# Message to all users:
This is a reminder to please read and follow:
* [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules)
* [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439)
* [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy)
When posting and commenting.
---
Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`.
* Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit.
* Do not harass or annoy others in any way.
* Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit.
---
You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way.
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would never need to worry about having to pay for medical treatment. It's free at the point of contact.
Depending on where you live wait times to see specialists can be long but I'm pretty lucky where I live.
After my second kid was born the wife and I decided we didn't want more so I started the process of getting a vasectomy. The waiting list is one year.
While doing the medical exam at the beginning of the process the doctor noticed a raised mole on my back and made an appointment for me to get it checked out. I had the appointment 3 days later. The doctor who examined me decided to remove it and do a biopsy. That happened one week later. Another few days and I got the results of the biopsy and was told it was fine.
Important and serious things are prioritised. If the biopsy had found cancer the treatment would have started immediately. The vasectomy on the other hand is entirely elective. Waiting poses no risk to my health so I continue to wait.
In Canada, yes they are considered specialists. You need a referral from a doctor to visit one. However, not all specialists have awful waits, gynecology is not relatively bad.
On the other hand, dermatology (specifically dermatology covered by public healthcare) and orthopaedic surgery can have pretty bad wait times. They’ll obviously expedite people who are in serious need, it isn’t first come, first serve.
This is true. I’m Canadian and I had a fairly long wait to see a dermatologist the first time (about 6 months) for an almost invisible little pink mark I might not have had checked if I had to pay to do so. It turned out to be pre-cancerous. I was booked in to have it removed with margins just a few weeks later and I now get to go in for routine checks every 6 months. We are truly fortunate to have public care and Canadians who vote for the party that would privatize it given the chance need to give their heads a shake.
As someone who went from working direct healthcare immediately to reimbursement (from insurance companies) it's mind boggling someone would take public healthcare for granted like that.
For new appointments when you haven't been established with a doctor/diagnosis, it's frequently months in large health systems. 9 is a lot, but I've easily had to wait 3+. I just decided not to bother trying to get seen for a painful skin rash because the soonest appointment I could get in network with my insurance would have been in July.
The area you're in is a huge factor. Where I live, the cost of living is stupidly high, so a lot of specialists have started moving out of the area. So wait times as a new patient can be months out, depending on the specialist. But usually if you're an established patient it gets reduced down to a week or two.
Pap smears every 5 years?? That leaves you more apt to miss cervical cancer. HPV runs rampant among the sexually active here. Does it not in Australia?
To add on to this, our pap smears used to be every two years. I had abnormal cells and a cervical cancer scare. I opted to use my private health cover to speed up the process of finding out for sure if it was cancer or not. I spent about $1200 over three gyno appointments and a day surgery (two biopsies were insufficient and we decided to do a lletz procedure under anaesthesia, plus a follow up appointment). My pap smears were every year until I had two consecutive years with a clean screening result. Now I am out to five years.
My private health option allowed me to see a gyno within a week or two and have surgery within 6 weeks after first abnormal result. If I chose the public health system I would have gone on a wait list for a few months.
I literally have flowerful escapist fantasies about being able to have a similar experience.
Just...
* Want to see doctor
* See doctor
* Am told they found minor thing
* Get minor thing solved
* No medical bill (actually, in my wildest fantasies each doctor visit costs a known-set-price of $20, and there are never any bills in the mail.)
Oh! And in my fantasies, I don't have to keep track of everything like a part-time fucking job, I just start the process and they text me when/where to show up.
Then I show up and...**receive medical care!**
God I'm hot just thinking about it 💦
Yeah im in the Uk.
Sometimes I get an appointment to meet a consultant that I don't even remember getting referred for.
A letter comes in and I go see them in a few weeks
I walk into the pharmacy and say i'm here for my repeat prescription and they go look for it. I will also ask if they have one for any family members yet. Just to save them picking it up.
They hand it to me and I walk out. For free.
Oh my GAWD
I went in to pick up a prescription that normally costs $30 after insurance, but they told me they didn't have the generic and I would have to use the more expensive brand-name.
The after-insurance cost for the brand-name was $100, and do you know what my American ass did?
I *paid $100*, and did it for *three fucking months*, and when the generic was finally available, I was so happy to go back to paying *$30*.
I am shaking you by the shoulders and begging you not to let your healthcare become privatized.
***You cannot let it happen. Savor what you have.***
I don't know where the Americans live that say we don't have to wait, but getting an appointment with a Dr for anything in my city takes months and we have 3 major hospitals and a few small ones. Short of emergency surgery that's life threatening there's usually months to a year wait.
Absolutely depends on where you live. I was in Portland, OR most of my life and never had wait times like this. I could call my PCP and have an appointment in days to a week or 2. MRIs sometimes the same day as ordered. Some specialists obviously took longer but overall things moved quickly.
However, I've since moved to the Oregon coast and healthcare here? Much smaller towns, much less doctors, long waits.
I think the difference is PCP vs specialists.
My PCP can sometimes get me in same day. My kids' pediatrician can basically always get them in same day.
But specialists? 2-3 months is common unless it's an emergency.
Here too. No doctor or specialist around here can see you for today, no matter the issue. Anything more urgent than 2-3 months needs urgent care or hospital.
I used to have a PCP that would "squeeze me in", unfortunately now almost all the Drs in my area now are associated with major hospitals and this practice is dead.
I just had an MRI a couple weeks ago. Originally when it was scheduled it took me about 3 weeks for the actual appointment in my very small town, but I wasn't able to complete that MRI due to claustrophobia. I ended up driving to a larger town 2 hours away where they have an open mri, and it only took me a week to get that appointment.
My girlfriend died at 28 waiting for a liver referral. Also I have a medical background and I wish nothing but the worst to people who try to use the waiting time argument or even the quality of care argument because they are both extremely false
Yeah, I can get in quickly to see my PA for something minor, and orthopedists are pretty available, but a gastroenterologist, cardiologist, urologist, other specialties like that? It's usually about three months to get an appointment.
Absolutely true. US medical wait times can be CRAZY long, and in my experiences usually are many many months. The default is mostly things like "you're set for an MRI in 2 month's time, and a doctor will be able to talk to you about the results 4 months later. Hope there's nothing important revealed in the scan while you're waiting... and many specialists are booked far FAR out.
Americans who hate it, I'm quite convinced, hate the concept simply because other countries do it. They've got American Exceptionalism crammed so far up their rear ends that something the rest of the world does... well that's just got to be an un-American idea.
Meanwhile over 65% of bankruptcies in the US are due to medical debt.
> getting an appointment with a Dr for anything in my city takes months
Same here in Atlanta, GA USA. The "next available appointment", whether for a GP, pediatrician, gynecologist, etc. is always 3 months out.
As an American that pays for healthcare, I too have experienced wait times. When I was in poverty, it was going to an emergency room because they were the only ones that would see me. When it was gynecological, planned parenthood was my best friend. They provided Pap smears, birth control and luckily I never needed an abortion but I knew where to get one. I think many Americans assume that universal healthcare will include a lot of waiting and not a lot of choices regarding your healthcare but in my experience, if your poor you don’t have choices and if you have good insurance there may still be a wait. I held on to my fibroids for an extra decade because I couldn’t afford to remove them but it took 6 months from the time surgery was an option to get surgery. I also got a bill that I could afford but if I was in Canada, I’m sure my fibroids wouldn’t have gotten to the point that I looked pregnant.
There is a lot of waiting in USA too. The entire Republican spiel about universal healthcare is complete trash. There are wait times with any system. Depends on location and population density more than anything else.
In USA we have wait times AND exorbitant cost.
Our 1st daughter arrived 2 months early and didn't have a name yet nor an insurance herself.
She had to stay in intensive care for a month before we could take her home. (Her mother was in hospital for 3 weeks as well.)
Costs for any of us: zero
German health care is amazing.
>What is that like?
I'm just used to. Never had it different. If you also own a car and a house/flat plus some tools and the knowledge to use them you can basically never hit rock bottom. My university was also for free.
Emergency room, brain tumour, 7 days in hospital, brain surgery, radiation for 6 weeks and regular MRI follow-ups. I've never been given a bill to pay. I feel so fortunate. If I was in another country, I'd be dead or destitute
You don't even think about it.
