Everyone pays 2% of their salary into “medicare”, and it provides baseline health to everyone. The problem is, if that’s all you have you can wait for years for routine, non-emergency healthcare. (Think hip replacement). Thus, everyone is encouraged to get private insurance coverage as well. Generally, if you buy this young, you’ll get a guaranteed lower rate than if you try to jump into the system when you’re older. At 65, everyone gets a pension much like our Social Security, although it’s a sliding rate based on resources.
Health insurance premiums are tax deductible. Their insurance seems to work much like ours with co-pays and prescription cards.
