Jeez people! America never fails to amaze me. Where it comes to health-care it ranks nbr: 37 next to South Africa and basically the lowest of all industrial nations, but then at at least TWICE the cost of the next most expensive one.
Let's take a moment, sit down, do the numbers and come to conclusions.
Take the Netherlands for example:
a. It Globally ranks between Number 4 and 5 in quality.
b. Coverage of 99.9% of the population.
c. No exclusion allowed on pre-existing conditions.
d. Basic Copay is at 155 Euro a year, Some basic (preventitive) procedures exempted from this.
f. Cost is covered by 6.5% of taxable income for everyone (Generally paid by Employer as part of benefits.)
d. Mandatory basic-insurance (whole family coverage) costs a max of 1100 Euro with no deductible, but Basic-insurance is on sliding scale based on chosen deductible.
e. Basic-insurance is purchased in a market where many insurance companies offer competing packages.
f. Family insurance package coverage incudes Medical-care, medications, Dental, Vision, Mental-health, revalidation and after-care.
g. Government negotiates price-levels for procedures covered under the basic-insurance.
f. Elective procedures (those not covered under Basic-insurance) are left to open-market mechanism.
g. Insurance-companies offer attractive additional coverage policies that cover negotiated elective-procedures.
Okay, adding it all up, this costs an average family roughly 2.5% of their (after-tax) disposable income and a fixed 6.5% through employer-benefits.
That adds up to 9% for a care-package that puts America to shame and at half the price that the American system costs.
In real money versus percentages of income it means that those who make more money pay more into the system through taxes, but because the basic-insurance is a fixed amount, they pay a lower percentage of their income. They can choose to buy additional insurance features, but that's strictly up to them. Freedom reigns.
Note, the basic form of this system has been in place since 1947 and has resulted in a lower child-mortality rate and a longer life-expectancy, with a higher quality of life and a lower use of medical emergency services through better preventative care.