Healthcare in the Nordics is free. Just saying.
There is no point in making broad generalizations, it is a complex issue were you have a multi-decade and multi-billion dollar business tightly coupled with the healthcare of millions of people.
In NL, you pay ~€110/month annually, with a max out-of-pocket cost of €385 per year. So, maximum €1600 cost annually.
People with a low income, students, etc, get approximately the same amount of money as a cash benefit to cover these costs.
I'm not saying this is good, it isn't, healthcare costs should be covered by general taxation like in the UK. But it's not very expensive.
(It also seems pretty stupid in the Netherlands, because you have to pay an insurer for your health insurance, but they all charge pretty much the same, since it's highly regulated, and then out of pocket costs are capped. Seems much simpler to eliminate the insurance companies and let the state administer costs and pocket the profit that the insurance companies are extracting)
My provider, CZ, charges ~€150/month with max-out-of-pocket ~€385. If you get the full ~€850 out of pocket then your monthly payment drops to ~€110/month.
The extra insurance (dental/glasses etc) is also a bit of a scam, because the amount covered is often less than or just equal to the premiums that you pay in a given year, and you'd need to also be buying a new pair of glasses every year, always visiting the dentist, and so on. It's probably more economical to simply pay these costs out of pocket.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_hea...
The arrangement was indeed strange though with the government paying me to pay the insurance company and then for the employed there was then a further health care tax amount.
it gives you the direct control over which insurer to buy, thus encouraging market competition.
If the gov't controlled which insurer got paid instead, there'd be a lot more lobbying and "corruption" and backroom deals which would not benefit the citizenry.
> Everyone else must pay an annual deductible equivalent to an average of 2,040 NOK (222 USD). After paying this, one receives an exemption card which entitles them to free healthcare for the rest of the year.
> Why is Norway’s Healthcare So Expensive?
(hah!)
It isn't free, it's paid by people's taxes AKA redistribution of wealth, a % of the salary and mandatory health insurances. Private hospitals also do exist. Nothing is for free.