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I also found a few mistakes in that article. I left Switzerland sme years ago but the isurances you can choose from (100+) are not totally private companies.the state gives them some money and they all have to provide basic cover -total hospital payments, 90% medical fees and drugs). They also offer optional services like private rooms; etc. Whatever the system; everyone is covered, regardless of their fortune or employment status in Europe. States negociate drug prices (many of the main drug firms are European) but noone is left without cover and in most countries you can choose your doctor and your hospital. When I saw on BBC Panorama a documentary about a foreign NGO (established to help in the Amazon) dispensing medical care in several places in the USA, I was really shocked. No system is perfect, they all cost but in this day and age, nobody living in a developped country should go without cover Maryse > hi, i have been meaning to join this discussion but wanted to doublecheck > some things. the article that ray quoted and felt was well researched did > not sit well with me. > even though i left germany 25 yrs ago i thought things could not have > changed that much. > germans cannot switch and choose from over 200 ins. companies. most > workers end up with "aok" allgemeine oeffentliche krankenkasse. the > government mandated premiums to be deducted as of 7-09 from wages are at > 14.9%. this is a SUBSTANTIAL income reduction. this covers only government > legislated benefits, additional insurance coverage to take care of gaps is > available but needs to be paid for. private insurance is available and has > traditionally been obtained by members of the upper middle class. i > remember very well how my mom would complain that private coverage ensured > prompt appointments without a long wait. as a matter of fact, some doctors > set aside blocks of time for just these patients. > while i agree that reforms are necessary i can see plenty of pitfalls with > the one-payer system. so far, any government run program i looked at is > cost prohibitive and proper oversight not obtainable. > as an example, my husband returned to the hospital after his dbs to run > some additional programming. this involved an overnight stay. the hospital > bill was $1100 but medicare paid over $5000 because the code used for this > service had a payoff much higher than the actual charge. this was 3 yrs > ago and i still can't believe it. > i'm hoping somehow we can come up with a system that will benefit people > not able to obtain insurance but i don't think this should be rushed > through or we will get the same uneven results as seen in the different > stimulus packages at a tremendous cost to us all. > trautiI ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn