Scandinavia and the World

The yogurt Ive seen here in the US is too thick to drink.

Regarding the packaging languages, most of the packages in France tend to be labelled in at least two languages among French, English, German and Dutch. Of course, this can change depending of the product and the store: for instance in the Lidl stores (a German brand), German is predominant (sometimes even with the French description on a separate label pasted over), while, say, Italian food products will have labels in Italian first.

This reminds me of the time I shopped for groceries in Germany for a two-months stay, with my last use of the language dating back to highschool two decades ago. I was really glad then that most products sported a picture relevant to what they contained on the packaging (something I had otherwise paid no attention to), as I had for instance no idea what dishwashing liquid was called.

edited 16th Feb '18 3:07:43 AM by C105

It's tradition.

Suspicious.

England be gettin' all "u wot m8?" in that last panel.

@C105 Well I was only there with like an overnight trip from England, in 2010 so I was mostly going on what was on pop bottles and ketchup packets.

Say Hello To My Little Friend

Yup, Cheburashka is awesome and cute. Good short animated features.

edited 1st Mar '18 9:30:18 AM by Quag15

Every time

Brother America is right though, none of that is truly for free.

(And the comic ignores the myriad factors why the whole Nordic vs USA thing is completely incompatible with each other.)

That's not what "free healthcare" means, so yes, he IS wrong. Not to mention that yelling "BUT TAXES" like it's the revelation of the century is going to really annoy people.

Of course it's paid for with taxes - what do you think taxes are for?

Also, even counting taxes, healthcare in Nordic countries (as well as most of Europe) is much cheaper than in the US.

edited 7th Mar '18 10:14:08 AM by Kayeka

Not just much cheaper for the patient, the state also spends less on it per capita.

Well, who provides it? Is it largely government sponsored entities (like the way America does public schools) or is it private corporations who answer to larger umbrella corporations?

Like in the Olden Days

A little late, but welcome.

Speaking for Denmark, it's a mixed public/private model. Private hospitals do exist, although many of them receive state subsidies in exchange for taking on excess patients that the public healthcare system can't deal with.

The public hospitals are by far the largest and are entirely paid for through taxation.

As long as you have permanent residence in the country and pay taxes, your healthcare is free. There are exceptions for, say, dental work and psychological help, which is about 2/3 paid by the state, 1/3 by the private individual.

Racists love us. It's kind of uncomfortable.

edited 9th Mar '18 3:14:47 AM by math792d

Here, health care is mostly public, although you still have to pay a standard fee every time you receive treatment. You pay more if you stay overnight. There's a cap on how much healthcare can cost you per year, so if you go over that, the rest of the year is free.

When I had root canal treatment last year, I paid between €15 and €30 per visit. That's the most I've ever had to pay for healthcare, and since I had to go about 4 times, in the end I felt pretty bad about having to spend so much. A couple of years ago, my girlfriend had knee surgery. She went in the morning and got home in the afternoon. It's been a while, but I think it was something like €100-120. She had to wait a couple of months to get the surgery, though (there was no urgent need for it - it was a recurring and somewhat minor problem).

Medicine is also subsidised, especially if it's prescription medicine, but it can be a pretty painful blow to your finances if you have something serious: the worst-case scenario is that, even with subsidies, you end up having to pay a bit over €600 in a year. That's when you hit the ceiling for medicine expenses and the state pays everything for the rest of the year.

So you know, it's not exactly free. What I described above applies if you have no insurance whatsoever, other than what the state provides for all citizens and permanent residents. There are private insurers, of course, and typically, private healthcare means faster access to non-urgent treatment and they'll start covering your expenses much sooner than the public system would.

Here in the states, my childs mental health care wasnt covered by our insurance, so we ended up paying $30,000 out of pocket.

Here, the only people who pay that sort of money for medical expenses are those who get cosmetic surgery that isn't covered by the national health insurance. Unfortunately, that can sometimes include people who have had gender reassignment surgery - not the correction itself, but some of the cosmetic alterations that the patient wants but the doctors or other administrators don't consider strictly necessary.

How does health care system work for foreign specialists working in Scandinavian countries? What are good sources of detailed info on this topic?

A Google search landed me here. If you're staying for at least 4 months, you're entitled to use the national health insurance. That basically means you've got a permanent address in a municipality (since that's the administrative level for the organisation of health services) and a social security number. The national organisation that handles this stuff is KELA, which was originally just the agency that took care of pensions but has been expanded to cover all sorts of social services, including things like healthcare and student benefit, etc.

You will obviously receive emergency care whether you're entitled to the national health sevice or not; but if you're not in the books properly, they will charge you later for the treatment. (I have no idea what the rates would be.)

This page has information directly from KELA. People who come from EU countries, Nordic countries, or Switzerland have the same right to healthcare, at the same cost, as permanent residents. Of course, this applies to all EU countries: if you're also an EU citizen, you should always have access to the same treatment as the locals, where ever you go.

If you come to work from a country that's not a Nordic country, Switzeland, or an EU member, you need a work visa. That visa will also guarantee you access to public health care here.

If you're eligible for a KELA card - basically, the same as a social security number - you can also receive compensation for travel costs related to health care (so if you have to drive a long way or use public transport or a taxi to get to the hospital and back, KELA will refund you those costs if you send in an application).

If you come to Finland as a student, it's worth finding out if you qualify for additional insurance on top of the national service. If you're registered at a Finnish university, even as an exhange student, you'll have paid the membership fee for the Student Union (which is mandatory) for that semester. For a full year, that's about €120 - that's how much one year at a Finnish university costs for each student. Well, it varies between universities - it's about €120 where I'm studying, and I'm pretty sure it's more expensive than any of the other universities in the country. The Student Union membership automatically qualifies you for the private Student Health Service, so you have access to private health care (including dental treatment and some mental health services) - that's included in the €120 you paid for Student Union membership.

If you qualify for the national health insurance under any of the above conditions, your family members living in Finland are also automatically included. That doesn't apply to the student health service, though - it's only for individuals who are in the books at the university, so unless your family members are also students, they are in the public healthcare system.

EDIT: I meant to mention this, but forgot. It's worth noting that the Finnish health insurance service is broadly worse than its Nordic counterparts, as with most public institutions here. We've had austerity-friendly governments for almost two decades now, so they've been cutting services where ever they can get away with it, and then complained that the public services are not as good as they once were. For instance, giving birth is not free. The mother pays a set fee for every say at the hospital, usually about €30-40. Of course, the ceiling for how much one person can pay for medical care in a year is still a bit under €700, so it will never rise above that. Still, a long stay in the hospital can set you back more than €100, which is pretty bad. I bet it's not that bad in Sweden, Norway, or Denmark.

edited 10th Mar '18 8:30:19 AM by BestOf

Could Have Been Matt Damon

Can you imagine being the first person buried on Mars? Wow.

Master Chef.

How hard is it to make wedge salads England? It doesn't even require chopping lettuce up entirely.

I have a feeling this is where we get our habit from as Americans.

New one. Brick focused.

https://satwcomic.com/just-in-case