For the American people around: Yes, we probably pay more in taxes than you would in the US. However contrary to US citizens, most of these taxes are returned to us by decent road maintenance, clean water and other things we all need to live comfortable, healthy lives. I would also like to include the mandatory health insurance to these taxes. We understand that anybody can get sick at any time. Furthermore: bankruptcy due to medical debts are not a thing here. If you need urgent care you get it right now. You can safely call an ambulance if you need one, no unexpected bills. Sometimes you have to wait for less urgent care. Is it perfect? No, i can think of a few improvements, but we can mostlly trust our government and if we are not satisfied, we vote our government away (if there are enough votes of course). Our politicians step down and make way for the new guy and apart from one or two lunies who do anything for attention.
You would probably want to mention that health insurance in the US also have massive co-payment situations which could run into the thousands depending on the company and the plan. Also pre-existing conditions tend to be excluded alltogether when you take out health insurance in the US, meaning that specific illnesses may NOT be covered. Also depending on company and plan. That’s not the case in NL. Once you passed the threshold of €380 PER YEAR deductable (‘eigen risico’ in Dutch) roughly all procedures and medication are covered both for in- and out-patients. GPs are always covered 100%, so no deductable there. One important thing should also be mentioned: your basic health insurance is also valid for the whole of the EU plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Meaning you’ll receive the same cover as the locals do on basis of the local law. This may vary from country to country. It usually does not cover private health institutions, so look for public hospitals when you need one. This is an EU arrangement. Look for the blue flipside on your health insurance card. This is called the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) and it shows the EU flag. Repatriations (medevacs) are not covered. If you want that covered, you need a travel insurance. Check the ANWB (= the autoclub on anwb.nl ) website for more information.
About healthinsurance etc. No need to reject getting carried into an ambulance because of the cost. If you need medical assistance, you will get it, without it costing an arm or a leg or having to sell a kidney...
Did I heard it right $200 A MONTH for internet??? Wow, that’s over half a year for me (that’s the cheapest for € 35 a month, but there are services for € 50-60 a month, but never €180
I had no idea the US was so expensive to live. Been there a few times, but always on holidays. I am Dutch, but have been living and working in Gdansk, Poland for the last 5 and a half years. Monthly ticket on busses, trams and water taxi's cost 24 euro's over here. Phone plan with unlimits calls and texts and 2 Gb's (to start with, every time you put money into your account you get bonus GB's and I have now more Gb's than I can use in a life time.) for 6 euros a month. Internet 350 MBPs costs € 17,50. Health insureance is mostly paid by employer if I pay anything myself it is just a few euro. Furnished appartement costs 450 euro, service fee including estimate waster and gas is € 130.Eletricity is 35 euro's every 2 months.Groceries, especially meat, is very cheap over here. Going out for dinner is fairly cheap, cheaper than in the Netherlands. It is good living here and I actually, after 58 years of waiting, had a white Christmas last Christmas.
Hi Theo, thanks for watching and thanks for the figures. It’s always nice to hear what other things cost in other countries. I am assuming those are good prices for the wage you would earn? I like those prices. My wife and I planned to go to Poland in the summer but now because of world circumstances we really don’t know. Again thanks for watching and thanks for the info. Eric
@@SoultoSoulTravels Its more of a go while you still can situation, frontline is thousands kilometers away. But future is uncertain so there may not be better time to visit for few decades.
Rent in cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and so forth are much higher than in smaller cities. For €1200 you can rent a house instead of an appartement in those smaller cities.
It's nice to see other expats talking about these comparisons. Me and my little family made the reverse course and a little more up North, to Canada. We grew up and lived in Den Haag area for most of our lives and moved to Canada 6 years ago. The prices you describe are the prices that I had in my memory, so it's good to know they haven't gone up too much in the past few years. Canada imo, is comparable to the USA in costs, apart from the HC, so maybe that is a NA vs Europe thing?: We pay a lot more for rent or mortgage; a lot more for utilities and internet and can pay a lot more for phone. basic HC here up North, is "free" of charge up front (comparable to the old Dutchy ZIekenfonds verzekering). This is just to see a doctor or make a medical visit to hospital. Any other medical costs, you can buy insurance for. Downside is, is that the waiting times are much longer than I was used to in The Netherlands and the quality of HC... also less here (my wife works/-ed in hospitals in both NL and CAN, so she can compare). Please keep adding to your Dutch content. It is nice to see all the old memories (koningsdag/bevrijdingsdag and Dutch foods, among others) re-lived through your eyes.
Add this: costs of education! Full time master degree students, at a research university, there are 13 if these and all fit into any of the major global listings within the top 250 institutions globally, just over 2000 euro's ( 2 grand....) a year for residents. There is a nationwide standardized financial aide program as well. This consists mostly of low interest loans - this can support the costs of tuition, books, materials and living, as campus living is not included in tuitions. Other programs are similar or (a lot) lower in price. Students get a (part time) public transportation card too. It is all tax dollar paid but makes studying more independent of any wealth or lack thereof.
When you said 32 degrees was freezing, I thought that you must've lived in a Oven or something then I remembered that it was Fahrenheit so it was close to 0 degrees celsius. I am gonna get a deckhand Job soon and I will be working for 6 months then I will be staying my 1 month off in the Netherlands thank you for bringing to light the costs involved with renting and all of the added costs, It's still gonna be difficult for me to get used to the Dollar and Euro conversion. But thanks to your video I will have a rough idea of what I would be paying thank you, a million
Health insurance in the Netherlands is a hybrid system. You pay your premiums to the insurance company, and if you have an income above a certain level, you pay part of your taxes to healthcare.
I have to say I was surprised. I was expecting the Netherlands to be more expensive (other than the notorious health insurance). The US has so much more space, cheaper labour, etc...
It's a common, well, myth. Income taxes in the US are lower, so you must be better off, right? The actual cost of living is as high if not higher. It does vary per area, as mentioned in the video. And yes, there's all this land. But people want to live close to work and in large areas of that land, there is little to no work. Just like here, most people want to live near, if not in, cities. At that point, all that extra space is meaningless. It's not close enough to the city to count. Once you get out of the city proper, you'll see other costs pop up. No matter how cheap the gas, a mandatory one hour or longer commute (two, since you also need to get back home) will cost you. Sprawling suburbs also have a sprawling, inefficient service network for sewers, water, electricity and roads. Someone needs to pay for maintenance. Or not, and then you see the pot-hole ridden roads of some of the older suburbs.
as a young adult aspiring to live in the Netherlands, thank you for sharing this information. It is so difficult to find out the costs of moving (and everything that comes with it) to the Netherlands that arent dated (like 3-4 years ago!)
Finding a place to live has become tougher compared with your 4 year old figures. Due to all kinds of reasons, it has become hard to aquire building permits from municipalities. That always has been tough, half the population live on reclaiimed land below sea level, but lately more so. So, just to assist in expectations! Enjoy the journey!
Take care with cell phone roaming : since we have it for free in Europe, a lit of people -including me- are so used to it that they forget to turn it off when they travel outside of Europe. Especially younger people who don’t even know what roaming is. That sure was a painful bill the previous time I went to Egypt … 😭
It would be interesting to learn what is covered by the health insurances in the US and the Netherlands. I understood from other video's that in spite of being insured a lot of costs are not covered by the US health insurances. So you still can be faced with a big bill after a surgery or whatever.
There Is no health care in America. Unless you have a job. And even then people report that they need to pay thousands of extra dollars. Even after a simple procedure. It's kinda sad.
