Healthcare-Belgium
The Belgian health system is based on the principles of equal access and freedom of choice, with a Bismarckian-type of compulsory national health insurance, which covers the whole population and has a very broad benefits package.
On the trade-off between data privacy and proper medical treatment, Belgium mandatory healthcare offers people an option — — that your medical data be collected, in this case doctors could view your medical tracks, and supposedly treat you more properly.
How easy was it to see a doctor in Belgium?
After having finished the last oral exam in Germany in 2018 April, I started an internship plus my master thesis for 8 months in Leuven, a university-town in Belgium. And this period gave me a complete immersive experience on Belgium. I’d rank the accessibility and affordability of this country as good as Spain. No gatekeeper systems, which means I could go directly to psychiatrists.
It was supposed to be a stressful time in a new country — I just resumed my master not long ago after my breakdown in Germany, received an internship in Belgium, had to quickly see a psychiatrist to be prescribed psychotropics for my insomnia, had to start writing master thesis……
And the healthcare system took me by surprise. An extraordinary surprise.
I managed to book a psychiatrist session immediately after only 3 phone calls to 3 clinics, no need to go through General Practitioners first, and the appointment was in one week. Belgium cooperates with other European health insurers, so I could register in their mandatory healthcare system with my German health card.
But there was something more about it. This university-town was very international— — everyone spoke English so well and over 70% of my colleagues were expats. Things all became so easy when the health insurance receptionist spoke perfect English, your flatmates were all Belgian locals and willing to show you around, the landlady was so nice that she picked you up from train station……..at some point you realized you were not foreign anymore — — the whole town were all foreigners.
By the very next week when I went to the psychiatrist appointment, the psychiatrist told me that no need for mental consultation for now, as I have recovered mentally greatly in a relaxing environment in only one week. It was a great relief for me financially as well— — I was reimbursed with 75% by their mandatory healthcare. General Practitioners 7 USD, and for psychiatrist visits c.a. 15 USD each time.
My anxiety disorder, panic attacks and insomnia in Germany broke out largely due to the overwhelming stress of dealing with ‘how to deal with healthcare systems’— — the inaccessibility of professional mental aid even after my mental breakdowns, the misleading insurance bills that led to financial stress…all gone in Leuven.
I couldn’t help but noticed one thing — —the antidepressant duloxetine in Belgium cost half the price of that in Germany. According to tlv report in 2019, the Belgium medication system encouraged Generic pharmaceuticals. Once the brand name drug patent expired and generic pharmaceuticals entered the market, the price of the first generic product is set between 43.64% to 51.52 % lower than the patent drug. Doctors and pharmacies are hence encouraged indirectly to prescribe the cheapest alternative because of reimbursement systems. As for the new innovative drugs, Belgium, together with the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Austria, cooperate to force the pharmaceutical entry price transparent and fair.
With 3.16 doctors per 1,000 people in 2019, Belgium has indeed lower doctor density compared to the average 3.3 doctors per 1,000 in EU countries. The senior physicians over 65-year-old consist of roughly 13% of all the physicians at practice — — in this country, the senior are 19.25 % of the population in 2019. And they work until 67 years old — -for those retiring on or after 1 February 2030. This is an aging society, and each year 0.5% of the population becomes a new senior — -is the long-term care affordable and accessible? The Federal Government spent 10% of GDP on health expenditure, the medication, as previously mentioned, allowed the government to spend more on long-term care. And thus, ………
At the last phase finishing my master thesis, I walked each day up to 4 km across the town trying to figure out the structure of my experiments. At some point my feet bone broke. I couldn’t walk anymore.
So I went to my General Practitioner(on the street where I lived, there were 3 General Practitioners) and she arranged immediately an X-ray examination at a hospital. I was transferred to the surgical department, prescribed a pseudo-prosthetic, and went back to Germany to conduct my master thesis defense. Finally flew back to Taiwan. My bone only got recovered until after 6 months.
What more could we do?
Personally speaking, I do regard Belgium as my retirement place. I’d like the long-term care to be affordable. And the European e-health card could be accessible by the day I retire. Statewise, the disparity of health condition between high- and low-income is aggregated in Belgium — — although the compulsory health insurance is charged based on people’s income. The fact reflects back the principles — — is healthcare a responsibility or right? Now that medical aid is provided, people should also take their own responsibility for their own health. And rebuild a new environment that is correlated to a healthy behavior needs the whole society.
That is, the low-income should be provided a safer environment and have access to career development in order to build a secure network not only in the medical places, but also in daily society such that they could be out of alcohol and drug abuse. Environment is so important. Environmental friendly not only for the earth, but also for those in need. — — Look at me, simply changing from Karlsruhe to Leuven saved my sleep and health.
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/339168/HiT-22-5-2020-eng.pdf
