Mastodawn

European Commission

In the EU, healthcare is a public service, not a consumer product.

Our latest report shows how Europeans can benefit from it:

💶The average annual healthcare spend per person is €870
🏥68.4% rate their health as ‘very good’ or ‘good’

Full report ➡️ https://link.europa.eu/WHxcQM

Pieter de Bruin 🌍🌈☮️15h ago

@EUCommission €870 may be a bit optimistic, but I gladly pay my medical insurance of around €1800

Lazy B0y 14h ago

thats cheap! even the lowest earning Germans pay more, slightly ok earning Germans pay 11000 - but a billionaire pays the same as someone earning 5000/month - the most unfair part of the whole social system.

but the EU and her very competent president don’t work for normal people… they work for those who can afford lobbying them

@lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission
Well the core principal of insurance is that you are billed based on how likely you are to need the service.
When we treat everyone equally without discriminating, your insurance bill would only fluctuate based on how likely you are to be sick or injured, and not based on what you have, where you're from or how you look like.
For basic insurance plans, a billionaire is not more likely to be sick than an average corpo worker, so why should he/she be charged more?

Lazy B0y 14h ago

because it’s a solidary system.

the public insurance in Germany is not an „insurance“ in that strict sense, payment is income based. Just that the measuring stops at meagre 5000/month

and seen in the bigger context because a billionnaire who owns a company with thousands of employees (or shares of those) profits enormously from general health in society.

@pdebruin @EUCommission

@lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission Sure I get it, and the last sentence is a good way to look at it.
The EU could make it so that instead of billionaires paying more of their insurance (which to me is still discriminatory because they don't use the service more), they instead have the obligation to pay a certain minimum share (say, 50%) of each worker's base insurance plan.
That would allow directly taking into account the fact that the company benefits from their worker's good health.

Lazy B0y 11h ago

no. the company of the billionnaire and the person are not the same.

but the person billionnaire is the one who pulls out the most profit for themselves, as a person.

they dont even participate in the system at all, as people making more than ~5000/month are exempt from the public system. rich healthy people dont contribute anything and profit the most.

@pdebruin @EUCommission

Gero Stein 14h ago

@mttn @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission Your argument treats insurance as a pure risk-based product, but in the EU it isn’t. Healthcare systems are built on solidarity, not just probability. Contributions scale with income because everyone benefits from a stable, healthy society. Wealth isn’t created in isolation, it depends on public infrastructure and social systems. Paying more isn’t about risk, but about fair contribution.

@tdr @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission
Sure but how can it be called "fair" when you bill someone 2000% more for using the service the same amount?
To me that's just discriminatory.
But I've replied to the comment of another person in the same feed, about I think the EU should go about billing billionaires more. (In a way that makes sense to me)

Gero Stein 13h ago

@mttn @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission It’s not discrimination, because the system isn’t pricing a service, it’s funding a public good. In solidarity-based healthcare, contributions reflect ability to pay, not usage. “Fair” here means everyone can access care without hardship. Higher earners pay more because they benefit more from the stable, healthy society that makes their income possible.

Lazy B0y 13h ago

now we‘re discussing unjust „discrimination“ of poor abused billionnaires with a reply guy who does nothing but waste peoples time with his propaganda comments day in day out - check the profile

@mttn @pdebruin @EUCommission

@tdr @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission
Well I guess it isn't a service in the EU, that's true, it's a little hard for me to comprehend because I'm used to how it works in Switzerland where it is service based but with price caps and structures to protect consumers.

Gero Stein 13h ago

@mttn @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission Switzerland is more premium based, yes, but still not a pure market system in terms of just a buyable service. Insurance is mandatory, benefits are regulated, and lower incomes are subsidized. In most of the EU, healthcare is even more clearly a public good. Fairness does not mean everyone pays the same for the same use, but that everyone can access care, funded according to ability to pay.

@tdr @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission
Sure, but it is definitely more service based than you think in Switzerland, you have the base insurance plan which has price caps and tries to make it more accessible, but in practice almost everyone just goes through it as a service and there are many things that are not included like the dentist.
You don't just go to the hospital and leave without paying anything like many people think is the image of European healthcare.

@tdr @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission
And once you go out of the base insurance plan which covers for the most part sickness and accidents, it's pretty much exclusively service based, and many people (not just a minority) still do subscribe to these additional services.

Gero Stein 13h ago

@mttn @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission I know the Swiss system well, I lived there for years and even kept German coverage because some basics like dental prevention were missing. A healthier population reduces overall costs and supports a stronger workforce and economy. And even in Germany you do not just walk out without paying, there are co payments. The key difference is still solidarity, not pure service logic.