You don't get a big bill. Visisting what we call a family doctor is free. The rest in general is free. Exception not necassairy things. Like fillers if you are old. Or women who like more unnaturel in front. The only pay is a so called own risk. This year 385.00 euro. And I think a simple surgery cost more
@@Paulski25If it's something necessary. E.g. Women who have been helped with breast cancer. Then a breast correction may be the case. means. If it is (medically) necessary to do. Affects quality of life. Physically and/or mentally. But not if you think that because of old age, for example, you want to pimp your body.
Owning a car in the Netherlands privately. Tax: between 40 and 60 euros a month. (depends on what kind of fuel, and weight of the car, provincial differences) Insurance: average between 40 and 80 euros a month. (rough estamate, different plans available.) Required periodic inspection: average between 25 and 50 euros a year. (From the moment your car is 3 years of age. This is requiered by law to ensure safe cars on the road and protecting of the environment.) Fuel: prices fluctuate. atm: "Benzine" E10 around € 2.10, Diesel around €1.80, LPG around €1.00. all per liter.(If you live near the border sometimes it lucrrative to fill up there.)
@@gert-janvanderlee5307 Ford F150 on LPG(propane) as commercial vehickel grijskenteken is also 50 euro a month tax, and those do about 1liter 8 kilometer.
Insurance premiums vary on the plan you have, legal liability, some kind of "casco" variant or full insurance... Insurance is mandatory and the fines of not being insured are steep.
in doing my homework over the past few years about this subject. i'm seeing what you are experiencing. what ever you pay for over there you get the services you pay for. best, best, best!
The 385 Euro per year deductible includes all health care costs (except the family doctor). So if you only have blood pressure medication, you could end up paying this yourself (because you do not reach the 385 Euro). If you need a medical procedure or to visit the emergency department, you are likely to reach the 385 Euro and the extra cost of the blood pressure medication will be covered by the insurance.
Good one again. 👍 My experience is that renting a furnished home is more expensive than an empty one and they can kick you out more easy. I'm not sure how the NL handles this.
In the first one and a half year of renting in The Netherlands, your position is somewhat weak. After renting for 1 1/2 years in The Netherlands you have 'renter's rights' and it becomes very hard to kick someone out. Not entirely sure how it works with rental contracts that are for a year and then extended for a year. I'm pretty sure even then, after one and a half year, it becomes a lot harder to evict renters. Practically the only solid case is when they don't pay the rent. And no, you can't just suddenly double the rent. There are laws about how much you can raise the rent.
Internet included??? That's not everywhere in the netherlands. In some places water is included, but not everywhere. Because I pay for water and electricity and internet seperate. It's not much, but still I pay. Included for me in a flat is any cost of anything that will break in my place like bath, sink, toilet, doors and so on. Health insurance I got is basic and that doesn't include physical therapy or dentist. And in the 70's and 80's basic healthinsurance did include dentist and physical therapy. First they removed dentist from basic and in 2021 they removed physical therapy from basic. And according to many dutch people we pay a lot of taxes.
I pay my Belgian health insurance company 8,33 euros per person per month, so 200 per year for me and my wife combined. I don’t know our deductibles, but they are so affordable it’s not a concern. I know in France it’s about the same.
And the rest is paid through higher taxes. so this is one improvement that I would add to the Dutch system, remove the insurance companies and run healthcare through the government. Probably saves a lot of money and private health care workers (physical therapists etc) do not have to bow down to, eh negotiate with insurance companies about decent rates.
If you sometime want to have a car look into green wheels or mywheels these are shared vehicles and you have even no monthly cost subscription of course you pay hour km fee which varies on your subscription.
When you say 1200 for car insurance in the US, does that cover your own costs too, or just damage sustained by the other party ? In Belgium, for a big car we pay about 550/year in the second case, and about triple that (?) for the first. It’s customary to get the “omnium” insurance only on new cars for the first 4 years of use.
Health insurance NL: cheaper and better, most paid upfront by insurance and very little has to be paid out of pocket. You might need to check if a doctor or hospital is in your network. USA more expensive, less paid upfront by insurance, more paperwork, more hassle, more need to be paid out of pocket and very inconsistent rules on what’s in and out of your network. For example: a hospital and most doctors in that hospital are in your network, but when you require medical attention, the on call doctor is not in your network and therefore most expenses are out of pocket. Totally insane insurance policies. Car NL: car is more expensive to buy and there is very little option to negotiate a better price. Gas is far more expensive than anywhere in the USA. It used to be 4:1 but now it’s about 2.5:1. Cars are generally smaller and lighter and more energy efficient. Car insurance in the Netherlands is much cheaper in a 2:1 comparison on price vs value. Also keep in mind that the Netherlands charge taxes when you own a car, even if you don’t drive it. USA: cars much cheaper but a lot is optional: a shelf (hoedenplank) to cover the trunk is optional, even floor mats are often optional. Maintenance costs are about equal but cars get less warranty in the USA than in the Netherlands, maybe that also has to do with the overall worse condition of the roads in the USA. Prices pre-covid were very negotiable but because of a shortage on chips during the pandemic, car dealers currently don’t negotiate and some even have raised the cost of the MSRP up to $7000 per car. Groceries NL: generally speaking more expensive than in the USA. When you wait for sales your can pay equal. When going for store-brand items you can pay less in the Netherlands. USA: you can pay less than in the Netherlands but you need to watch what you buy, when, and how. To figure out and use all the available discounts can be a hassle. Stores advertise with an excellent sale but sometimes make it too hard to be able to use that sale. Generally speaking the vegetables and fruits are more fresh in the Netherlands. Alcoholic beverages are cheaper in the USA, but strangely often don’t carry the amount of alcohol in the container, which is a requirement in the Netherlands. It differs from state to state if it’s allowed to sell alcohol in the grocery store or if it needs to be sold at the liquor store. Cost of a home NL: cheaper to rent than in the USA and more protective laws for the renter, unless it’s a state like California. Buying a home in the Netherlands is most often more expensive and for a much smaller house. The houses in the Netherlands are of a far better quality though. USA: renting is expensive. Buying a home is considered a wise investment. You need to be aware that US homes require a lot of maintenance. Roof, siding, windows, and doors need to be replaced several times during a home’s lifetime. Also many states charge property tax which can be enormous. A simple apartment in New York easily need to pay over $1000 a month and in New Jersey $600. The lower income tax of the US compared to the Netherlands is often surpassed when combining the income tax with the property tax. Energy NL: energy for heating and cooling is cheaper in the USA, but since most homes are much bigger they do require a lot more energy. Almost every home has central heating and cooling. Less than 1% of homes in the Netherlands has airconditioning. USA: almost all meters for gas, water, and electricity are on the outside of the home, so even when your absent the meters can still be read. You need to check the bills for inaccuracies because mistakes are often made. I can add many more items to this list, but generally speaking Americans believe that the Netherlands is a socialist country where the government charges far too much to be able to afford that way of living. In real life Americans have no idea that their average spending in taxes is even higher than in the Netherlands, but they get far less in return for it. People who are healthy and have a decent paying job don’t worry about these things until they get sick or lose their job. When one or both happens to them, it can go downhill fast in which you also lose your home and any savings you might have had.
Hey,how are you, so i pay for tv and internet plus sports channels around 100 euro a month, gas and electric around 150, my phone is with t mobile and i pay 37,50 for unlimited data, texts messages and calling and for my home i pay 1100 for 86m2
Glasses. Too bad they can be fixed entirely. You could look for new ones. You're health insurance will probably pay like 100 - 200 euro (differs for each company) . Beware, that's once in like 2 or 3 years. The other costs you need to pay yourself . And, no it's not deducted from that 385 insurence deductible. For car: for comparison you could look at private rent. All cost are included, but fuel. You could compare that to the monthly costs in the US (insurence and avg maintenance costs). For larger dutch cities, a parking space / licence can cost a lot too! But how about driving licence? I really don't know if you are allowed to drive using your driving licence from the states (probably not). With our small narrow streets a dodge ram ( or similair) is perhaps not the best choice.... a smaller car will do fine. Do notice a drive of under 6h could take you to Paris and a drive of under 8h could bring you to Berlin (all from Rotterdam) . By the way, how is your own company doing? Are you (still) in the start-up, or are you up and running?