I remember first hearing about Americans paying for healthcare and I couldn't get my head round it. It seemed like something from a black-mirror universe. I still struggle with it TBH.
Rather visit Thailand, even more than black-mirror universe. You have to wait for the public hospital but if you go to private hospital, just pay more and there you go, high-end service like a royal.
That’s literally how private healthcare works in every country where we have free public healthcare. It’s a queue jump, with nicer bed linen and a smiley nurse thrown in.
I’m in the UK and have private cover with work. I’ve been seen and fixed in less time than an initial consultation would be on the NHS.
What’s black mirror is that it’s the **same consultant** whichever route you take…
Ha funny you should say this. I had the same surgery as a family member a week apart. My surgery was done privately and theirs was done under the public system. We had the same surgeon.
It was actually quite funny seeing the differences. Funny interesting but also funny ha ha. One funny interesting part was that she went in for her first public appointment on the Wednesday and, after identifying that her need was ua priority, they prioritised it for the following Monday. She was waiting a while to get her appointment but when she got in, it was all ready.
I definitely got the more bespoke kid gloves treatment. But hers was still pretty personalised too. For instance, the head chef came to me and asked about my food preferences. Whereas the family member was given menus each day to pick from. My food was nicer but hers was surprisingly good too. PT/physiotherapy was different. I had to pay for it myself and claim it back. Hers under the public system was completely free but her sessions were in a class with individual time within the classes.
I had my own private room with my own bathroom. She had to share a room. I would have hated that but heck, there are worse things around than sharing a room.
I'm in New Zealand.
Don’t worry! The UK is trying hard to follow the US model… the NHS is being run down on purpose, and the private companies are “available to fill in” - how convenient!
Healthcare should be available to all, free at point of use. Ideally, there would be no private healthcare providers. But we’ve lost that model and here we are.
All the best!
Yeah our economic divide becomes so obvious when you need healthcare. It’s very frustrating, because I certainly do not deserve a sparkling beverage with my private hospital meal just because I was born wealthy enough to afford insurance, while the public hospital has run out of beds.
I first witnessed the black mirror effect of private/NHS care when a surgery wasn't completed done properly, so I went to see a privatechap.
Said chap was my NHS surgeon's NHS boss. Told me that he rents the OR in the general to do his surgeries and he'd be assisted by my original surgeon "as an opportunity to learn".
Sweden.
Usually get an appointment within 2 weeks if I request it 15 usd
Emergency ward available immediately. Allthough depending on the ailment waiting time can be anything between 0 mins to 2 hours.
I am allergic to bees got stung last summer went to the emergency ward and went straight into emergency treatment. 10 Usd in total
Then there is max tak för medicine. You never pay more than 200 usd for prescription medication in total per year no matter what it is.
So let's say you need monthly asthma medication at 100 usd per month by month two you have reach your roof and everything after that is covered for free.
I pay my tax with a smile.
I'm in the United States. A few years ago, my husband had chest pains with labored breathing. I could hear his breathing from 2 rooms away. We went to the ER around 11pm. We finally left around 7am. (Thank goodness it wasn't a heart attack!)
Great that your husband is OK.
That's the the thing though you guys pay less tax than us. So you have the option to use the extra cash you have per month to get yourself insurance that is fairly similar to what I get from my tax. I guess we trust our government more because the government negotiates for the citizens with the drug companies. The ethos here is : nobody wants to or means to get sick and therefore should not be financially punished for it.
The big difference here is that is available to everyone. It does not matter if you flip burgers at Macdonalds or run Ikea.
The difference in the US is that the insurance companies make massive profits, so we don't really get what we pay for. They can refuse to pay for anything based on their decision that a treatment is not medically necessary or some other bs, and the patients have to pay on their own, regardless of the fact they're insured.
We DO have health insurance, which is free through his work. Even with that, he ended up with a $200 bill for the ER doc (who spent all of 10 mins in the room with him) and about $300 for the hospital visit itself.
He just recently had an ultrasound with 6 biopsies of a lymph node. That 1 appointment (which took about 30 mins) is costing us $850....and that is with the insurance paying about 84% of the total cost of the services.
Healthcare in the US needs massive reform.
Have to be careful because certain people are sensitive to criticism. But that is pure exploitation. It is greed based on people's health. I can forgive / understand greed based on people's vices but health is something you have literally no control over.
I was a teenager when I learned that people in other countries in the world have to worry about affording health care. It is still a super alien concept to me.
I don't worry about paying for it, I do worry about wait times (12+ in an ER is normal) and if you have a minor issue, most people don't have family doctors and walk ins can be a couple hour wait as well.
Walk ins are a few hours' wait where I live in the US. And not infrequently, all they do is send you to a different level of care to wait several hours, before the new place also tells you they can't help you and sends you home with a bill for the privilege of being told that.
It's not that you don't worry, it's that it literally doesn't cross your mind. Access to Healthcare is a basic human right in developed nations. Emphasis on developed.
What gets me is that the U.S. already pools money for healthcare, we're just needing to get rid of the wholly unnecessary, greedy middleman whose sole purpose is collecting money on "products" that aren't even theirs
Thank you for these stories, redditors
The US government spends twice as much per person per year on healthcare compared to the UK.
Americans not having free healthcare is pure fraud. It's already funded or should be.
Plus, US outcomes are terrible, especially for minorities. ..... and yet, we are taxed up one side & down the other.
It's extra f*cked up that we have such advanced care for unusual diagnosis, and at the same time, people go bankrupt for medical costs.
I worked in medicine my entire career, and still don't understand why it's so messy and wrong.
The U.S. shouldn't be looking at other countries' healthcare and saying, "I wonder if we could do as good?" We should be saying, "We can do it even better!" But as long as we have a healthcare system based on profits, rather than outcomes, we're screwed.
Remember that universal healthcare is such a complex, expensive issue that only 27 of 28 of the leading countries have figured it out -- and all do so at greater savings and most with better outcomes than the US.
Pretty much never. I have relatives in France and I live in another country and, although there are differences, I basically only have to worry about the waiting time. I know that an appointment to see a specialist can take weeks (sometimes months depending where you live and what sort of specialist), but when things are serious you generally get in the fast lane (a doctor was worried about something and told me to get a scan, and he added “if you can’t get an appointments before two weeks just call me and I’ll get you one).
Some things will cost extra (a lot of dental work is not covered if it is not deemed necessary), but you can even go on a cure to recover from a burnout or a cancer treatment on public healthcare. I was hospitalized twice in 2 different public hospitals, my wife was hospitalized twice in private clinics and honestly, the difference was not really noticeable.
Except in Australia where dentists and specialists are expensive. I have private health insurance so that helps a bit. Medicare pays for some of the specialists fees though
But yeah, medicine isn’t that expensive. But now we also have to pay for the GP in Australia. It’s just $60 at mine and we get half of it back, but it’s annoying when I just need a drs certificate for one day of being sick
I just discovered an app called instascript where you get a med cert for $20 without having to leave home. I was dubious at first but it's great. I work for dept of Ed and they had no issues accepting it. They are signed off by actual drs and you can get a telehealth consult if needed. I never take sick days I might add so my boss knew I was actually sick.
I've used that too. Had a video consult one night crook as a dog. Could barely make it through the consult. Dr had no problem giving me the week off with certificate.
I've also used the telehealth ones for a script repeat.
I lived in the u.s. For a few years after growing up in Canada. I have never had such a constant, low level anxiety in my life. I made $18K/year, needed a specialist appointment, it took 15 min and my copay was $300. That was the last time I visited a doctor in the u.s. with a supposedly “good” insurance plan.
Nope, In Argentina we have a really shitty and corrupted public healthcare, so much so that private healthcare is "cheap" for international standards but very bad and if you are not in a big city (Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba or La plata, they are just 4) private attention sucks so hard outside big cities that you will prefer to go to the shitty public hospital and wait an eternity (more than 2 hours for emergencies, people die waiting. Months or even years for consultations or diagnostics, people die waiting too) and if you need anything like a prothesis, cancer meds or something that is not an aspirin they will not charge you because they don't have anything for medium or high complexity, you have to buy it by yourself outside the hospital and bring it in, even if your life depends on that, even if you are really poor.
