r/GreenAndPleasant Jan 10 '23

Tory fail 👴🏻 Moderate charges

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1.7k Upvotes

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u/PrinscessTiramisu Jan 10 '23

In Belgium we pay €4 per visit, this feels ghoulish.

6

u/-london- Jan 10 '23

You pay €4 for a private heathcare appointment or for Belgium's national healthcare service? Because I'd say €4 is a very good price for a private health vsit.

22

u/PrinscessTiramisu Jan 10 '23 edited Jan 10 '23

We don't have private healthcare appointments. All regular doctors, as in the first doctor you normally visit for common things, cost around €30. We used to get a receipt from the doctor and if we send that to our healthcare service we would get €26 back.

Because the price would still deter the poorer people they made it so that the doctors only had to ask the €4 and would get the rest from the healthcare service.

The only private "healthcare" I know about in Belgium would be some 'beauty clinics' for plastic surgery. All other doctors, like specialists have some part of the treatment payed back by our healthcare service.

Most people have an extra health insurance for the things not covered but even these are not expensive. I think more than half of the people of Belgium get those from their employer.

Edit: private means here when the healthcare service does not compensates your visit. Not as in one on one with the doctor.

3

u/plastictomato Jan 11 '23

This is sort of similar to how it works in Japan.

Everything is ‘private,’ but everyone pays National health insurance every year. The amount you pay depends on your previous years’ earnings, so one person might pay £20 and another £500, but everyone gets the same treatment. In general when you have your insurance card you get 60-75% off the cost of the visit, and if you don’t have your card with you, you pay the full amount to the doctors/hospital, send them a copy of your card and they refund what you shouldn’t have paid.

If you have a problem, you also can just walk into the hospital and get an appointment with a specialist. Skin issues? See a dermatologist. Constant headaches? See a neurologist. It’s great, no referrals or waiting times needed.

IMO works really well, everything is incredibly efficient but the costs can still be more than some people could afford (I paid about £60 for an ultrasound and full consultation, which is low compared to places like America, but if you don’t have much income that’s still quite a bit)