Are Americans shocked by the gasonline prices here? (Now around 2.05 per liter, here near the border.) If I were driving an American car it would bankrupt me, as they need so much fuel.
Concerning living costs in the USA and the Netherlands, I recommend watching the first section of this video: ua-cam.com/video/FuZ5WO8xoks/v-deo.html&ab_channel=Money%26Macro It makes the distinction between disposable income (income after tax) and discretionary income (income after tax AND after all the necessities of life like food, debt payments and transportation). The conclusion is that while wages and disposable income might be higher in the USA, on average in the Netherlands people have a higher discretionary income and in real terms have more money left over by the end of the month. This is in part due to some things being better maintained collectively like healthcare and education. And other differences like the cost food and transportation are due to how differently the US and NL are structured and organized.
Congrats, you are getting the hang of that USD - € thing. That intro "well done" tap on the arm - brilliant. Apologies in advance if my comments are way to heavy. Compare train travel for a future vid. Amtrak is expensive, but one should see it in cost per mile, as distances are vast in the US. A follow-up vid about health care costs and the (in the eyes of many Europeans) seemingly exploitation of American people would be nice. If you did not know this, when somebody is a diabetes patient, they will say : "ik heb suiker(ziekte)" ( I have sugar(disease). But why in heaven's name does one pay $ 320 for a vial of long working insulin, as where it is covered by your insurance here or only cost $ 20 in a country like Costa Rica, from the same manufacturer. You wouldn't believe the stories you get from Americans if they describe their health care experiences (especially how embarrased they feel) in Europe, Australia and Canada. Why is the greatest country in the world (their words) the country where people get exploited the most. (Sorry to bring in politics) But with the things might go this coming November, it does not look good for the average Joe or Jane.
@@Brozius2512 Probably the cheapest plan is for 25 Mbps (cable, not dial-up)- good enough for streaming. Most expensive plans are overkill. Of course, I am just a cheap Dutchie. Low-income people with kids in school can qualify for subsidy and pay only $10 per month for basic internet. Currently, you can get 1000 Mbps internet plans for $30/month if you bundle with other plans from a major carrier so it all depends what you need.
Few points: Rent wise, you are comparing apples to oranges because you are comparing a 1,000 sq.ft condo to a 540 sq.ft condo. In Europe you are paying $ 2.483 per sq.ft, meaning you would pay $ 1,341 for the same size condo in CA. Health: Yes, the US system is so fucked up! I am dual citizen, and until 10 years ago I had a residence in Germany with my mom until she passed. I had 'private health insurance' for $ 250 a month, which paid for everything, including 90% of dental, including 4 implants, and crowns all over my mouth. Transportation, yeah, I am so happy, when I visit my hometown Munich, and public transport is just fabulous. Around $ 70 a month within the city, and you wait no longer than 5 minutes at any station. No need for a car. Agreed on phone cost, and if you want to phone for free long distance, just use WhatsApp. I talk for hours on end from Maui, or Corfu, with my girl in Germany, for free, and I can even make it a video call.
I am at FBTO, they have very good insurance but its not the cheapest either. I pay about 132.50 for that a month, i get benefits ofcourse back from government so it ends up only 22.50 on my own part. If you get medicines that are required for recovery, aka nessecary then it is depending on your plan covered fully or 75%. i choose the full reimbursements. If medical care for meds are high you could check other providers every end of year to go to. I dont know where you registered, but it doesnt sound to me like its my insurance.
It looks like you are living in a "Jaren 30" house. These are highly sought after in the Netherlands! the 1930's were a period of architectural development (Traditionalist style). Houses of great quality with a lot of character that is so lacking in the post-war houses . And you're describing it as "quite an old building" with "quite a lot of quirks" ...
I lived in one of those houses in the same area and while they look nice they have a few downsides (well, mine had): 1 Insulation: The windows were single pane, the top part with typical 1930s stained glass panes and the sliding part are very drafty. Every winter I stuffed the edges with foam rubber to try to keep the heat in. 2 Insulation: The walls are a single layer of bricks. In the winter the outside walls are ice cold. 3 Insulation: The roof is flat with asphalt sheeting. In summer the top floor is a sauna. When I was a student, I only had the top floor of my apartment. (It used to be two rooms but one was split into two smaller rooms: one kitchen and one shower & toilet. It was a nice mini-apartment.) 4 Storage space: My apartment had not a single designated storage area. I had cupboards and such but not a "gangkast" (hall cupboard/room) where I could store a vacuum cleaner, bicycle pump, tent or whatever else was too large for a normal cupboard.
@@alexandergrofics1885 Mostly recognisable, but point 2 is not. The outside walls should be a double layer of brick with a "spouw" (air gap) inbetween. Also, the top floor was normally originally intended to be the storage place of the house (attic). Sounds like that explains why you didn't have any storage: You were living in it ...
Hi Tammy and Eric, welcome to my neighborhood. See your posts for the first time today. It's funny watching you on YT and I just realized you live only a few steps away from my home. Maybe we'll run innto each other one of these days. Have a good time in Rotterdam.
Two thing I wanted to add to the transportation piece. Gas is way more expensive, I know you mentioned it in passing, but right now what you pay at a Dutch gas station is like 2.4 times what you pay in the US. Filling up my car would cost me 99 euros, in the US I would spend 41 euros (if it was possible to pay in euros over there). Since the war in Ukraine started it has just shot up. It is worldwide and I know how edgy Americans are about the gas price, since they use their cars for everything. So my hope is that Americans understand, this hurting is everywhere. Public transport in de cities of the Netherlands is pretty good. As soon as you leave the Randstad (area of the four major cities) you have to plan a crazy amount, because services dwindle rapidly. If you had to take a bus into the boondocks and a few years back you could catch that buss twice an hour, it will be down to once an hour right now. And service would probably be only during the day, not in the evening or on sundays. These changes are mostly because of privatisation.
You mentioned the deductables on healthcare.. It's 385 Euro's a year per person. Some treatments/examinations fall under that deductable, but if they do, a single treatment will subtract to a maximum of 125 euro's from that deductable. But your doctor usually tells you if that's applicable. And then there are prescriptions that you must pay for in full or partially, but that ain't too much money.
6:11 pre-war in Rotterdam ? That has to be pretty rare. So much was bombed in Rotterdam... 9:20 if I'm not mistake (things have changed a bit over time, the current system is still only a decade old or something) companies still pay a government tax as part of the wages. This money is used for the insurance companies to get some extra money from the government for very long term high-cost sick people. And then their are even different budget systems paid directly by the state for extreme costs sick people. My mom is one: just the cost of special nurses care is over 100 000 per year. So this isn't handled by the insurance, but you are talking to bureaucrats. Not ideal.
Glasses are most of the time included in your health insurance, you just have to make sure you go to an optician that has a deal with our insurance. My insurance allows me 1 pair of glasses a year, sunglasses are also allowed as long as they are prescription glasses.
