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German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

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Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#181

Post by jandrewrogers »

mschuster91 wrote: post #122
formerly_proven wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High taxes with no matching value behind them is undeniably a negative.

> High taxes with no matching value behind them That is not the case for Germany. We have - even with all its shortcomings - a decent education system that's largely free and accessible for everyone, a decent healthcare system, a decent public transport system on local, regional and federal system, and a very decent social security network that covers unemployment, pension and elderly care. The US in contrast has nei…

The US actually has a good pension system relative to other developed countries. Retirement plans like 401k, IRA, etc are in addition to the pension system, they don't replace it, and are frequently superior to their European counterparts both in scope and flexibility.

There is plenty to complain about but pensions and retirement is one area that the US does comparatively well.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#182

Post by shasts »

pflenker wrote: post #150
dkekenflxlf wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

500-1000 USD per month for a WHOLE family is fucking cheap!? In Germany, i'm paying more than 1150€ per month as single (and im not privately insured but publicly)

1) I doubt that you pay as much. I pay less than half of that and have a comfortable salary. Did you include the "Arbeitgeberanteil" (which is not part of what you are paying)? 2) You can't easily extrapolate that number to a whole family. Kids are usually insured for free if the higher-earning parent is not privately insured.

This is quite possible, right?

For eg: if you work for a Swiss or US employer and make more than 69k(?), say 100k, as a freelancer, and have a family, you have to pay around 14%(upper limit somewhere around 1000) of the income as health insurance contribution.

I think it is costly. It is difficult to digest for me that the health insurance costs more than housing.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#183

Post by mschuster91 »

Nimitz14 wrote: post #173
mschuster91 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> High taxes with no matching value behind them That is not the case for Germany. We have - even with all its shortcomings - a decent education system that's largely free and accessible for everyone, a decent healthcare system, a decent public transport system on local, regional and federal system, and a very decent social security network that covers unemployment, pension and elderly care. The US in contrast has nei…

Switzerland does everything better than Germany with far less taxes. And since we're trading anecdotes I've found US Healthcare to be the best compared to the 3 european countries I've lived in before.

> Switzerland does everything better than Germany with far less taxes.

They have the advantage that the country is so small. Us Germans however have to deal with the fact that we have the 5th largest country of Europe of which a lot of is settled and has to be supported by the entire population.

And in any case, Swiss taxes aren't that much lower than Germany's either - average tax load in the country is ~29% [1], Germany is at 33.9% [2]. Switzerland's total load may be even higher because the German figure includes social security payments, Statista for Switzerland is only taxes.

[1] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1176146/umfra...

[2] https://www.bpb.de/kurz-knapp/zahlen-und-fakten/soziale-situ...

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#184

Post by graemep »

usr1106 wrote: post #135
ArmandGrillet wrote: post #37

Finally. Germany combines some of the worst aspects of the US (credit ranking, complicated abortion process, private healthcare if you want decent treatments) with the worst aspects of Europe (low digitalization, high taxation, recursive federalism: within the country and within the EU). A country like the Netherlands has its own issues (mainly housing) but doesn't have the myriad of pain points you can find in Germa…

German "public" healthcare is much more accessible and has much better coverage than its Finnish counterpart. Despite Finland reapeatedly making headlines (including on HN) about being a Nordic welfare state. Germans are typically complaining from a high level. Source: Members of the wider family living in both countries. Some over 80 and needing a lot of healthcare services. (I hear general practioners can be a prob…

> Germans are typically complaining from a high level.

Do Germans share the British tendency to think everything is better in the rest of the world?

As an immigrant (as a child, admittedly) and someone who has lived and worked elsewhere and, more importantly, does not completely share this aspect of the culture, I find British pessimism and self-flagellation really, really annoying.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#185

Post by Beijinger »

ciclotrone wrote: post #102
ArmandGrillet wrote: post #37

Finally. Germany combines some of the worst aspects of the US (credit ranking, complicated abortion process, private healthcare if you want decent treatments) with the worst aspects of Europe (low digitalization, high taxation, recursive federalism: within the country and within the EU). A country like the Netherlands has its own issues (mainly housing) but doesn't have the myriad of pain points you can find in Germa…

I find it quite disturbing that high taxation is seen as a negative aspect of Europe. I lived in Italy, France and Germany, and I enjoyed public healthcare and education of very high standard at very affordable prices, and free in the limit that one cannot afford to pay for them. As a relative of a person with a chronic disease I can tell you that on the one hand if we are not bankrupt it is because of public healthc…

" I'm proud of contributing through my taxes so that anybody in need can have the same treatment irrespective of their economic situation."

It is a big world my friend. And if millions come to use these services but don't pay in, the services get thinner and thinner. 1 Million Ukrainians came to German. Less than 25% have a job. The rest is financed by the taxpayer. Money, Rent, Health insurance...

Edit:

It reminds me of a Third Reich joke. An old woman goes into a map shop and looks at a globe.

She asks the sales person: What is this big blue land on the globe?

The sales person says: This is the USA.

Old lady: And this huge Red area, what is this?

The sales person says: This is the Soviet Union.

