Medical care is much less expensive in many European countries (both before and after insurance), yet auto insurance coverage is usually still much higher.
But higher coverage doesn’t mean higher payouts. It’s cheaper and easier to offer full coverage of a rare and inexpensive event than a more common more expensive one. Or do you mean that premiums are higher?
Do you have a source for it being higher? My understanding is that the accident rates are lower. If the accidents/claims are lower and the health care is cheaper/covered, them I wonder what the other factor is. Maybe a lack of profit cap?
> By contrast, in Germany drivers are required to have €7.5m ($8.2m) of bodily-injury coverage, and in Britain liability is unlimited. And in those countries, going into hospital does not mean running up a life-altering bill.
Yeah, but that can't be the reason, right? If healthcare is so cheap, then claims should never be getting close to the limit unless there's a fatality (wrongful death) or permanent disability. Both of those are very rare, about half the rate as in the US and diffused by tens of thousands of drivers. So it still doesn't make sense to me that the cost would be much higher.
I could imagine that the intention is to not socialize the cost of traffic injuries via the health insurance (who would otherwise end up paying if the insurance coverage of the driver at fault is insufficient, I believe; you’re basically never billed for anything healthcare).
Additionally, the insurance will pay for any damages due to subsequently lost wages etc. of injured persons, which can quickly add up and would otherwise also be socialized to the public unemployment insurance system.
It seems like a good way to properly account for the cost of driving to me.
Your reply doesn't answer my question. Your statement about the cost of driving has no facts to support it. I would like to see those facts - or really a complete breakdown of why one is more costly than the other. The article and your explaination do allot address many factors.
Well it's not that cheap... It can be very expensive for serious accidents. You just almost never need to pay anything yourself. I'm not sure the cost for liability insurance is that much (or at all) higher in most of Europe though.
> The whole point of the article is that it's more expensive in Europe.
So a policy with a $100k coverage limit is cheaper than one which covers up to €7.5m? Not exactly unexpected regardless of country.
Would 7.5 mil insurance in the US be cheaper than the equivalent in in Europe? I doubt that but in any cases the article doesen't say anything about that..