Also a thing to mention if you don't earn alot of money (for example you not fulltime and you live alone, you can get "discounts" on your health insurance and rental cost
Ownership and use of a car is quite expensive in The Netherlands. A family car would cost you around €200 in insurance and €50+ in taxes a month (prices obviously depend on the kind of car you own and on the fuel where diesel and LPG are way more expensive). That's not too bad. The price of gasoline is the real problem if you compare it to the USA. One litre of gasoline cost €2 at least (that is $8 a gallon). In some cities you need to pay for parking which vary but in Rotterdam or Amsterdam is expensive. Maintenance by an official dealership is also not cheap but there are alternatives.
Well, there are some remarks to be made here. The price of gasoline is mainly tax. And those taxes are, for the most part, used to pay for building and maintenance of our roads. That is kinda nice as now the users of the roads also pay for the roads.
@@Nuevocasa no, depends on the kind of car you drive. Mine is an Audi and I pay €105 but more miles, different region, theft risk, more expensive car makes the difference.
Costs of health insurance are a lot higher than mentioned for most off us in NL. Either a taxrate of 5,5% or 6,75% (depending on source of income)is applied to your income as part of the overall incometax to cover for healthinsurance.
Not even with a massive income you could get near the combination of the premium paid for the base insurance plus the income dependent ZVW part is maxxed at around 4761 euro per year
@@elnmkru now add wlz which is another 9,65% of your income (maxed at 36k if I'm correct) and also part of your overall incometax and the gap gets smaller yet. It will remain big but that is because of real differences in the approach to healthcare and the effect settling everything in court has on the costs of everything in the US. The only point I am making is that our collectivistic system tends to hide certain costs, certainly to those that don't have previous experience with a similar system so you have to be carefull making these comparisons because in many cases you need to take some kind of tax or part thereof into account as well.
@@MabuyaQ Usually, the argument is made the other way around, that low taxation in the US doesn't mean you're better off because there are hidden fees, taxes and contributions to be paid, or you actually have to pay for things we take for granted. It's not like wlz and such are sneakily inserted somewhere, or hidden behind masses of legal terms. A suggestion on your original post - also if you had included wlz in it - would be to add 'and even with all those extra fees, The Netherlands is still ahead of the US'. Well, unless you have a yearly income well over 100k. Since the median income (a better indicator than the mean) of the Netherlands is around € 30.000,-, I feel most people don't have to worry about this.
I'm sorry, but health insurance in NL is a scam, the only time they refunded me was when I had a dental care premium. The past 2 years I've had some health issues, nothing big, but needed to take some tests in the hospital a couple of times, they were "own risk", in other words I had to pay for them and did not receive any benefits from the insurance. I realize this is a personal issue and may not be the same for everyone, but my car insurance is a lot better and a lot less expensive. Nailed it, that made me laugh :-)
The deductible (eigen risico) is an unfortunate choice by our government, but not a scam. You might also consider that you were fully reimbursed for the cost of the GP who sent you to the hospital. And perhaps also consider yourself fortunate that your medical expenses aren't high enough to clear your deductible. Yes, your car insurance is cheaper. That's because car expenses are a lot less than medical expenses overall. Cars are rarely treated for cancer and almost never undergo open heart surgery.
@@bentels5340 In a way I totally agree with you, but as it happens, I've had a 2nd hand car for a year (not had a car for 16 years before this one), paid about 6000 euros for it, insurance was about 65 euro a month (give or take), a tree fell on it with storm Eunice, and I'm receiving 5500 euro from my insurance. Health insurance, I've paid idk how to count this, but lets say an average of 60 euro a month since I was born, 50.000 'till today (rounded off) and I've received less than 1000 euro.... (idk how expensive I was as a child, but my medical needs have always been very few, except for the past two years) Edit: A GP in NL receives like 40 euro, maybe closer to 30 every 3 months for each of his/her patients, in 52 years i've seen a GP 8 times, if that's not a scam idk what is, edit2: on top of that 3 out of 4 diagnosis were wrong, resulting in tests I didn't need, but had to pay for from my own pocket.
@@Rob_van_der_Linden You're completely missing the point of insurance. Insurance isn't about getting the money out that you put in, insurance is about collectivising healthcare costs so that all healthcare is available for all people at all times independent of how much they have in their bank account. You help pay for other people and in return other people pay for you. The same goes for your car BTW: you're getting €5500 courtesy of the other people who pay into your policy. That aside, if you're really that concerned about getting your money back I can ease your worries a bit: chances are excellent that you'll get quite a lot -- if not all -- of it back in the last 18 months of your life. And GPs get €14.15 per patient per 4 months.
@@berthamoen4488 What isn't, want to hear another story that doesn't involve me, but how insurance works, and I actually benefit from it financially,..(that's a bit of a contradiction to how started this reply) So, 17 years ago my dad passed away, and not long after my mother was taken into a care home for dementia, at the time she didn't have much, the house was sold way under it's value, it was 2012 the whole world was an economic disaster, so when she was moved to the care home her finances were close to 0, of course she still had her income from pensions and other stuff (aow), now this is the tricky bit, the care she was provided is paid by health insurance, but after she passed away she left just about all the money she received in pensions and what not AFTER she received care. So that money was divided between my sister and me, but should have been spent on care and taken from the insurance.
For the American people around: Yes, we probably pay more in taxes than you would in the US. However contrary to US citizens, most of these taxes are returned to us by decent road maintenance, clean water and other things we all need to live comfortable, healthy lives. I would also like to include the mandatory health insurance to these taxes. We understand that anybody can get sick at any time. Furthermore: bankruptcy due to medical debts are not a thing here. If you need urgent care you get it right now. You can safely call an ambulance if you need one, no unexpected bills. Sometimes you have to wait for less urgent care.
Is it perfect? No, i can think of a few improvements, but we can mostlly trust our government and if we are not satisfied, we vote our government away (if there are enough votes of course). Our politicians step down and make way for the new guy and apart from one or two lunies who do anything for attention.
You would probably want to mention that health insurance in the US also have massive co-payment situations which could run into the thousands depending on the company and the plan. Also pre-existing conditions tend to be excluded alltogether when you take out health insurance in the US, meaning that specific illnesses may NOT be covered. Also depending on company and plan. That’s not the case in NL. Once you passed the threshold of €380 PER YEAR deductable (‘eigen risico’ in Dutch) roughly all procedures and medication are covered both for in- and out-patients. GPs are always covered 100%, so no deductable there. One important thing should also be mentioned: your basic health insurance is also valid for the whole of the EU plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Meaning you’ll receive the same cover as the locals do on basis of the local law. This may vary from country to country. It usually does not cover private health institutions, so look for public hospitals when you need one. This is an EU arrangement. Look for the blue flipside on your health insurance card. This is called the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) and it shows the EU flag. Repatriations (medevacs) are not covered. If you want that covered, you need a travel insurance. Check the ANWB (= the autoclub on anwb.nl ) website for more information.
About healthinsurance etc.
No need to reject getting carried into an ambulance because of the cost.
If you need medical assistance, you will get it, without it costing an arm or a leg or having to sell a kidney...
Did I heard it right $200 A MONTH for internet??? Wow, that’s over half a year for me (that’s the cheapest for € 35 a month, but there are services for € 50-60 a month, but never €180
I had no idea the US was so expensive to live. Been there a few times, but always on holidays. I am Dutch, but have been living and working in Gdansk, Poland for the last 5 and a half years. Monthly ticket on busses, trams and water taxi's cost 24 euro's over here. Phone plan with unlimits calls and texts and 2 Gb's (to start with, every time you put money into your account you get bonus GB's and I have now more Gb's than I can use in a life time.) for 6 euros a month. Internet 350 MBPs costs € 17,50. Health insureance is mostly paid by employer if I pay anything myself it is just a few euro. Furnished appartement costs 450 euro, service fee including estimate waster and gas is € 130.Eletricity is 35 euro's every 2 months.Groceries, especially meat, is very cheap over here. Going out for dinner is fairly cheap, cheaper than in the Netherlands. It is good living here and I actually, after 58 years of waiting, had a white Christmas last Christmas.
