

They have that in the US as well. It's called a copay I believe and it depends on insurance but is also do prevent people from going to seek help if it's minor.

Did your intentionally leave out the annual 'basic healthcare' package of around 1500 euro you are required to have? It's not free.

Though with all other subsidies etc. it's effectively not that different from an additional income tax. To the point where I wonder why they don't just make it part of the income tax.

Certain communities such as the Amish have in the past and will in future go to DC and protest. They see it as an attack on their way of life which it is. It is just that there way of life is build on perpetuating the way of life of the Amish.

Well yes I was talking about the Netherlands where you have a mandatory insurance, guaranteed to be the same amongst all insurers and for which the cost is subsidized for people with low or no income.

At that point it's basically an income tax.

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