We pay over 30% income tax anyway and are quite happy to do that as a lot of social welfare! infrastructure etc is paid from that. We are contemplating Germany as husband is a German citizen still
True re taxes, but not all of that is for health. And after living in the U.S., I am happy to be home. Even with our benefits, my current situation would have put us in crazy debt that would have drowned us. And then there is that whole pre-existing condition thing ...
Wow, we have a relatively free med system, we pay around $35 for a general dr visit and $5 for prescription items, if you have an accident the govt pays for that. All surgery etc is covers, but if you want it done privately the. You pay for that sort of thing. We have a private system running parallel that you opt I to if you want as extra to the govt system.
I am Canadian also, and just want to hilight that we are paying for health care through the hefty income tax you are forced to pay. almost half of my income is gone from my paycheck before I even get paid to cover income tax and other deductions. I am not in a high income bracket either. Secretarial / administrative assistant work. Recently Ontario added the health tax premium which is another form of tax to pay for health care at the provincial level, over and above the federal tax.
Well, after six months in Canada you would be covered by provincial health care. Selection of ms neuros probably not as great (in some areas) as in the U.S., but pretty much everything is covered. I had one obscure blood test that OHIP (in Ontario) wouldn't cover, but my neuro arranged to have it done at the hospital and it was taken care of.
I've never heard of someone being refused entrance with a major health condition.
Here in the U.S. Health Insurance is very expensive. I spend $600 a month for insurance with a $10,000 deductable I have to pay every year. Then some insurances make you pay hundreds a month for MS drugs. I have Cancer and MS my medical bills are over $100,000 a month mostly picked up by the insurance. I am in a group plan if I had to buy my own insurance it would be over $1,000 a month in premiums alone. Some countries will not let you relocate if you have a major health condition those are mostly the ones with National Health Care.
Alex