Hi Theo, thanks for watching and thanks for the figures. It’s always nice to hear what other things cost in other countries. I am assuming those are good prices for the wage you would earn? I like those prices. My wife and I planned to go to Poland in the summer but now because of world circumstances we really don’t know. Again thanks for watching and thanks for the info.
Eric
@@SoultoSoulTravels Its more of a go while you still can situation, frontline is thousands kilometers away. But future is uncertain so there may not be better time to visit for few decades.
Rent in cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and so forth are much higher than in smaller cities. For €1200 you can rent a house instead of an appartement in those smaller cities.
It's nice to see other expats talking about these comparisons. Me and my little family made the reverse course and a little more up North, to Canada. We grew up and lived in Den Haag area for most of our lives and moved to Canada 6 years ago. The prices you describe are the prices that I had in my memory, so it's good to know they haven't gone up too much in the past few years.
Canada imo, is comparable to the USA in costs, apart from the HC, so maybe that is a NA vs Europe thing?: We pay a lot more for rent or mortgage; a lot more for utilities and internet and can pay a lot more for phone.
basic HC here up North, is "free" of charge up front (comparable to the old Dutchy ZIekenfonds verzekering). This is just to see a doctor or make a medical visit to hospital. Any other medical costs, you can buy insurance for. Downside is, is that the waiting times are much longer than I was used to in The Netherlands and the quality of HC... also less here (my wife works/-ed in hospitals in both NL and CAN, so she can compare).
Please keep adding to your Dutch content. It is nice to see all the old memories (koningsdag/bevrijdingsdag and Dutch foods, among others) re-lived through your eyes.
Hello Brian! Thank you for watching us and commenting!! We really appreciate it😊. We love it over here and have no regrets about our move💕
Add this: costs of education! Full time master degree students, at a research university, there are 13 if these and all fit into any of the major global listings within the top 250 institutions globally, just over 2000 euro's ( 2 grand....) a year for residents. There is a nationwide standardized financial aide program as well. This consists mostly of low interest loans - this can support the costs of tuition, books, materials and living, as campus living is not included in tuitions. Other programs are similar or (a lot) lower in price. Students get a (part time) public transportation card too. It is all tax dollar paid but makes studying more independent of any wealth or lack thereof.
When you said 32 degrees was freezing, I thought that you must've lived in a Oven or something then I remembered that it was Fahrenheit so it was close to 0 degrees celsius.
I am gonna get a deckhand Job soon and I will be working for 6 months then I will be staying my 1 month off in the Netherlands thank you for bringing to light the costs involved with renting and all of the added costs, It's still gonna be difficult for me to get used to the Dollar and Euro conversion. But thanks to your video I will have a rough idea of what I would be paying thank you, a million
Health insurance in the Netherlands is a hybrid system. You pay your premiums to the insurance company, and if you have an income above a certain level, you pay part of your taxes to healthcare.
I am glad to hear you guys enjoy life over here 😃 it must be quite a change to emigrate from the USA to The Netherlands but you are doing great👌🏽
Do take into account that the Dutch pay a lot of income tax (can be up to 50%).
I have to say I was surprised. I was expecting the Netherlands to be more expensive (other than the notorious health insurance). The US has so much more space, cheaper labour, etc...
It's a common, well, myth. Income taxes in the US are lower, so you must be better off, right? The actual cost of living is as high if not higher. It does vary per area, as mentioned in the video. And yes, there's all this land. But people want to live close to work and in large areas of that land, there is little to no work. Just like here, most people want to live near, if not in, cities. At that point, all that extra space is meaningless. It's not close enough to the city to count.
Once you get out of the city proper, you'll see other costs pop up. No matter how cheap the gas, a mandatory one hour or longer commute (two, since you also need to get back home) will cost you. Sprawling suburbs also have a sprawling, inefficient service network for sewers, water, electricity and roads. Someone needs to pay for maintenance. Or not, and then you see the pot-hole ridden roads of some of the older suburbs.
as a young adult aspiring to live in the Netherlands, thank you for sharing this information. It is so difficult to find out the costs of moving (and everything that comes with it) to the Netherlands that arent dated (like 3-4 years ago!)
Finding a place to live has become tougher compared with your 4 year old figures. Due to all kinds of reasons, it has become hard to aquire building permits from municipalities. That always has been tough, half the population live on reclaiimed land below sea level, but lately more so. So, just to assist in expectations! Enjoy the journey!
Nice to hear! Enjoy the spring 🌻🌼🇳🇱
Take care with cell phone roaming : since we have it for free in Europe, a lit of people -including me- are so used to it that they forget to turn it off when they travel outside of Europe. Especially younger people who don’t even know what roaming is. That sure was a painful bill the previous time I went to Egypt … 😭
So you don't like riding your bike in the rain.... you're a long way from calling yourself Dutch 😂😂😂😂. We ride our bikes no matter the weather.
lol lol lol
Well I am Dutch, 59 years old, born and raised in Den Haag and I still hate the rain and dark, wet, cold days
Dont't be ridiculous!
I meant the brave Dutchman who says we all ride our bikes in the rain!
@@mariannedehaan8663you shouldn't take everything too serious. This is the internet, remember?
It would be interesting to learn what is covered by the health insurances in the US and the Netherlands. I understood from other video's that in spite of being insured a lot of costs are not covered by the US health insurances. So you still can be faced with a big bill after a surgery or whatever.
There Is no health care in America. Unless you have a job. And even then people report that they need to pay thousands of extra dollars. Even after a simple procedure. It's kinda sad.
You don't get a big bill. Visisting what we call a family doctor is free. The rest in general is free. Exception not necassairy things. Like fillers if you are old. Or women who like more unnaturel in front. The only pay is a so called own risk. This year 385.00 euro. And I think a simple surgery cost more
@@wimschiphorst8541 In some cases even breast implants will be paid by the mandatory insurance. (As a dude I do not when exactly)
@@Paulski25If it's something necessary. E.g. Women who have been helped with breast cancer. Then a breast correction may be the case. means. If it is (medically) necessary to do. Affects quality of life. Physically and/or mentally. But not if you think that because of old age, for example, you want to pimp your body.
Wanna have a birth in a hospital? 10,000 dollar.
Want to have physical contact with your newly born? $64.00 per touch.
I'm not kidding.
I wish I was.
Owning a car in the Netherlands privately.
Tax: between 40 and 60 euros a month. (depends on what kind of fuel, and weight of the car, provincial differences)
Insurance: average between 40 and 80 euros a month. (rough estamate, different plans available.)
Required periodic inspection: average between 25 and 50 euros a year. (From the moment your car is 3 years of age. This is requiered by law to ensure safe cars on the road and protecting of the environment.)
Fuel: prices fluctuate. atm: "Benzine" E10 around € 2.10, Diesel around €1.80, LPG around €1.00. all per liter.(If you live near the border sometimes it lucrrative to fill up there.)
This is for standard European cars. The Big trucks like they drive in the us are (much) more expensive, except when converted to run on LPG.
@@gert-janvanderlee5307 Ford F150 on LPG(propane) as commercial vehickel grijskenteken is also 50 euro a month tax, and those do about 1liter 8 kilometer.
@@MultiArrie That's what I said.
Insurance premiums vary on the plan you have, legal liability, some kind of "casco" variant or full insurance... Insurance is mandatory and the fines of not being insured are steep.
And if you live in a big city, most likely you need a parking permit, costs vary per town
in doing my homework over the past few years about this subject. i'm seeing what you are experiencing. what ever you pay for over there you get the services you pay for. best, best, best!
