Do Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland have free medical care?

I will try to answer for Sweden, because I live there.

Here’s how it works:

• regardless of whether you work or not, if you are a legal resident of Sweden, you will have an assigned doctor you can turn to when you feel ill. If you are working, that doctor will charge a standard office fee of approximately 40 US$ per new case of illness he has to see you for. If you are a child, unemployed, retired, or you are a repeat visitor about the same issue, there is no charge to you.
• any subsequent treatment you receive will be paid for by the state. There is no cap. If the condition you presented with turns out to be one that requires two hundred surgeries, a new heart, a new lung, and a new brain, and takes seventy years to deal with, fine. You’re covered.
• nothing will ever be asked back of you.

How much does that cost the tax payer?

Well, let’s see. I have 32% deductions from my salary. I work at a university. These 32% cover health insurance, but also everything else – as in, I will not ever have any additional deductions. Unemployment insurance, pension plan… all of these are paid for by my deductions.

Is it “free”?

I am not sure. We do pay a bit. But then, I have worked in ten countries. In England, I had 28% deductions. In the US (New Jersey) it was 35%. In New Zealand, it was 39%. In Germany, it was 48%.

I think I am getting a pretty good deal in Sweden.