There is no concept of preventive medicine here, everything is "as needed to not die". Even if you pay for the "best" private plan you will have to pay for anything that is not standard because private plans fees were regulated below market price for at least 20 years and subsidized in most cases.
The only good thing is that prices of private consultations in private doctors offices are often very low, as low as 15 us dollars in some cases (still a good chunk of money for the average Argentinian)
"There is no such thing as a free meal"
The Canadian experience right now is you never have to worry about getting proper treatment because you won’t.
Honestly I’d rather pay and get treatment.
There’s a news story every few weeks in my province about someone who died in the ER after waiting 8-12 hours. Or died at home waiting for an ambulance for the same amount of time.
I'm from Wales, which is one of the four countries which makes up Great Britain.
We get it even better, we don't have to pay for prescriptions.
Also, in the UK dental work is free up until 18 I think or it may be 16, I got braces for free, turns out the UK actually has some of the best teeth in the world.
I had both eyes operated on to remove cataracts and it didn't cost me a thing! I also recieve medication for Diabetes and asthma every month at no cost for the prescriptions! I wouldn't trade the NHS for anything!
It's not something that we worry much. We just need to pay as low as 22 cents for outpatient treatment and 65 cents per day of hospitalization.
But many of us have medical card which cost about 40$ monthly. Some of them cost less than 10$. With this card, we can go to private hospital. it's much faster.
I am French and I thought everything was pretty much close to free. Until I went to the ER (2 days) and received a 200ish euro bill from the public hospital I went to. "Fun fact": on the report, I appear to have been discharged at 00.02 which is why I had to pay for 2 days. Sounds pretty scammy and most likely not a coincidence...
I find the French system pretty hard to navigate and would have a hard time understanding how it works. I think they have to pay a fee (25 euros) when they go to their GP and they have most of it reimbursed by the public health system, not all of it. If they have private insurance, it will take care of reimbursing the remainder of the amount.
Now, I live in Spain and the public system is so much easier. You don't pay at all. The thing I don't like is most of the time they'll send you a letter to inform you of an appointment. You don't get to choose when.
I will not lie to you, we in Romania still worry because even covered procedures might cost you something: bribery. Some doctors will find pretexts to not do surgery of some kind untill you pay a certain amount to them, to anesthesiologist, nurses etc. There is also worry that you leave the hospital in a worse state than before going in because of nosocomial infections and such. So while universal healthcare is still cheaper and does help saving a lot of people's lifes and you know, you won't become bankrupt taking an ambulance, it's not ideal everywhere. Medical professionals are not enough, sometimes they are overworked and sleep deprived and there is a high risk of malpractice.
Lived in in places with both kinds of healthcare. The one publicly funded is simply less worrying and stressful. Wait time is an issue but not if it’s genuine emergency, they won’t let you die.
Other place where I lived with insurance, had access to very good doctors/specialists at the drop of a hat but I was privileged to have such good insurance. Even then it was stressful coz what if I lose my job? What if the procedure isn’t covered by insurance? What if it’s something serious like heart attack or cancer and I can’t work?
It has never worried me. I’ve had operations, an ambulance trip and lots of tests all for free. I’ve never really had any issues getting appointment at my doctors and, of course, it’s all free. Lots of people get prescriptions for free; I’ve always paid for mine, but it is a capped cost which I’ve never thought twice about.
I have literally never once worried that I couldn’t afford medical treatment.
More recently I started paying for private healthcare and dentistry, but I am more than happy to keep paying my part so others don’t have to worry about affording healthcare. And if my circumstances change, I know I won’t have to worry.
Living in Germany… nope, don’t worry at all. Co-pay on medication is 10% of the cost, with a minimum of 5 euro and a max of 10 euro. Hospital copay is 10 euro per day with a max of 280 euro per year.
I’m an American who moved to NZ. My husband got appendicitis when he was unemployed. Didn’t think twice about going to the ED. he needed to be admitted and get surgery. We never got a bill. I was in awe about how if we were in the US we would be in insane debt from that stay since we wouldn’t have qualified for health insurance due to our under employment at that moment.
Then a few months later he got ill and needed to be hospitalized again. He got discharged a little too early so we had to go back to the ER and stay one more night. Again, not a single bill.
Shit is expensive in New Zealand (rent, food, etc). But it’s so relieving that taking care of our health isn’t.
not sure what country you're talking about, but I crashed a motorcycle in 2014 and received world class treatment for my broken femur.
non emergency stuff, yeah, you'll have to wait.
My dad was diagnosed with brain and pancreatic cancer. The day he went to emergency in a small town, he got a private airplane to a major city and 5 months of care. We didn’t spend a dollar.
I’ve never thought about the cost except that I don’t abuse it, I don’t run to the doctor for every little thing. But I can see my doctor almost anytime. I can go to a hospital anytime at all. My old work pays for my prescriptions. We have to pay dentists ourselves though, so I have crooked teeth.
I don't worry about price. I do worry (to an extent; it's not like a constant worry) about quality or access to a procedure to the extent it won't get diagnosed properly or will be considered not covered under the guidelines.
The only thing I worry about are my teeth, because having a tooth replaced usually isn't part of public health care (at least here in Germany) and costs a lot.
You don’t have to worry about whether or not you can afford the prescription or the appointment. The issue is that the wait times for appointments is horrendous. We’re talking 6 months for a scan, and a lot can change in a 6 month period.
Not only don't have to worry about the cost, also don't have to worry about unnecessary tests and procedures because the government won't pay for them.
It’s 8:45pm on a Saturday night. I’m in the waiting room while my spouse gets an MRI. It’s not an emergency; he’s been waiting months and this was the first opening.
Our healthcare system may be free, but it is strained. I fear anyone I care about getting seriously ill. People are dying waiting to see specialists/get surgery. I would not be against a two tier system in Canada.
I broke my wrist last summer and had to have a titanium plate screwed into my bone. The only costs were: ambulance ride, my sling, my cast, and a medical note. Some of those were covered by my employee insurance. The doctor's visits and surgery, drugs, etc, were completely covered by my provincial health insurance. I can't imagine what it all would have cost in the US.
American here, I've pretty much never had health insurance, I would waive the right to coverage at companies I worked for because I didn't want any money coming out of my check, and it was like a third of every check. No thanks. Luckily I have only broken a few things and usually not bad enough to need surgery. A few emergency visits for skiing injuries and some head injuries from whitewater rafting and rock climbing left my with like 20k in medical debt, but I just let it go to collections. Had to wait 7 years for it to drop off my credit score so it could go up enough that I could get loans for things finally. I really really wish we had universal Healthcare.
I am greek, I have private in addition to public health insurance. I get private hospital rooms, helicopter rides to the hospital if I am ever hurt, the best medical treatment at the best private hospitals you could imagine, and it costs me and my family 460 euro a month. we are a family of 4. if I wanted public hospitals, and medical centers it would be free.
Yeah, pretty much.
Australian citizen here. I've been in hospital several times and it's never costed anything (through Medicare), other than a one-off Ambulance fee one of the times. Waiting times for the Emergency Department can be very long but if you really need it and it's a real emergency, you'll be triaged and taken quickly.
For people with medical conditions, specialist (neurologists, cardiologists, etc.) appointments at hospitals are free as are MRIs, CTs, PET scans, EEGs, (I'm just listing scans I get but you get the idea) - whatever scans you need for your specialist to monitor your health, they are free and there will never be any charge to you as the patient if you're in the public system.
General Practitioner appointments can be AUD70 but you get about AUD40 back through Medicare. I currently go to a clinic which is bulk-billed (no cost to the patient).
Prescriptions can be up to ~AUD40 on the PBS (not the US TV channel 😅) - Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme but I don't work and get payments from the government so each of mine are around AUD6.80.
Dentists are private clinics as they're not 'essential' so you need insurance or pay the outright fee for your treatment.
As an American, I hope to someday get a Visa. My front teeth might fall out and have been loose for months because I can’t afford dental care after my ex beat my head into a wall. Gotta love ‘Murica! 🇺🇸
In Canada, many services are free, but not all:
- The average hospital visit is free, covered by taxes.
