Health Care

United Kingdom:
Family premium- none
co-payments- little to none
Gov provides and pays for health care
Administrative costs low


Japan:
Family premium- $280/month
co-payments- 30% of total cost of procedure (related to income)
All citizens required to have health insurance
Set prices for procedures every 2 years

Germany:
Family premium- $750/month
co-payments- 10 euros ($15) every month
choose insurance from one of 200 funds
Can't deny coverage of anyone

Taiwan:
Family premium- $650/yr for family of 4
co-payments- 20% of cost of drugs
Must have insurance, only 1 gov-run insurer
lowest administrative costs in the world

Switzerland:
Family premium- $750
co-payments- 10% of cost of services, up to $420/yr
insurers negotiate prices with providers
Must have insurance


Percentage of Gross Domestic Production Spent on Health Care
Japan- 8%
United Kingdom- 8.3%
Germany- 10.7%
Switzerland- 11.6%
United States- 15.3%

The United Kingdom's health care system seems to work well for them, and it makes sense why.  The fact that co-pays and premiums are zero is very appealing to anyone, I would think, as money is not something that everyone has plenty of.  I think it's smart to have citizen taxes go towards health care, as it helps benefit everyone, unlike in the U.S., where everyone's taxes are going toward free health care for the poor, instead of helping themselves out.  People would be more willing to have health care if they didn't have to "directly" pay for it.