Core Benefits of European Health Insurance
November 8th, 2011
This can be a great benefit to European health care. Many people in America are routinely denied coverage for a number of different reasons. Some will be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition that requires regular and routine care. This sounds a bit backwards to many Europeans and it does, indeed, seem to be a bit illogical. Many other people in America will make regular payments to their health insurance company only to be denied coverage when they need it most. This is part of what continues to fuel the debate against the use of privatized health care.Europeans are able to enjoy the benefit of being approved for coverage for existing conditions, such as kidney dialysis. Many of these conditions will require regular care that could, in other countries, end up costing the recipient quite a bit of money. Europeans are also able to avoid all of the hefty fees associated with health care in other countries. One of the major causes of massive, insurmountable, debt in America is the cost of receiving health care that is ultimately not covered by one’s insurance. If someone is covered by European health insurance, however, they are covered regardless of the procedure as long as it is deemed medically necessary.
Another problem which isn’t faced with European health insurance but can be quite a burden in America is the sheer cost of the insurance coverage itself. Many people in America will receive health insurance from their employer. While they may not generally be required to pay anything out of pocket, the price of offering this insurance coverage to their employees costs many businesses millions of dollars a year. This has led many companies to reduce the amount of coverage their employees receive or, in the worse cases, to eliminate employee coverage all together.
It may be surprising to find out how many Americans simply aren’t covered by any type of health insurance at all. Part of the reason for this is, as was stated before, the high cost of maintaining membership in a health insurance plan. When people are forced to pay for their own medical coverage they often find that they have a completely new set of bills that they may not be able to handle. This is yet another benefit of European health insurance. Since it is mostly universal then it is very unlikely that a citizen of a country in the EEA will not be covered by health care. They will also not have to worry about their employer reducing the amount of coverage or eliminating their plan altogether.
Another problem that many Americans face is the complexity of the application process. Since health insurance and medical care is such a huge business in that country it naturally follows that it isn’t simple to join an insurance company. Americans are forced to read through countless pages of legal and medical jargon and decide upon a certain plan that may not even be adequate. Once they have decided on a plan they then need to determine which doctors they are allowed to see and what procedures they will be allowed to seek out. This is further complicated by the fact that many insurance plans will cover medical problems but not dental care. Others plans will cover certain procedures but will restrict the amount of time spent in a hospital. In the worst cases, some people will be denied potentially lifesaving procedures simply because the insurance company doesn’t want to pay for it. All of this will probably sound quite insane to people being covered by European health insurance.
Reading all of this makes the benefits of European health insurance quite clear. Almost anyone living within the EEA is guaranteed health insurance coverage. This is something that has made many Americans quite jealous. It seems that health insurance is a bit less of an issue in Europe than it is overseas and it is safe to say that many Europeans are happy about that. Since their health insurance is virtually universal, people living in the EEA don’t need to worry about a ridiculously long application process simply to be covered for routine medical care.
European health insurance also offers another benefit that is basically unheard of in other countries such as the USA. Europeans have the ability to use their health insurance card to receive medical care in countries other than the one they live in. Whether they travel abroad for work, education or simply for leisure, most Europeans find that they needn’t worry about unexpected medical fees no matter where they are. There are, of course, a few restrictions placed on this ability but most of them are fairly specific and do not concern lifesaving and necessary medical procedures.
It’s quite easy to see that European health insurance is very different from what can be found in America. The debate about whether privatized health insurance is better than universal coverage may never really end but it seems rather clear that Europeans enjoy many benefits that Americans don’t. There will always be critics when it comes to European health insurance but the truth is that there is no way to create a universal plan that will be applicable to every person and every example. It seems to be safe to say that many people in America would gladly receive health insurance like that which is enjoyed by so many Europeans.
Much of Europe is covered by 