Gero Stein 13h ago

@mttn @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission There is a reason why Prussia introduced public health insurance, to maintain a healthy workforce and ensure social stability, not just to provide a market service.

@tdr @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission Unironically I read that it's because the country was annoyed of workers leaving for America, but no matter the reason in the end it was for workers' comfort and peace of mind (thus leading to social stability indeed).

@tdr @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission
I know (and you saw with the other person that joined the discussion) that I'll be called a troll, a bot and whatnot for saying the following but I like the Swiss system, I grew up used to it always working and making sense for me. I feel like it's a good balance between private services but while protecting citizens.
I wouldn't trade it for anything else.
It's perfectly fine for others to have a different opinion but that is my (real) human opinion

Gero Stein 13h ago

@mttn @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission Fair enough, your experience is valid. But the European model is not built around „it works for me”, it is about ensuring access and stability for everyone, including those with less means. That is exactly where purely market driven logic tends to fail. The goal is not individual optimization, but collective resilience and long term social stability.

@tdr @lazyb0y @pdebruin @EUCommission Yeah that's true the mentality is different in Switzerland, although I've never lived in the USA, I have the feeling that it's closer to the US than Europe really. These basic health insurance plans are seen as a business, not a country wide social solidarity.

Lazy B0y 13h ago

go back to X and spread your libertarian bullshit elsewhere.

i already explain why billionnaires take out more.

because they profit from healthy workers.

@tdr @pdebruin @EUCommission

@lazyb0y @tdr @pdebruin @EUCommission Wow chill, we were having a normal conversation here and suddenly you pull out your aggressivity like that.
I won't "go back to X" because I don't like it, and I think my opinion is perfectly reasonable, I've replied somewhere else on how I think the EU could go about it.

Lazy B0y 13h ago

@mttn
theres nothing to chill.
your intentionally throwing around provocative comments with false misleading comments.

either troll or bot or even a trollbot

@tdr @pdebruin @EUCommission

@lazyb0y @tdr @pdebruin @EUCommission
What provocative? It's just my opinion bro. I'm not forcing anybody to have the same opinion as I do.
But I guess welcome to 2026, the year where when someone doesn't like your opinion, you are either a bot, a troll, a fascist or a communist.
It's just sad man, people used to be more reasonable and open to dialogue a few years ago.

European Commission 13h ago

Hi @pdebruin, the average annual healthcare spend per person varies quite a bit between EU countries in fact, from less than €400 per inhabitant in Slovakia, Hungary and Czechia to more than €1 300 per inhabitant in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.
*These stats are from 2023.

@EUCommission not in Italy. A lot of healthcare business open every days and waiting lists in public service are always full.

Lazy B0y 14h ago

in germany neither.

this post was another self-praise from the commission which bought overpriced vaccines from Pfizer, pushing money into the throat of big pharma that is now NOT being used to improve the people’s health

and we still haven’t seen the Pfizer SMS because the commission and her president don’t care about the people and have secrets regarding their industry connections

G 🇮🇹15h ago

@EUCommission meanwhile in America... "I have a plan, I have a concept of a plan... to let you pay more and more to my health insurance buddies 👍". Who's this? 🍊

Alanna 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️14h ago

@EUCommission Obviously not counting Ireland because Ireland doesn't have universal healthcare despite being an EU country...

Memecosystem Services 14h ago

@kelpana @EUCommission I had the same thought with non-EEA immigrants living in Ireland. So many visas require a subscription to private healthcare as a condition of residence.

Alanna 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️14h ago

@gcoleman @EUCommission Even if you're a citizen, not having health insurance is a gamble. Primarily because it takes so long to get seen. I'm really struggling to pay the arrears on mine right now due to lack of work.

Memecosystem Services 14h ago

@kelpana @EUCommission While so many Irish nurses and doctors go over to Australia or Dubai for better pay. It's disgusting for a supposedly modern nation with so much in its coffers.

@kelpana @EUCommission
In Switzerland we don't have universal healthcare so to speak, but we have mandatory private health insurance with capped prices and services.
It's been working well until now, recently prices have been going crazy.
I think the Swiss system is a good compromise between avoiding the inefficiencies of the public sector while protecting citizens from abuse of the private sector.
Either way the entire European healthcare system is under stress regardless of the system type.

Alanna 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️13h ago

@mttn @EUCommission Most prices are limited by law here but have been going up rapidly over the last few years.

@kelpana @EUCommission Unfortunately it's the same here, I think it's just a west wide problem.
But I wouldn't be surprised if other countries like China have the same problem.
To me it just looks like everything is getting worse everywhere.