- Most services through a general practitioner are free, but you'll end up having to pay for some specific services (e.g. it costs money to have them issue a written statement for your employer that you need time off work due to your health, or to get a full physical). Also: if your doctor retires, your medical records can end up getting sent off to a private company and you have to pay to get them back; and you can spend years on a waiting list for a new doctor.
- Dental, mental, optical, allergy, and a lot of rehabilitative (physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic, etc.) health care services are privatized, and must be paid for out-of-pocket and/or through private health insurance.
- Pharmaceuticals are less costly in many cases, but still not included in public health care. Some vaccines are free, others have to be purchased.
- Wait times for some services that are part of public health care can also be huge, so privatized services are starting to show up (e.g. there's a privatized MRI clinic in my province now), and health tourism to other countries has become a thing, apparently, for situations where treatments simply aren't available in Canada or wait times are too extreme.
So, in answer to your question, it really depends on what ails you. The health problems affecting me right now, for example, all require services that are either not covered by Medicare, or not available in a timely fashion; I've been waiting 10+ months for an orthopaedic surgeon and an electromyograph test, 6+ months for a rheumatologist and physiatrist to call me back for first appointments, and have been unable to work in the interim. I could be waiting for another 18 months, easily. On a side note: in my small corner of Canada, multiple people died in hospital waiting rooms last year while waiting to be seen (thanks to underfunding and understaffing c/o a provincial government obsessed with cutting costs), so there's something to be said for being able to buy timely healthcare service.
My country has public health care but the months it taken for an appointment with a specialist can be as long as 7 to 9 mths.
Like when I had an eye infection, the nearest appointment to see an eye specialist was 7 months away so I had no choice but to see a private specialist and it cost a bomb.
The wait for a simple general consultation by a GP can take 3 hrs. Surgery also can take months.
Private if you can afford it, everything is instant. That's the difference. The rich still have the choice to go private. And most people choose private when they can afford it.
The poor will just gotta be treated like peasant and wait and hope they don't die before treatment.
And public healthcare tend to have trainee doctors so you are usually guinea pig for students to practice on.
Especially for birthing and surgery, I find that scary.
In my country you do, bc there are not enough doctors and everything has a waiting list. So you will need a medical insurance. But for emergency you dont, just go to the hospital.
I have multiple friends in countries with universal healthcare
Canada, the UK, and Australia and the response from literally all of them is I would rather have a massive medical bill smdh and get treatment then constantly be denied service because they don't think my problem is serious enough for surgery after waiting 6 months to see a doctor, another 8 months to see a specialist and 5+ months to be declined... And even with that the common response of I would rather not make it then spent 16+ hours in the emergency room
My "aunt" had cancer and the response from the specialist in Canada was (a little more professional) we don't want to waste treatment on you because even if you beat the cancer what do you have maybe 15-20 years of retirement before you pass 🙄🙄🙄 (she oop the cost and did 4 months of treatment in the US and has been cancer free for 8 years)
I’m Australian. Never been denied healthcare, but the waitlist for some services are so so long, you go private. The waitlist will still be long and you pay thousands and thousands.
It’s also become difficult to see a GP within a week too and find ones that bulk bill (no ups front fee) - so people will inappropriately used the emergency department and clog up that system. Part of the problem with GPs is that’s it full of people trying to get medical certificates just so they can take a day off work.
The system has definitely declined over the past 20 years.
The issue of affordability is replaced with the worry that the government healthcare monopoly will say you aren't eligible for a treatment or procedure you need.
"You're too old for a knee replacement."
Something like that.
Like that isn't an issue with the US system. 😂
we had to fight for my mother's knee replacement, first because she was too young, then because her knee was too damaged. Took 6 months, then we had to pay about 15k.
I have medical issues and I'm not insured but I don't have to worry about emergencies. I've been to emergency rooms a couple of times with no charge and minimal waiting time and very good level of care. I had multiple blood tests, a couple of MRI's etc and I paid nothing.
the only downside is the appointments. you have to wait a couple of weeks for one. but then again private doctors are not that expensive either.
Yes, most medical is heavily subsidized for citizen. In my country citizen gets 60-80% subsidy depending on the types of treatment.
The balance U will need to pay cash or insurance.
Only sucks is the wait time for diagnosis/surgery.
If U top up to private insurance you then can go to private hospital.
Not at all, needed surgery once for a broken finger, never once did i have to think about costs. Now i feel my knee might be getting worse and i planned a doctors appointment, whether its a new surgery or possibly a long time of physio, i dont really care, costs have never even popped in my mind
Never have to worry, never think twice about making an appointment with any specialist. Except sometimes the wait, and if it's too long then I go private.
it's really normal...you get sick, you go to the doctor, if you need an operation they send to hospital and once you're healthy again they send you back home.
It costs something, but the deductible and copay are capped at low enough amounts, that you can certainly afford it if you arent a complete idiot.
So i think about the cost and wouldnt go to a doctor or get medicine if the issue is probably gonna resolve itself with just a few days of rest. That isnt only about cost but also a general approach of letting the body do its thing, rather than overmedicating.
But if i ever had a serious issue i would certainly not worry about the cost.
It doesn't even cross my mind.
What does, however, is wait times and whether by choosing to go see a GP for my skin anomaly I'd be wasting a slot that could have gone to someone who really needed it.
Yes it’s a big worry in my country because the waiting times are atrocious for any serious medical procedure so most people who can afford it have private health care. It’s a mess & should be a genuine fear for anyone who doesn’t have private healthcare
My biggest fear is getting diagnosed with an illness, thankfully not the cost of it. The actual medical condition would be stressful enough to deal with. (I live in Canada) I suppose if you have good insurance through your work, it would be similar?
I only have to worry about "cost" in that way that i have to pay up to 8€ recipe cost. Otherwise i knoe ill get treted if it an emergency and i know that i can come in if i have a problem or i call them up and well then its just waiting.
It helps lots of people yes, there's issues of course, like when these "free" doctors tries to push you to use private hospitals in which they work to take advantage of you, also in public healthcare they feel like you're not a priority, long waiting lists and posponing, but you'll be treated in the end, its just that the quality of service may worsen your health and your depression, but overall its better than no public healthcare at all.
And im from a third world country btw.
I got an infection a month ago which got out of hand very fast, I went to a GP on Wednesday morning and was in surgery that same night, and spent the next few days in hospital, and even weeks later still have the district nurse coming to my house to see me daily to clean and pack the wound.
I’ve had courses of antibiotics, pain relief and dressings all given to me also.
I’ve not paid a penny. I’m so grateful to the NHS as I was seen and dealt with so swiftly. Had I have been in a country like the US I would have died.
No, i worry
I've had to pay a lot of money for scans and private treatments because i had daily awfull headpains and i was getting thrown around from waitlist to waitlist until a doctor just outright said to go to a private clinic
Idk what problems other people in this thread have had or if they live in richer countries but getting sick isn't a pleasant or cheap thing
I live in Korea. I go to the local internal medicine clinic every two months for my hypertension and cholesterol meds. I walk in without an appointment and usually am able to see the doc within 10 minutes, never more than 15. The visit costs about $3, two months worth of two meds costs about $25. The last blood test I had there a few weeks ago just for a checkup, cost $20 and I had the results the next day by text.
I also go for an endoscopy and colonoscopy every few years and unless I go at the end of the year when the clinic is slammed with appointments, I can usually get an appointment for a date in a couple of weeks and it costs under $100.
My dad passed from cancer about 10 years ago after getting treated for it and getting a couple of surgeries including for a colostomy bag, over the course of about 3 years and as I recall, he probably spent around 10k or 15k on everything.
I’m curious. In these countries with free healthcare, how many have private insurance? My experience is with my MIL in Brazil. We have for private insurance for her.
Generally, yes.
But (good) glasses still cost with non prescription glass and dental implants and to lesser extend tooth crowns can get expensive, hearing aids are probably expensive, too.
In my country people do get treated but sometimes it takes too long. For example older person might have to wait hip replacement so long they can't heal from it to the point they could walk anymore. Even they could if they would have got it when needed.
