Friday, May 14, 2010

Health Care in Norway

Norway has a government run and government financed universal health care system, covering physical and mental health for all and dental health for children under the age of 16. Hospitals are free and doctor visit fees are capped at a fairly low rate. Medicine is market price, but there is a yearly cap for people with high medical expenses.
Private health care exists: Dental care for adults has no public option, this is private only. Health-related plastic surgery (like burn damage) is covered by the public system, while cosmetic surgery in general is private. There is a number of private psychologists, there are also some private general practice doctors and specialists.
Public health care is financed by a special-purpose income tax on the order of 8-11%, loosely translated as "public benefits fee" (Norwegian: trygdeavgift og Folketrygden). This can be considered a mandatory public insurance, covering not only health care but also loss of income during sick leave, public pension, unemployment benefits, benefits for single parents and a few others. The system is supposed to be self-financing from the taxes.
Norwegian citizens living in Norway are automatically covered, even if they never had taxable income. Norwegian citizens living and working abroad (taxable elsewhere and therefore not paying the "public benefits fee" to Norway) are covered for up to one year after thay move abroad, and must pay an estimated market cost for public health care services. Non-citizens like foreign visitors are coverd in full.
According to WHO, total health care expenditure in 2005 was 9% of GDP and paid 84% by government, 15% by private out-of-pocket and ~1% by other private sources

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