Angela Scholder 14h ago

@EUCommission Not a consumer product? Well, in NL it now is a for profit product...!
There will certainly be medical professionals who want to deliver a service, but the managers and CEOs are working for profit

@EUCommission And why do hospitals need to make wins then? 🤔 Family doctors in Germany don’t own their clinics any more. 🤷‍♀️

@EUCommission ¿cómo hacéis para gastar tanto en salud?

Lazy B0y 14h ago

haha sure.

who did you ask?

the overpaid commission members who can afford top notch private healthcare?

the billionaire buddys of the president?

Jan Vlug 14h ago

@EUCommission Cool to see that the whole report under CC BY 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/

#CreativeCommons

Homepage - Creative Commons

Creative Commons

@EUCommission if you flip this graph on it's head, it's still significantly better than any healthcare transgender people can receive anywhere in the union.

We're ~1% of your population, yet we receive more hate any other minority in the entire union.

Maybe, just maybe... help? Or do you find a decade long waiting lists while exposed to conversion therapy (which you banned) humane and within reason?

@iamada @EUCommission I was going to say something along these lines but add that I suspect that this hides many an evil about who gets care and who doesn't.

All healthcare in the EU should be available, timely and free.

@iamada @EUCommission also define “needs”. does this truly account for people who have to wait for consultants, those who have to try for years to get neurodiverse support, or is it simply “you got your quarterly nutrition tests vaguely on time”

ArdentArchivist 14h ago

Pay attention, UK & US. 🙄

@EUCommission I bet @ionica has a thing or two to say about that visualization - so you have to ignore the cap and the empty space at the top of the testtube, but what's that scale doing there? Why is there a marker 'at' 97.5%?

Good thing they didn't 'just' take the 'height' of the liquid, but now I'm left wondering if they actually calculated the volume of the lens-shaped component at the bottom or just eyeballed it 😃.

Jonathan👣🚲7h ago

@raboof @EUCommission @ionica The 2.5% marker is about 3.6% of the visible part of the tube by volume. The 97.5% marker is about 96.9%. Not super bad for eyeballing, but this whole thing shouldn’t be.

@EUCommission is it now?

As a simple NL citoyen, I couldn’t fail to notice that most if not all dentists, vets, and GP practices have been swallowed up by predatory investment firms. Hospitals are also viewed as commercial enterprises, with business KPIs being imposed to assess their functioning.

That’s not a public service. Nor is it a consumer product. It’s predatory robberbaron capitalism.

LC Wanderlust 13h ago

@js @EUCommission this! And the distinction between private and "public" healthcare is so thin that as a patient you don't even know what are you receiving!

Csepp 🌢14h ago

@EUCommission Hungary is sadly falling behind.

Ignacio (he) 🇺🇦🇪🇸🇪🇺13h ago

@EUCommission «In the EU, healthcare is a public service, not a consumer product»

Isabel Díaz Ayuso enters the chat

@EUCommission here in Germany it is still a product, with private health care. All the resources should be for everyone, not just the people who can afford it

@EUCommission in the UK NHS is a national treasure and for the most part works exceeding well. i have never understood why the USA tolerates such a divisive expensive health care system

Tonka Bohne 11h ago

@EUCommission let's work toward incorporating the remaining 2.5 % into our healthcare system. I would love to improve my health but am unable to find a practitioner, or practitioners tell me they're not qualified enough to treat me and tell me to keep looking.

In the meantime, I'm unable to work and some people (even politicians) call me a social leech for it.

Btw, I'm a citizen of one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. Still no luck.

Dan Bocain 11h ago

@EUCommission Here I am getting fleeced for $1500/mo, to get the honor of paying a maximum of $8100 out-of-pocket, and to browse a physicians portal finder that is completely inaccurate, because FidelisCare sucks.

cid_terron 9h ago

@EUCommission so only 2,5% away from acceptable and ~ 31% away from good work...
Good try, we are sure you can do better

Azarilhⓥ 9h ago

@EUCommission When are European trans citizens get human rights across EU?

KuboF Hromoslav bio/acc 🧬8h ago

@EUCommission, and with therapies to reverse damage caused by aging we will do even better 😎

☑️ Cath 6h ago

@EUCommission Sounds good!

Could you please inform the Dutch government about this concept?

Because over here, healthcare is almost totally privatised and big business for the sector.

In 2024 311 million was paid to shareholders and the profit was 7,3 billion.

People over here pay about € 1900,-- per year for basic insurance and if you actually need healthcare you pay € 385,-- on top of that. Also many costs of medicines are excluded.

#healthcare #profits

Torparskytt 🏴6h ago

@EUCommission Possibly true if you for some reason don't count taxes