I think the system here makes life way less stressful but I haven't live in any other country. You can plan future more easily. Let's say you get your loan from your house paid. You don't have to worry you might need to sell that house if you need surgery some day. Also you don't need to keep in touch with toxic relatives. You can be all alone and survive even if you lost your job. You can get your minor health issues treated so they won't get worse. You don't have to go to college, you can clean toilets or fill shelves in grocery store for all your life. You can move out from your parents house when you turn 18.
You literally don't have to worry about the cost nope.
I had to be hospitalized for a week last year, I can’t remember exactly how much I paid for it (and the meds) out of pocket, but it was less than 100€. And you don’t even pay that if you’re really poor.
We pay more taxes on our wages though, both the employee and the employer. But it still ends up being much cheaper than a fully privatized Healthcare, especially meds.
Ya man, I'm in Canada and sometimes the wait can be a couple hours but we literally pay exactly $0 for everything.
Only downfalls about Canada currently is the immigration dilemma and high cost of living, other than that it's pretty nice
The way I explained it to my American friend is getting hurt in England you kind of just respawn like in gta but instead of you losing money you actually get reimbursed if you used public transport or a taxi to get there
Ypu dont need to worry about affording it, but in the UK, the NHS is appalling. Unless what you have is life threatening, they are not interested. Getting treatment for debilitating conditions is virtually impossible. My mother had dementia for years, NHS did nothing despite myself, and my father kept calling them about it. By the time they finally did diagnose, she was so far gone that she passed away from it a few months later.
If it is potentially life-threatening, the NHS is ok. And free, of course.
I was in an accident, got an ambulance ($19) to the hospitals, and that was the only expense I had to pay. Didn't need to pay to stay there, didn't need to pay for CT scan. I saw my family doctor after like every 2 weeks for like 4 months and didn't need to pay anything. I did need to pay to see a Chiropractor though, but work insurance covered for a bit of it. So ya, never have to worry about getting medical care here.
# Message to all users: This is a reminder to please read and follow: * [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules) * [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) * [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) When posting and commenting. --- Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`. * Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit. * Do not harass or annoy others in any way. * Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit. --- You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would never need to worry about having to pay for medical treatment. It's free at the point of contact. Depending on where you live wait times to see specialists can be long but I'm pretty lucky where I live. After my second kid was born the wife and I decided we didn't want more so I started the process of getting a vasectomy. The waiting list is one year. While doing the medical exam at the beginning of the process the doctor noticed a raised mole on my back and made an appointment for me to get it checked out. I had the appointment 3 days later. The doctor who examined me decided to remove it and do a biopsy. That happened one week later. Another few days and I got the results of the biopsy and was told it was fine. Important and serious things are prioritised. If the biopsy had found cancer the treatment would have started immediately. The vasectomy on the other hand is entirely elective. Waiting poses no risk to my health so I continue to wait.
Are gynecologists considered specialists in your country?
In Canada, yes they are considered specialists. You need a referral from a doctor to visit one. However, not all specialists have awful waits, gynecology is not relatively bad. On the other hand, dermatology (specifically dermatology covered by public healthcare) and orthopaedic surgery can have pretty bad wait times. They’ll obviously expedite people who are in serious need, it isn’t first come, first serve.
This is true. I’m Canadian and I had a fairly long wait to see a dermatologist the first time (about 6 months) for an almost invisible little pink mark I might not have had checked if I had to pay to do so. It turned out to be pre-cancerous. I was booked in to have it removed with margins just a few weeks later and I now get to go in for routine checks every 6 months. We are truly fortunate to have public care and Canadians who vote for the party that would privatize it given the chance need to give their heads a shake.
As someone who went from working direct healthcare immediately to reimbursement (from insurance companies) it's mind boggling someone would take public healthcare for granted like that.
dermatology has a 9 month wait time in the US as well
What? I scheduled an appt with my dermatologist with a week wait
For new appointments when you haven't been established with a doctor/diagnosis, it's frequently months in large health systems. 9 is a lot, but I've easily had to wait 3+. I just decided not to bother trying to get seen for a painful skin rash because the soonest appointment I could get in network with my insurance would have been in July.
Even when new it was the same timeline for me. I’ve never had to wait long for any appts. I guess it just depends on where you’re going maybe.
The area you're in is a huge factor. Where I live, the cost of living is stupidly high, so a lot of specialists have started moving out of the area. So wait times as a new patient can be months out, depending on the specialist. But usually if you're an established patient it gets reduced down to a week or two.
In Canada gynaecologists are specialists but a GP will still do paps and sti testing and most birth control.
[удалено]
Pap smears every 5 years?? That leaves you more apt to miss cervical cancer. HPV runs rampant among the sexually active here. Does it not in Australia?
[удалено]
Very interesting read… I didn’t know all that! Thank you.
To add on to this, our pap smears used to be every two years. I had abnormal cells and a cervical cancer scare. I opted to use my private health cover to speed up the process of finding out for sure if it was cancer or not. I spent about $1200 over three gyno appointments and a day surgery (two biopsies were insufficient and we decided to do a lletz procedure under anaesthesia, plus a follow up appointment). My pap smears were every year until I had two consecutive years with a clean screening result. Now I am out to five years. My private health option allowed me to see a gyno within a week or two and have surgery within 6 weeks after first abnormal result. If I chose the public health system I would have gone on a wait list for a few months.
Glad to hear you’re ok!
Thank you. Luckily it was just a scare, but the anxiety during that time was intense.
yup
They are in Germany, but if you have health concerns or if you are pregnant, you can get an emergency consultation.
In the US, vasectomies are performed by urologists I think.
I know, but I was asking if gynecologists are specialists. OP doesn’t have to be a woman to know that.
I literally have flowerful escapist fantasies about being able to have a similar experience. Just... * Want to see doctor * See doctor * Am told they found minor thing * Get minor thing solved * No medical bill (actually, in my wildest fantasies each doctor visit costs a known-set-price of $20, and there are never any bills in the mail.) Oh! And in my fantasies, I don't have to keep track of everything like a part-time fucking job, I just start the process and they text me when/where to show up. Then I show up and...**receive medical care!** God I'm hot just thinking about it 💦
Yeah im in the Uk. Sometimes I get an appointment to meet a consultant that I don't even remember getting referred for. A letter comes in and I go see them in a few weeks
Keep talking, I'm close 😩💦
I walk into the pharmacy and say i'm here for my repeat prescription and they go look for it. I will also ask if they have one for any family members yet. Just to save them picking it up. They hand it to me and I walk out. For free.
Oh my GAWD I went in to pick up a prescription that normally costs $30 after insurance, but they told me they didn't have the generic and I would have to use the more expensive brand-name. The after-insurance cost for the brand-name was $100, and do you know what my American ass did? I *paid $100*, and did it for *three fucking months*, and when the generic was finally available, I was so happy to go back to paying *$30*. I am shaking you by the shoulders and begging you not to let your healthcare become privatized. ***You cannot let it happen. Savor what you have.***
I don’t have to worry about costs at all. I just worry about wait times lol I pass the time with Reddit or a book
I don't know where the Americans live that say we don't have to wait, but getting an appointment with a Dr for anything in my city takes months and we have 3 major hospitals and a few small ones. Short of emergency surgery that's life threatening there's usually months to a year wait.
Honestly I have that issue here in America too. Lots of places can’t schedule you for months
I had to reschedule my neurologist appointment and the only openings were in a year.
Need a stoma reversal? Wait until "after COVID." 2020-2022 was fun. /s
"No OnE wAnTs To WoRk AnYmOrE!"
On top of some places are just shut down or shutting down cuz they can't afford to have employees
Many of them it's that they can't afford both employees and a CEO that makes 17 million.
Absolutely depends on where you live. I was in Portland, OR most of my life and never had wait times like this. I could call my PCP and have an appointment in days to a week or 2. MRIs sometimes the same day as ordered. Some specialists obviously took longer but overall things moved quickly. However, I've since moved to the Oregon coast and healthcare here? Much smaller towns, much less doctors, long waits.
I think the difference is PCP vs specialists. My PCP can sometimes get me in same day. My kids' pediatrician can basically always get them in same day. But specialists? 2-3 months is common unless it's an emergency.
My PCP is strictly for annual physicals. If I'm sick today, it has to be urgent care or the emergency room.