Also visit the Blijdorp zoo in Rotterdam, especially in the summer months it is beautiful.
We love the Blijdorp zoo!! It’s awesome!💕.
32 degrees sounds warm. haha because we use celsius. 32 celsius is 89 fahrenheit.
Another great, very informative video! Thanks a lot for sharing this, man!
I am glad to hear that you are enjoying yourself in the Netherlands.
Abput the deductable for healt assurance: if you stay below roughly 650 per year, increasing the deduction to max is cheaper.
On phones you can get it mutch cheaper i have 7 gig internet and all calls and text for 12 euro by tele 2
Prescription medicine is mostly covered by the health insurance in NL without you having to directly pay for it.
The 385 Euro per year deductible includes all health care costs (except the family doctor). So if you only have blood pressure medication, you could end up paying this yourself (because you do not reach the 385 Euro). If you need a medical procedure or to visit the emergency department, you are likely to reach the 385 Euro and the extra cost of the blood pressure medication will be covered by the insurance.
Good one again. 👍
My experience is that renting a furnished home is more expensive than an empty one and they can kick you out more easy. I'm not sure how the NL handles this.
If you are renting in the Netherlands it is almost impossible to get kicked out.
In the first one and a half year of renting in The Netherlands, your position is somewhat weak.
After renting for 1 1/2 years in The Netherlands you have 'renter's rights' and it becomes very hard to kick someone out. Not entirely sure how it works with rental contracts that are for a year and then extended for a year. I'm pretty sure even then, after one and a half year, it becomes a lot harder to evict renters. Practically the only solid case is when they don't pay the rent. And no, you can't just suddenly double the rent. There are laws about how much you can raise the rent.
I am surprised how you found the apartment furnished for 1200 euros a month all in.
Nice… food ? Groceries / restaurants. Our last visit it seemed food was quite expensive in the NL. About equal or more than the US.
Internet included??? That's not everywhere in the netherlands. In some places water is included, but not everywhere. Because I pay for water and electricity and internet seperate. It's not much, but still I pay. Included for me in a flat is any cost of anything that will break in my place like bath, sink, toilet, doors and so on. Health insurance I got is basic and that doesn't include physical therapy or dentist. And in the 70's and 80's basic healthinsurance did include dentist and physical therapy. First they removed dentist from basic and in 2021 they removed physical therapy from basic. And according to many dutch people we pay a lot of taxes.
You mentioned that you came to Rotterdam via the DAFT treaty. If I can remember, what professional are you pursuing via the DAFT Treaty.
I pay my Belgian health insurance company 8,33 euros per person per month, so 200 per year for me and my wife combined. I don’t know our deductibles, but they are so affordable it’s not a concern. I know in France it’s about the same.
In fact I pay nothing here in the Netherlands, because I have zorgtoeslag.😀😇
And the rest is paid through higher taxes. so this is one improvement that I would add to the Dutch system, remove the insurance companies and run healthcare through the government. Probably saves a lot of money and private health care workers (physical therapists etc) do not have to bow down to, eh negotiate with insurance companies about decent rates.
Now I'll have to check exchange rates...sigh...
Edit : just saw you provide them! Thanks!
1 dutch dollar is 1.13 american dollars
@@farkstein1213 thanks... but I wrote it at the start of the vid ,later to see it's been provided in the vid itself.
@@farkstein1213 we pay in Euro
@@only1dutchgirl it was a joke as he said he confuses euros and dollars a lot :)
je spreekt al lekker Nederlands, je doet echt je best. Fijn !
Dank je wel!!
If you sometime want to have a car look into green wheels or mywheels these are shared vehicles and you have even no monthly cost subscription of course you pay hour km fee which varies on your subscription.
Have you ever compared the Human Footprint ( (HII) between the US and the Netherlands?
More than $20,000 for health insurance in the United States? Are the plasters there made of gold? Or do the nurses all drive a Bentley there?
How about food and other household expenses?
When you say 1200 for car insurance in the US, does that cover your own costs too, or just damage sustained by the other party ? In Belgium, for a big car we pay about 550/year in the second case, and about triple that (?) for the first. It’s customary to get the “omnium” insurance only on new cars for the first 4 years of use.
Health insurance NL: cheaper and better, most paid upfront by insurance and very little has to be paid out of pocket. You might need to check if a doctor or hospital is in your network. USA more expensive, less paid upfront by insurance, more paperwork, more hassle, more need to be paid out of pocket and very inconsistent rules on what’s in and out of your network. For example: a hospital and most doctors in that hospital are in your network, but when you require medical attention, the on call doctor is not in your network and therefore most expenses are out of pocket. Totally insane insurance policies.
Car NL: car is more expensive to buy and there is very little option to negotiate a better price. Gas is far more expensive than anywhere in the USA. It used to be 4:1 but now it’s about 2.5:1. Cars are generally smaller and lighter and more energy efficient. Car insurance in the Netherlands is much cheaper in a 2:1 comparison on price vs value. Also keep in mind that the Netherlands charge taxes when you own a car, even if you don’t drive it. USA: cars much cheaper but a lot is optional: a shelf (hoedenplank) to cover the trunk is optional, even floor mats are often optional. Maintenance costs are about equal but cars get less warranty in the USA than in the Netherlands, maybe that also has to do with the overall worse condition of the roads in the USA. Prices pre-covid were very negotiable but because of a shortage on chips during the pandemic, car dealers currently don’t negotiate and some even have raised the cost of the MSRP up to $7000 per car.
Groceries NL: generally speaking more expensive than in the USA. When you wait for sales your can pay equal. When going for store-brand items you can pay less in the Netherlands. USA: you can pay less than in the Netherlands but you need to watch what you buy, when, and how. To figure out and use all the available discounts can be a hassle. Stores advertise with an excellent sale but sometimes make it too hard to be able to use that sale. Generally speaking the vegetables and fruits are more fresh in the Netherlands. Alcoholic beverages are cheaper in the USA, but strangely often don’t carry the amount of alcohol in the container, which is a requirement in the Netherlands. It differs from state to state if it’s allowed to sell alcohol in the grocery store or if it needs to be sold at the liquor store.
Cost of a home NL: cheaper to rent than in the USA and more protective laws for the renter, unless it’s a state like California. Buying a home in the Netherlands is most often more expensive and for a much smaller house. The houses in the Netherlands are of a far better quality though. USA: renting is expensive. Buying a home is considered a wise investment. You need to be aware that US homes require a lot of maintenance. Roof, siding, windows, and doors need to be replaced several times during a home’s lifetime. Also many states charge property tax which can be enormous. A simple apartment in New York easily need to pay over $1000 a month and in New Jersey $600. The lower income tax of the US compared to the Netherlands is often surpassed when combining the income tax with the property tax.
Energy NL: energy for heating and cooling is cheaper in the USA, but since most homes are much bigger they do require a lot more energy. Almost every home has central heating and cooling. Less than 1% of homes in the Netherlands has airconditioning. USA: almost all meters for gas, water, and electricity are on the outside of the home, so even when your absent the meters can still be read. You need to check the bills for inaccuracies because mistakes are often made.
I can add many more items to this list, but generally speaking Americans believe that the Netherlands is a socialist country where the government charges far too much to be able to afford that way of living. In real life Americans have no idea that their average spending in taxes is even higher than in the Netherlands, but they get far less in return for it. People who are healthy and have a decent paying job don’t worry about these things until they get sick or lose their job. When one or both happens to them, it can go downhill fast in which you also lose your home and any savings you might have had.
