Health care Question for the NON- US citizens

[Neil D]

This question is intended to be a-political and is for information purposes only. Therefore, this should be a short lived thread...

How much do you pay for health care? Please answer this as direct out of pocket expenses...

In the US, our taxes are taken out of our paychecks at various rates, depending upon our income. And of course, if we don't pay enough, we are required to pay more on income tax day, April 15. How much do you pay for taxes? How is it paid?

If you live in England, or Australia, would you be so kind as to answer the above questions as well.

If you decide to forgo answer the above questions, could you explain why..[ie the amount would tell the world how much I am making and that is not information that I care to share]

Moderators- Please keep comments about this thread to a minimum. This can easily turn into a political thread, and I do not want it to become political. You have permission to delete any post that is NOT pertinent to the above questions.

Users- If you are a US citizen and live in the US, please do not answer/post in this thread. Moderators are direted to delete your post.

[Neil D]

bump

[Nan]

In Australia the public health system - which any taxpayer or resident has the right to use - is funded by the Medicare Levy, which I think is about 1.5-1.7% of taxable income. In addition to that, those who earn more than a certain amount, I think $70 000 per year for singles and $150 000 per year for couples, have to pay an additional surcharge of 1% of taxable income if they do not have private medical insurance, at least for hospital cover.

Currently private medical insurance premiums are subsidised by the Federal Government, to the tune of about 30%. There are a lot of options and combinations of cover, I will not quote amounts. It comes to be cheaper for those earning more than the above limits to buy private cover rather than pay the Medicare Surcharge.

But even those with private cover have the option to be treated as a public patient in a public hospital, meaning they would not be charged at all. Obviously that option is not encouraged.

[phkrause]

This might be a little of topic Nan, but do you like your healthcare in australia. I know a few have complained about government run healthcare. But I have relatives in Germany that tell me that there healthcare, which is government run, is better than what my mom tells her that her healthcare is like here in the USA.

pk