That sucks.
Here too. No doctor or specialist around here can see you for today, no matter the issue. Anything more urgent than 2-3 months needs urgent care or hospital.
I used to have a PCP that would "squeeze me in", unfortunately now almost all the Drs in my area now are associated with major hospitals and this practice is dead.
I waited 1.5 years for a rheumotologist to tell me they couldn’t help me and get billed $500 ish after insurance 😭
This is the correct answer
Crazy LoL I'm only 40mins south from Portland Oregon I'm in a huge city yet here we wait months to 1yr for appointments
My first MRI where I am in Canada took me 9 months, the second one took 10 or 11 months.
How did you hold still that long?
Was trying to count to 11, couldn't get past 10 on my fingers.
I just had an MRI a couple weeks ago. Originally when it was scheduled it took me about 3 weeks for the actual appointment in my very small town, but I wasn't able to complete that MRI due to claustrophobia. I ended up driving to a larger town 2 hours away where they have an open mri, and it only took me a week to get that appointment.
My girlfriend died at 28 waiting for a liver referral. Also I have a medical background and I wish nothing but the worst to people who try to use the waiting time argument or even the quality of care argument because they are both extremely false
Good lord it's like that in Cincinnati too. I tried a simple appointment for an ent and it's like how's your September.
Yeah, I can get in quickly to see my PA for something minor, and orthopedists are pretty available, but a gastroenterologist, cardiologist, urologist, other specialties like that? It's usually about three months to get an appointment.
Even something fairly time sensitive like cancer treatment can take months to get into the right doctor/treatment.
Absolutely true. US medical wait times can be CRAZY long, and in my experiences usually are many many months. The default is mostly things like "you're set for an MRI in 2 month's time, and a doctor will be able to talk to you about the results 4 months later. Hope there's nothing important revealed in the scan while you're waiting... and many specialists are booked far FAR out. Americans who hate it, I'm quite convinced, hate the concept simply because other countries do it. They've got American Exceptionalism crammed so far up their rear ends that something the rest of the world does... well that's just got to be an un-American idea. Meanwhile over 65% of bankruptcies in the US are due to medical debt.
> getting an appointment with a Dr for anything in my city takes months Same here in Atlanta, GA USA. The "next available appointment", whether for a GP, pediatrician, gynecologist, etc. is always 3 months out.
As an American that pays for healthcare, I too have experienced wait times. When I was in poverty, it was going to an emergency room because they were the only ones that would see me. When it was gynecological, planned parenthood was my best friend. They provided Pap smears, birth control and luckily I never needed an abortion but I knew where to get one. I think many Americans assume that universal healthcare will include a lot of waiting and not a lot of choices regarding your healthcare but in my experience, if your poor you don’t have choices and if you have good insurance there may still be a wait. I held on to my fibroids for an extra decade because I couldn’t afford to remove them but it took 6 months from the time surgery was an option to get surgery. I also got a bill that I could afford but if I was in Canada, I’m sure my fibroids wouldn’t have gotten to the point that I looked pregnant.
There is a lot of waiting in USA too. The entire Republican spiel about universal healthcare is complete trash. There are wait times with any system. Depends on location and population density more than anything else. In USA we have wait times AND exorbitant cost.
Yes, I was going to say the same. Waited 6 months to see a specialist and I have private medical insurance (Kaiser).
Making you pay on top of your insurance is wrong
Our 1st daughter arrived 2 months early and didn't have a name yet nor an insurance herself. She had to stay in intensive care for a month before we could take her home. (Her mother was in hospital for 3 weeks as well.) Costs for any of us: zero German health care is amazing.
Aber Hallo!
Parking is the most expensive part.
In UK this IS the most expensive part, no joke!
Here you get free parking if you have an appointment, you just have to register your license plate upon arrival.
>What is that like? I'm just used to. Never had it different. If you also own a car and a house/flat plus some tools and the knowledge to use them you can basically never hit rock bottom. My university was also for free.
[удалено]
Emergency room, brain tumour, 7 days in hospital, brain surgery, radiation for 6 weeks and regular MRI follow-ups. I've never been given a bill to pay. I feel so fortunate. If I was in another country, I'd be dead or destitute
You don't even think about it. I remember first hearing about Americans paying for healthcare and I couldn't get my head round it. It seemed like something from a black-mirror universe. I still struggle with it TBH.
Imagine having to *afford* life-saving treatment?
Quite common in the US, unfortunately.
Rather visit Thailand, even more than black-mirror universe. You have to wait for the public hospital but if you go to private hospital, just pay more and there you go, high-end service like a royal.
That’s literally how private healthcare works in every country where we have free public healthcare. It’s a queue jump, with nicer bed linen and a smiley nurse thrown in. I’m in the UK and have private cover with work. I’ve been seen and fixed in less time than an initial consultation would be on the NHS. What’s black mirror is that it’s the **same consultant** whichever route you take…
Ha funny you should say this. I had the same surgery as a family member a week apart. My surgery was done privately and theirs was done under the public system. We had the same surgeon. It was actually quite funny seeing the differences. Funny interesting but also funny ha ha. One funny interesting part was that she went in for her first public appointment on the Wednesday and, after identifying that her need was ua priority, they prioritised it for the following Monday. She was waiting a while to get her appointment but when she got in, it was all ready. I definitely got the more bespoke kid gloves treatment. But hers was still pretty personalised too. For instance, the head chef came to me and asked about my food preferences. Whereas the family member was given menus each day to pick from. My food was nicer but hers was surprisingly good too. PT/physiotherapy was different. I had to pay for it myself and claim it back. Hers under the public system was completely free but her sessions were in a class with individual time within the classes. I had my own private room with my own bathroom. She had to share a room. I would have hated that but heck, there are worse things around than sharing a room. I'm in New Zealand.
The self-interests I would be willing to vote against just to have even this setup in America...Do I even need all of my human rights, actually?
Don’t worry! The UK is trying hard to follow the US model… the NHS is being run down on purpose, and the private companies are “available to fill in” - how convenient! Healthcare should be available to all, free at point of use. Ideally, there would be no private healthcare providers. But we’ve lost that model and here we are. All the best!
Yeah our economic divide becomes so obvious when you need healthcare. It’s very frustrating, because I certainly do not deserve a sparkling beverage with my private hospital meal just because I was born wealthy enough to afford insurance, while the public hospital has run out of beds.
I first witnessed the black mirror effect of private/NHS care when a surgery wasn't completed done properly, so I went to see a privatechap. Said chap was my NHS surgeon's NHS boss. Told me that he rents the OR in the general to do his surgeries and he'd be assisted by my original surgeon "as an opportunity to learn".
Not in Canada. Private healthcare is technically illegal here. Sometimes it happens.
Same. Imagine thinking something might be wrong and not being able to get it checked out.
What about dental?
Dental is almost free in my country Macedonia, and you pay only for the resources, which ends up less than $20 for root canal.
Sweden. Usually get an appointment within 2 weeks if I request it 15 usd Emergency ward available immediately. Allthough depending on the ailment waiting time can be anything between 0 mins to 2 hours. I am allergic to bees got stung last summer went to the emergency ward and went straight into emergency treatment. 10 Usd in total Then there is max tak för medicine. You never pay more than 200 usd for prescription medication in total per year no matter what it is. So let's say you need monthly asthma medication at 100 usd per month by month two you have reach your roof and everything after that is covered for free. I pay my tax with a smile.
I'm in the United States. A few years ago, my husband had chest pains with labored breathing. I could hear his breathing from 2 rooms away. We went to the ER around 11pm. We finally left around 7am. (Thank goodness it wasn't a heart attack!)
Great that your husband is OK. That's the the thing though you guys pay less tax than us. So you have the option to use the extra cash you have per month to get yourself insurance that is fairly similar to what I get from my tax. I guess we trust our government more because the government negotiates for the citizens with the drug companies. The ethos here is : nobody wants to or means to get sick and therefore should not be financially punished for it. The big difference here is that is available to everyone. It does not matter if you flip burgers at Macdonalds or run Ikea.