Old lady: And this tiny brown spot, what is this?

The sales person says: This is our Third Reich.

Old lady: Does the Fuehrer know this?

-----------

I hope you get what I am trying to say.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#186

Post by RHSeeger »

ciclotrone wrote: post #102
ArmandGrillet wrote: post #37

Finally. Germany combines some of the worst aspects of the US (credit ranking, complicated abortion process, private healthcare if you want decent treatments) with the worst aspects of Europe (low digitalization, high taxation, recursive federalism: within the country and within the EU). A country like the Netherlands has its own issues (mainly housing) but doesn't have the myriad of pain points you can find in Germa…

I find it quite disturbing that high taxation is seen as a negative aspect of Europe. I lived in Italy, France and Germany, and I enjoyed public healthcare and education of very high standard at very affordable prices, and free in the limit that one cannot afford to pay for them. As a relative of a person with a chronic disease I can tell you that on the one hand if we are not bankrupt it is because of public healthc…

> I find it quite disturbing that high taxation is seen as a negative aspect of Europe.

High tax rates and, in fact, ANY taxes area a negative. However, that negative is (hopefully) offset by the positives that the things those taxes go to pay for provide.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#187

Post by wyre »

greenavocado wrote: post #131
mschuster91 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> High taxes with no matching value behind them That is not the case for Germany. We have - even with all its shortcomings - a decent education system that's largely free and accessible for everyone, a decent healthcare system, a decent public transport system on local, regional and federal system, and a very decent social security network that covers unemployment, pension and elderly care. The US in contrast has nei…

INOVA in Northern Virginia charges $3000 for an uncomplicated vaginal birth. They have a code which rolls up many services into that code. There are additional in-hospital expenses such as the newborn hearing test which aggregate to about $400. If you have insurance your maximum cost out of pocket for the calendar year is between 5 and 15 thousand dollars (insurance covers everything above it). If you can't pay it al…

No one should have to declare bankruptcy for birthing a child. To suggest it is obscene.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#188

Post by mikestew »

greenavocado wrote: post #131
mschuster91 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> High taxes with no matching value behind them That is not the case for Germany. We have - even with all its shortcomings - a decent education system that's largely free and accessible for everyone, a decent healthcare system, a decent public transport system on local, regional and federal system, and a very decent social security network that covers unemployment, pension and elderly care. The US in contrast has nei…

INOVA in Northern Virginia charges $3000 for an uncomplicated vaginal birth. They have a code which rolls up many services into that code. There are additional in-hospital expenses such as the newborn hearing test which aggregate to about $400. If you have insurance your maximum cost out of pocket for the calendar year is between 5 and 15 thousand dollars (insurance covers everything above it). If you can't pay it al…

I'm sure this was meant as a "oh, it's not so bad in the U. S." type post. But I read it, and am reminded of what a suck-ass system the U. S. has. Sure, almost everything said is true. But let's reiterate:

1. One might pay up to $15K out-of-pocket for childbirth.

2. If you can't pay it, you have to go out-of-band to seek a non-standard procedure of taking care of the debt. The system is not otherwise built to handle a situation that's probably pretty common given the expenses involved.

3. If all else fails, file for bankruptcy.

All just to have a child.

What you've described is not "not so bad", but rather the plot of a bad movie from the 70s about how corporations have taken over the country and we all live in this dystopian hell where you have to give all of your assets to the corporation to be allowed to have a child. Only it's not a bad movie from the 70s, it's the U. S. healthcare system.

And I don't know what kind of low-end plan one gets for $1000/month for a whole family, but I'd bet real money that the deductible would make my eyes water.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#189

Post by staringback »

Ringz wrote: post #140
greenavocado wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

INOVA in Northern Virginia charges $3000 for an uncomplicated vaginal birth. They have a code which rolls up many services into that code. There are additional in-hospital expenses such as the newborn hearing test which aggregate to about $400. If you have insurance your maximum cost out of pocket for the calendar year is between 5 and 15 thousand dollars (insurance covers everything above it). If you can't pay it al…

> INOVA in Northern Virginia charges $3000 for an uncomplicated vaginal birth. They have a code which rolls up many services into that code. There are additional in-hospital expenses such as the newborn hearing test which aggregate to about $400. Free of charge in Germany > If you have insurance your maximum cost out of pocket for the calendar year is between 5 and 15 thousand dollars (insurance covers everything abo…

> Free of charge in Germany

Paid solely by taxes instead of some taxes and some out of pocket

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#190

Post by staringback »

albert180 wrote: post #175
greenavocado wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

INOVA in Northern Virginia charges $3000 for an uncomplicated vaginal birth. They have a code which rolls up many services into that code. There are additional in-hospital expenses such as the newborn hearing test which aggregate to about $400. If you have insurance your maximum cost out of pocket for the calendar year is between 5 and 15 thousand dollars (insurance covers everything above it). If you can't pay it al…

If Access to Health Care in the US is so great, why is infant mortality worse than in Cuba and they score dead last in every Health or Life Expectancy Metric among the G7?

Have you seen the health of an average American?
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