Hey,how are you, so i pay for tv and internet plus sports channels around 100 euro a month, gas and electric around 150, my phone is with t mobile and i pay 37,50 for unlimited data, texts messages and calling and for my home i pay 1100 for 86m2
Glasses. Too bad they can be fixed entirely. You could look for new ones. You're health insurance will probably pay like 100 - 200 euro (differs for each company) . Beware, that's once in like 2 or 3 years. The other costs you need to pay yourself . And, no it's not deducted from that 385 insurence deductible.
For car: for comparison you could look at private rent. All cost are included, but fuel. You could compare that to the monthly costs in the US (insurence and avg maintenance costs). For larger dutch cities, a parking space / licence can cost a lot too!
But how about driving licence? I really don't know if you are allowed to drive using your driving licence from the states (probably not).
With our small narrow streets a dodge ram ( or similair) is perhaps not the best choice.... a smaller car will do fine. Do notice a drive of under 6h could take you to Paris and a drive of under 8h could bring you to Berlin (all from Rotterdam) .
By the way, how is your own company doing? Are you (still) in the start-up, or are you up and running?
Thank you.
Are Americans shocked by the gasonline prices here? (Now around 2.05 per liter, here near the border.) If I were driving an American car it would bankrupt me, as they need so much fuel.
Sorry, it had to be said? 😀 (oh, and the ? Yep, that was intended)
Vodafone is expensive. I pay 15 a month for unlimited everything. 😁 Well worth comparison shopping
May I ask what is your provider?
@@jeroswat budget mobiel
That's because everyone above the 18th birthday pay for health insurance or the parents do .
But how do you compare with your earning in US , here you earn less I presume .
Concerning living costs in the USA and the Netherlands, I recommend watching the first section of this video:
ua-cam.com/video/FuZ5WO8xoks/v-deo.html&ab_channel=Money%26Macro
It makes the distinction between disposable income (income after tax) and discretionary income (income after tax AND after all the necessities of life like food, debt payments and transportation).
The conclusion is that while wages and disposable income might be higher in the USA, on average in the Netherlands people have a higher discretionary income and in real terms have more money left over by the end of the month.
This is in part due to some things being better maintained collectively like healthcare and education. And other differences like the cost food and transportation are due to how differently the US and NL are structured and organized.
US undertaker's view on Dutch living costs ... listening to the gravedigger's advice. (War is not included, it's all for democracy).
Why don't you just buy a laundry rack to dry your clothes on . That's what most people do
"Laundromat?" Do they still exist here in The Netherlands? Last one i've seen around was in 1986 never stept inside one though.
Congrats, you are getting the hang of that USD - € thing. That intro "well done" tap on the arm - brilliant. Apologies in advance if my comments are way to heavy.
Compare train travel for a future vid. Amtrak is expensive, but one should see it in cost per mile, as distances are vast in the US.
A follow-up vid about health care costs and the (in the eyes of many Europeans) seemingly exploitation of American people would be nice. If you did not know this, when somebody is a diabetes patient, they will say : "ik heb suiker(ziekte)" ( I have sugar(disease). But why in heaven's name does one pay $ 320 for a vial of long working insulin, as where it is covered by your insurance here or only cost $ 20 in a country like Costa Rica, from the same manufacturer.
You wouldn't believe the stories you get from Americans if they describe their health care experiences (especially how embarrased they feel) in Europe, Australia and Canada. Why is the greatest country in the world (their words) the country where people get exploited the most.
(Sorry to bring in politics) But with the things might go this coming November, it does not look good for the average Joe or Jane.
So true…thanks for the comments and thanks for watching!
@@SoultoSoulTravels
$1=€.9
$2,800=€2,520
€1,200=$1,333
You've calculated the wrong way around
Just saw your corrected calculation image in the video 😎
Why is internet so incredibly expensive in the US??
It's not. It depends where you live. In Texas, I have never paid more than $40 a month for internet.
@@yvonnekoopman8598 But how fast is it?
@@yvonnekoopman8598 Well?
@@Brozius2512 Probably the cheapest plan is for 25 Mbps (cable, not dial-up)- good enough for streaming. Most expensive plans are overkill. Of course, I am just a cheap Dutchie. Low-income people with kids in school can qualify for subsidy and pay only $10 per month for basic internet. Currently, you can get 1000 Mbps internet plans for $30/month if you bundle with other plans from a major carrier so it all depends what you need.
We buy wasmachine and dryer in the home every dus that.
??????? ?
Few points: Rent wise, you are comparing apples to oranges because you are comparing a 1,000 sq.ft condo to a 540 sq.ft condo. In Europe you are paying $ 2.483 per sq.ft, meaning you would pay $ 1,341 for the same size condo in CA. Health: Yes, the US system is so fucked up! I am dual citizen, and until 10 years ago I had a residence in Germany with my mom until she passed. I had 'private health insurance' for $ 250 a month, which paid for everything, including 90% of dental, including 4 implants, and crowns all over my mouth. Transportation, yeah, I am so happy, when I visit my hometown Munich, and public transport is just fabulous. Around $ 70 a month within the city, and you wait no longer than 5 minutes at any station. No need for a car. Agreed on phone cost, and if you want to phone for free long distance, just use WhatsApp. I talk for hours on end from Maui, or Corfu, with my girl in Germany, for free, and I can even make it a video call.
well you also talking about a rotterdam city apartment that alot more rent then avarage
I am sorry, but i leave. it's too slow.
Cool
@@SoultoSoulTravels touche:)
Use some damn charts dude, actually an interseting topic but we are a picture generation
I am at FBTO, they have very good insurance but its not the cheapest either.
I pay about 132.50 for that a month, i get benefits ofcourse back from government so it ends up only 22.50 on my own part.
If you get medicines that are required for recovery, aka nessecary then it is depending on your plan covered fully or 75%. i choose the full reimbursements.
If medical care for meds are high you could check other providers every end of year to go to. I dont know where you registered, but it doesnt sound to me like its my insurance.
It looks like you are living in a "Jaren 30" house. These are highly sought after in the Netherlands! the 1930's were a period of architectural development (Traditionalist style). Houses of great quality with a lot of character that is so lacking in the post-war houses . And you're describing it as "quite an old building" with "quite a lot of quirks" ...
I lived in one of those houses in the same area and while they look nice they have a few downsides (well, mine had): 1 Insulation: The windows were single pane, the top part with typical 1930s stained glass panes and the sliding part are very drafty. Every winter I stuffed the edges with foam rubber to try to keep the heat in.
2 Insulation: The walls are a single layer of bricks. In the winter the outside walls are ice cold.
3 Insulation: The roof is flat with asphalt sheeting. In summer the top floor is a sauna. When I was a student, I only had the top floor of my apartment. (It used to be two rooms but one was split into two smaller rooms: one kitchen and one shower & toilet. It was a nice mini-apartment.)
4 Storage space: My apartment had not a single designated storage area. I had cupboards and such but not a "gangkast" (hall cupboard/room) where I could store a vacuum cleaner, bicycle pump, tent or whatever else was too large for a normal cupboard.
@@alexandergrofics1885 Mostly recognisable, but point 2 is not. The outside walls should be a double layer of brick with a "spouw" (air gap) inbetween.
Also, the top floor was normally originally intended to be the storage place of the house (attic). Sounds like that explains why you didn't have any storage: You were living in it ...
Hi Tammy and Eric, welcome to my neighborhood. See your posts for the first time today. It's funny watching you on YT and I just realized you live only a few steps away from my home. Maybe we'll run innto each other one of these days. Have a good time in Rotterdam.