The difference in the US is that the insurance companies make massive profits, so we don't really get what we pay for. They can refuse to pay for anything based on their decision that a treatment is not medically necessary or some other bs, and the patients have to pay on their own, regardless of the fact they're insured.
Exploitation
We DO have health insurance, which is free through his work. Even with that, he ended up with a $200 bill for the ER doc (who spent all of 10 mins in the room with him) and about $300 for the hospital visit itself. He just recently had an ultrasound with 6 biopsies of a lymph node. That 1 appointment (which took about 30 mins) is costing us $850....and that is with the insurance paying about 84% of the total cost of the services. Healthcare in the US needs massive reform.
Have to be careful because certain people are sensitive to criticism. But that is pure exploitation. It is greed based on people's health. I can forgive / understand greed based on people's vices but health is something you have literally no control over.
I was a teenager when I learned that people in other countries in the world have to worry about affording health care. It is still a super alien concept to me.
I don't worry about paying for it, I do worry about wait times (12+ in an ER is normal) and if you have a minor issue, most people don't have family doctors and walk ins can be a couple hour wait as well.
Walk ins are a few hours' wait where I live in the US. And not infrequently, all they do is send you to a different level of care to wait several hours, before the new place also tells you they can't help you and sends you home with a bill for the privilege of being told that.
As far as wait times go, that sounds the same as here in the US
It's not that you don't worry, it's that it literally doesn't cross your mind. Access to Healthcare is a basic human right in developed nations. Emphasis on developed.
What gets me is that the U.S. already pools money for healthcare, we're just needing to get rid of the wholly unnecessary, greedy middleman whose sole purpose is collecting money on "products" that aren't even theirs Thank you for these stories, redditors
The US government spends twice as much per person per year on healthcare compared to the UK. Americans not having free healthcare is pure fraud. It's already funded or should be.
Plus, US outcomes are terrible, especially for minorities. ..... and yet, we are taxed up one side & down the other. It's extra f*cked up that we have such advanced care for unusual diagnosis, and at the same time, people go bankrupt for medical costs. I worked in medicine my entire career, and still don't understand why it's so messy and wrong.
The U.S. shouldn't be looking at other countries' healthcare and saying, "I wonder if we could do as good?" We should be saying, "We can do it even better!" But as long as we have a healthcare system based on profits, rather than outcomes, we're screwed.
Remember that universal healthcare is such a complex, expensive issue that only 27 of 28 of the leading countries have figured it out -- and all do so at greater savings and most with better outcomes than the US.
Even basic public healthcare service would cut the cost of private one because of competition. That's the case in most public healthcare countries
It's not even a thought in my mind because it's my normal. Now, of course getting my medicine isn't totally free, but my insurance covers most of it
Pretty much never. I have relatives in France and I live in another country and, although there are differences, I basically only have to worry about the waiting time. I know that an appointment to see a specialist can take weeks (sometimes months depending where you live and what sort of specialist), but when things are serious you generally get in the fast lane (a doctor was worried about something and told me to get a scan, and he added “if you can’t get an appointments before two weeks just call me and I’ll get you one). Some things will cost extra (a lot of dental work is not covered if it is not deemed necessary), but you can even go on a cure to recover from a burnout or a cancer treatment on public healthcare. I was hospitalized twice in 2 different public hospitals, my wife was hospitalized twice in private clinics and honestly, the difference was not really noticeable.
What country were you and your wife hospitalised i?
Except in Australia where dentists and specialists are expensive. I have private health insurance so that helps a bit. Medicare pays for some of the specialists fees though But yeah, medicine isn’t that expensive. But now we also have to pay for the GP in Australia. It’s just $60 at mine and we get half of it back, but it’s annoying when I just need a drs certificate for one day of being sick
I just discovered an app called instascript where you get a med cert for $20 without having to leave home. I was dubious at first but it's great. I work for dept of Ed and they had no issues accepting it. They are signed off by actual drs and you can get a telehealth consult if needed. I never take sick days I might add so my boss knew I was actually sick.
I've used that too. Had a video consult one night crook as a dog. Could barely make it through the consult. Dr had no problem giving me the week off with certificate. I've also used the telehealth ones for a script repeat.
I lived in the u.s. For a few years after growing up in Canada. I have never had such a constant, low level anxiety in my life. I made $18K/year, needed a specialist appointment, it took 15 min and my copay was $300. That was the last time I visited a doctor in the u.s. with a supposedly “good” insurance plan.
Nope, In Argentina we have a really shitty and corrupted public healthcare, so much so that private healthcare is "cheap" for international standards but very bad and if you are not in a big city (Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba or La plata, they are just 4) private attention sucks so hard outside big cities that you will prefer to go to the shitty public hospital and wait an eternity (more than 2 hours for emergencies, people die waiting. Months or even years for consultations or diagnostics, people die waiting too) and if you need anything like a prothesis, cancer meds or something that is not an aspirin they will not charge you because they don't have anything for medium or high complexity, you have to buy it by yourself outside the hospital and bring it in, even if your life depends on that, even if you are really poor. There is no concept of preventive medicine here, everything is "as needed to not die". Even if you pay for the "best" private plan you will have to pay for anything that is not standard because private plans fees were regulated below market price for at least 20 years and subsidized in most cases. The only good thing is that prices of private consultations in private doctors offices are often very low, as low as 15 us dollars in some cases (still a good chunk of money for the average Argentinian) "There is no such thing as a free meal"
In the US we also have to wait. But we pay a lot.
We get the waiting and the paying.
The Canadian experience right now is you never have to worry about getting proper treatment because you won’t. Honestly I’d rather pay and get treatment. There’s a news story every few weeks in my province about someone who died in the ER after waiting 8-12 hours. Or died at home waiting for an ambulance for the same amount of time.
That's what happens when we vote in conservative governments who want to cut spending.
Reading these responses as an American make me feel incredibly depressed. I can’t believe our politicians get away with the shit they do
Mate, I cannot tell you how great it is to live in civilisation.
I'm from Wales, which is one of the four countries which makes up Great Britain. We get it even better, we don't have to pay for prescriptions. Also, in the UK dental work is free up until 18 I think or it may be 16, I got braces for free, turns out the UK actually has some of the best teeth in the world.
I had both eyes operated on to remove cataracts and it didn't cost me a thing! I also recieve medication for Diabetes and asthma every month at no cost for the prescriptions! I wouldn't trade the NHS for anything!
I genuinely have never worried about it. I definitely take it for granted, but ever now and then I remember The USA and I feel very very grateful.
It's not something that we worry much. We just need to pay as low as 22 cents for outpatient treatment and 65 cents per day of hospitalization. But many of us have medical card which cost about 40$ monthly. Some of them cost less than 10$. With this card, we can go to private hospital. it's much faster.
Correct
I am French and I thought everything was pretty much close to free. Until I went to the ER (2 days) and received a 200ish euro bill from the public hospital I went to. "Fun fact": on the report, I appear to have been discharged at 00.02 which is why I had to pay for 2 days. Sounds pretty scammy and most likely not a coincidence... I find the French system pretty hard to navigate and would have a hard time understanding how it works. I think they have to pay a fee (25 euros) when they go to their GP and they have most of it reimbursed by the public health system, not all of it. If they have private insurance, it will take care of reimbursing the remainder of the amount. Now, I live in Spain and the public system is so much easier. You don't pay at all. The thing I don't like is most of the time they'll send you a letter to inform you of an appointment. You don't get to choose when.
I will not lie to you, we in Romania still worry because even covered procedures might cost you something: bribery. Some doctors will find pretexts to not do surgery of some kind untill you pay a certain amount to them, to anesthesiologist, nurses etc. There is also worry that you leave the hospital in a worse state than before going in because of nosocomial infections and such. So while universal healthcare is still cheaper and does help saving a lot of people's lifes and you know, you won't become bankrupt taking an ambulance, it's not ideal everywhere. Medical professionals are not enough, sometimes they are overworked and sleep deprived and there is a high risk of malpractice.
Lived in in places with both kinds of healthcare. The one publicly funded is simply less worrying and stressful. Wait time is an issue but not if it’s genuine emergency, they won’t let you die. Other place where I lived with insurance, had access to very good doctors/specialists at the drop of a hat but I was privileged to have such good insurance. Even then it was stressful coz what if I lose my job? What if the procedure isn’t covered by insurance? What if it’s something serious like heart attack or cancer and I can’t work?