Two thing I wanted to add to the transportation piece. Gas is way more expensive, I know you mentioned it in passing, but right now what you pay at a Dutch gas station is like 2.4 times what you pay in the US. Filling up my car would cost me 99 euros, in the US I would spend 41 euros (if it was possible to pay in euros over there). Since the war in Ukraine started it has just shot up. It is worldwide and I know how edgy Americans are about the gas price, since they use their cars for everything. So my hope is that Americans understand, this hurting is everywhere.
Public transport in de cities of the Netherlands is pretty good. As soon as you leave the Randstad (area of the four major cities) you have to plan a crazy amount, because services dwindle rapidly. If you had to take a bus into the boondocks and a few years back you could catch that buss twice an hour, it will be down to once an hour right now. And service would probably be only during the day, not in the evening or on sundays.
These changes are mostly because of privatisation.
In the US you have to drive at least twice as far to get somewhere so it might actually be more expensive in the US.
Check also Cruise with the Spido and see the port of Rotterdam from the water.
You mentioned the deductables on healthcare.. It's 385 Euro's a year per person. Some treatments/examinations fall under that deductable, but if they do, a single treatment will subtract to a maximum of 125 euro's from that deductable. But your doctor usually tells you if that's applicable. And then there are prescriptions that you must pay for in full or partially, but that ain't too much money.
200$ for internet :0
I pay around 20.
Water tax it isnt but to prevent Netherlands become flooded we need good protection and we need to pay yearly for it
That is something else then tax over drinking water
6:11 pre-war in Rotterdam ? That has to be pretty rare. So much was bombed in Rotterdam...
9:20 if I'm not mistake (things have changed a bit over time, the current system is still only a decade old or something) companies still pay a government tax as part of the wages. This money is used for the insurance companies to get some extra money from the government for very long term high-cost sick people. And then their are even different budget systems paid directly by the state for extreme costs sick people. My mom is one: just the cost of special nurses care is over 100 000 per year. So this isn't handled by the insurance, but you are talking to bureaucrats. Not ideal.
Glasses are most of the time included in your health insurance, you just have to make sure you go to an optician that has a deal with our insurance. My insurance allows me 1 pair of glasses a year, sunglasses are also allowed as long as they are prescription glasses.
Also a thing to mention if you don't earn alot of money (for example you not fulltime and you live alone, you can get "discounts" on your health insurance and rental cost
Ownership and use of a car is quite expensive in The Netherlands. A family car would cost you around €200 in insurance and €50+ in taxes a month (prices obviously depend on the kind of car you own and on the fuel where diesel and LPG are way more expensive). That's not too bad. The price of gasoline is the real problem if you compare it to the USA. One litre of gasoline cost €2 at least (that is $8 a gallon). In some cities you need to pay for parking which vary but in Rotterdam or Amsterdam is expensive. Maintenance by an official dealership is also not cheap but there are alternatives.
Well, there are some remarks to be made here. The price of gasoline is mainly tax. And those taxes are, for the most part, used to pay for building and maintenance of our roads.
That is kinda nice as now the users of the roads also pay for the roads.
@@xFD2x absolutely right.
€200 for the insurance 🤯 I pay for all risk €38... Did you have many accidents?
@@Nuevocasa no, depends on the kind of car you drive. Mine is an Audi and I pay €105 but more miles, different region, theft risk, more expensive car makes the difference.
@@TheLtData €200 is clearly not the average and realistic.
Costs of health insurance are a lot higher than mentioned for most off us in NL. Either a taxrate of 5,5% or 6,75% (depending on source of income)is applied to your income as part of the overall incometax to cover for healthinsurance.
Even with that included, you're not going to hit the numbers and cost of the US unless you're sporting a massive income
Not even with a massive income you could get near the combination of the premium paid for the base insurance plus the income dependent ZVW part is maxxed at around 4761 euro per year
@@elnmkru now add wlz which is another 9,65% of your income (maxed at 36k if I'm correct) and also part of your overall incometax and the gap gets smaller yet. It will remain big but that is because of real differences in the approach to healthcare and the effect settling everything in court has on the costs of everything in the US. The only point I am making is that our collectivistic system tends to hide certain costs, certainly to those that don't have previous experience with a similar system so you have to be carefull making these comparisons because in many cases you need to take some kind of tax or part thereof into account as well.
@@MabuyaQ Usually, the argument is made the other way around, that low taxation in the US doesn't mean you're better off because there are hidden fees, taxes and contributions to be paid, or you actually have to pay for things we take for granted. It's not like wlz and such are sneakily inserted somewhere, or hidden behind masses of legal terms.
A suggestion on your original post - also if you had included wlz in it - would be to add 'and even with all those extra fees, The Netherlands is still ahead of the US'. Well, unless you have a yearly income well over 100k. Since the median income (a better indicator than the mean) of the Netherlands is around € 30.000,-, I feel most people don't have to worry about this.
I'm sorry, but health insurance in NL is a scam, the only time they refunded me was when I had a dental care premium.
The past 2 years I've had some health issues, nothing big, but needed to take some tests in the hospital a couple of times, they were "own risk", in other words I had to pay for them and did not receive any benefits from the insurance.
I realize this is a personal issue and may not be the same for everyone, but my car insurance is a lot better and a lot less expensive.
Nailed it, that made me laugh :-)
The deductible (eigen risico) is an unfortunate choice by our government, but not a scam. You might also consider that you were fully reimbursed for the cost of the GP who sent you to the hospital. And perhaps also consider yourself fortunate that your medical expenses aren't high enough to clear your deductible.
Yes, your car insurance is cheaper. That's because car expenses are a lot less than medical expenses overall. Cars are rarely treated for cancer and almost never undergo open heart surgery.
@@bentels5340 In a way I totally agree with you, but as it happens, I've had a 2nd hand car for a year (not had a car for 16 years before this one), paid about 6000 euros for it, insurance was about 65 euro a month (give or take), a tree fell on it with storm Eunice, and I'm receiving 5500 euro from my insurance.
Health insurance, I've paid idk how to count this, but lets say an average of 60 euro a month since I was born, 50.000 'till today (rounded off) and I've received less than 1000 euro.... (idk how expensive I was as a child, but my medical needs have always been very few, except for the past two years)
Edit: A GP in NL receives like 40 euro, maybe closer to 30 every 3 months for each of his/her patients, in 52 years i've seen a GP 8 times, if that's not a scam idk what is, edit2: on top of that 3 out of 4 diagnosis were wrong, resulting in tests I didn't need, but had to pay for from my own pocket.
Wat would the experience you describe be a scam?
@@Rob_van_der_Linden You're completely missing the point of insurance. Insurance isn't about getting the money out that you put in, insurance is about collectivising healthcare costs so that all healthcare is available for all people at all times independent of how much they have in their bank account. You help pay for other people and in return other people pay for you. The same goes for your car BTW: you're getting €5500 courtesy of the other people who pay into your policy.
That aside, if you're really that concerned about getting your money back I can ease your worries a bit: chances are excellent that you'll get quite a lot -- if not all -- of it back in the last 18 months of your life.
And GPs get €14.15 per patient per 4 months.
@@berthamoen4488 What isn't, want to hear another story that doesn't involve me, but how insurance works, and I actually benefit from it financially,..(that's a bit of a contradiction to how started this reply)
So, 17 years ago my dad passed away, and not long after my mother was taken into a care home for dementia, at the time she didn't have much, the house was sold way under it's value, it was 2012 the whole world was an economic disaster, so when she was moved to the care home her finances were close to 0, of course she still had her income from pensions and other stuff (aow), now this is the tricky bit, the care she was provided is paid by health insurance, but after she passed away she left just about all the money she received in pensions and what not AFTER she received care.
So that money was divided between my sister and me, but should have been spent on care and taken from the insurance.