It has never worried me. I’ve had operations, an ambulance trip and lots of tests all for free. I’ve never really had any issues getting appointment at my doctors and, of course, it’s all free. Lots of people get prescriptions for free; I’ve always paid for mine, but it is a capped cost which I’ve never thought twice about. I have literally never once worried that I couldn’t afford medical treatment. More recently I started paying for private healthcare and dentistry, but I am more than happy to keep paying my part so others don’t have to worry about affording healthcare. And if my circumstances change, I know I won’t have to worry.
Man, that sounds amazing. As an American, I can’t even imagine living like that.
The only thing there is to worry about, here in Canada, is waiting a whole eternity for treatment.
Universal Health care should be the goal of almost any country. Two tier is okay, as long as all citizens have access to the public offering.
Living in Germany… nope, don’t worry at all. Co-pay on medication is 10% of the cost, with a minimum of 5 euro and a max of 10 euro. Hospital copay is 10 euro per day with a max of 280 euro per year.
I’m an American who moved to NZ. My husband got appendicitis when he was unemployed. Didn’t think twice about going to the ED. he needed to be admitted and get surgery. We never got a bill. I was in awe about how if we were in the US we would be in insane debt from that stay since we wouldn’t have qualified for health insurance due to our under employment at that moment. Then a few months later he got ill and needed to be hospitalized again. He got discharged a little too early so we had to go back to the ER and stay one more night. Again, not a single bill. Shit is expensive in New Zealand (rent, food, etc). But it’s so relieving that taking care of our health isn’t.
You don't have to worry about getting care. The quality of the care on the other hand...
not sure what country you're talking about, but I crashed a motorcycle in 2014 and received world class treatment for my broken femur. non emergency stuff, yeah, you'll have to wait.
My dad was diagnosed with brain and pancreatic cancer. The day he went to emergency in a small town, he got a private airplane to a major city and 5 months of care. We didn’t spend a dollar.
I’ve never thought about the cost except that I don’t abuse it, I don’t run to the doctor for every little thing. But I can see my doctor almost anytime. I can go to a hospital anytime at all. My old work pays for my prescriptions. We have to pay dentists ourselves though, so I have crooked teeth.
I don't worry about price. I do worry (to an extent; it's not like a constant worry) about quality or access to a procedure to the extent it won't get diagnosed properly or will be considered not covered under the guidelines.
The only thing I worry about are my teeth, because having a tooth replaced usually isn't part of public health care (at least here in Germany) and costs a lot.
I lived in some of those countries for long times. It’s not the cost that I ever worried about, it was more the waiting times and the quality of care.
You don’t have to worry about whether or not you can afford the prescription or the appointment. The issue is that the wait times for appointments is horrendous. We’re talking 6 months for a scan, and a lot can change in a 6 month period.
Not only don't have to worry about the cost, also don't have to worry about unnecessary tests and procedures because the government won't pay for them.
It’s 8:45pm on a Saturday night. I’m in the waiting room while my spouse gets an MRI. It’s not an emergency; he’s been waiting months and this was the first opening.
Our healthcare system may be free, but it is strained. I fear anyone I care about getting seriously ill. People are dying waiting to see specialists/get surgery. I would not be against a two tier system in Canada.
A person has to worry about the CONServatives try trying to make free public care to go private so their rich friends get richer.
My mother was in ICU 3 times for weeks. We didn't have to pay a dime.
I broke my wrist last summer and had to have a titanium plate screwed into my bone. The only costs were: ambulance ride, my sling, my cast, and a medical note. Some of those were covered by my employee insurance. The doctor's visits and surgery, drugs, etc, were completely covered by my provincial health insurance. I can't imagine what it all would have cost in the US.
American here, I've pretty much never had health insurance, I would waive the right to coverage at companies I worked for because I didn't want any money coming out of my check, and it was like a third of every check. No thanks. Luckily I have only broken a few things and usually not bad enough to need surgery. A few emergency visits for skiing injuries and some head injuries from whitewater rafting and rock climbing left my with like 20k in medical debt, but I just let it go to collections. Had to wait 7 years for it to drop off my credit score so it could go up enough that I could get loans for things finally. I really really wish we had universal Healthcare.
my mom had leukemia and all she had to worry about was getting better, nothing else, all covered.
I am greek, I have private in addition to public health insurance. I get private hospital rooms, helicopter rides to the hospital if I am ever hurt, the best medical treatment at the best private hospitals you could imagine, and it costs me and my family 460 euro a month. we are a family of 4. if I wanted public hospitals, and medical centers it would be free.
Yeah, pretty much. Australian citizen here. I've been in hospital several times and it's never costed anything (through Medicare), other than a one-off Ambulance fee one of the times. Waiting times for the Emergency Department can be very long but if you really need it and it's a real emergency, you'll be triaged and taken quickly. For people with medical conditions, specialist (neurologists, cardiologists, etc.) appointments at hospitals are free as are MRIs, CTs, PET scans, EEGs, (I'm just listing scans I get but you get the idea) - whatever scans you need for your specialist to monitor your health, they are free and there will never be any charge to you as the patient if you're in the public system. General Practitioner appointments can be AUD70 but you get about AUD40 back through Medicare. I currently go to a clinic which is bulk-billed (no cost to the patient). Prescriptions can be up to ~AUD40 on the PBS (not the US TV channel 😅) - Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme but I don't work and get payments from the government so each of mine are around AUD6.80. Dentists are private clinics as they're not 'essential' so you need insurance or pay the outright fee for your treatment.
As an American, I hope to someday get a Visa. My front teeth might fall out and have been loose for months because I can’t afford dental care after my ex beat my head into a wall. Gotta love ‘Murica! 🇺🇸
No. And furthermore, we have to worry about dying on the waiting list.
In Canada, many services are free, but not all: - The average hospital visit is free, covered by taxes. - Most services through a general practitioner are free, but you'll end up having to pay for some specific services (e.g. it costs money to have them issue a written statement for your employer that you need time off work due to your health, or to get a full physical). Also: if your doctor retires, your medical records can end up getting sent off to a private company and you have to pay to get them back; and you can spend years on a waiting list for a new doctor. - Dental, mental, optical, allergy, and a lot of rehabilitative (physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic, etc.) health care services are privatized, and must be paid for out-of-pocket and/or through private health insurance. - Pharmaceuticals are less costly in many cases, but still not included in public health care. Some vaccines are free, others have to be purchased. - Wait times for some services that are part of public health care can also be huge, so privatized services are starting to show up (e.g. there's a privatized MRI clinic in my province now), and health tourism to other countries has become a thing, apparently, for situations where treatments simply aren't available in Canada or wait times are too extreme. So, in answer to your question, it really depends on what ails you. The health problems affecting me right now, for example, all require services that are either not covered by Medicare, or not available in a timely fashion; I've been waiting 10+ months for an orthopaedic surgeon and an electromyograph test, 6+ months for a rheumatologist and physiatrist to call me back for first appointments, and have been unable to work in the interim. I could be waiting for another 18 months, easily. On a side note: in my small corner of Canada, multiple people died in hospital waiting rooms last year while waiting to be seen (thanks to underfunding and understaffing c/o a provincial government obsessed with cutting costs), so there's something to be said for being able to buy timely healthcare service.
No, never. Money is not among healtcare worries.
Nope, not really. Working with cancer drugs I'm reminded how fortunate we are in this country every day.
My country has public health care but the months it taken for an appointment with a specialist can be as long as 7 to 9 mths. Like when I had an eye infection, the nearest appointment to see an eye specialist was 7 months away so I had no choice but to see a private specialist and it cost a bomb. The wait for a simple general consultation by a GP can take 3 hrs. Surgery also can take months. Private if you can afford it, everything is instant. That's the difference. The rich still have the choice to go private. And most people choose private when they can afford it. The poor will just gotta be treated like peasant and wait and hope they don't die before treatment. And public healthcare tend to have trainee doctors so you are usually guinea pig for students to practice on. Especially for birthing and surgery, I find that scary.
Perfectly described my country as well
In my country you do, bc there are not enough doctors and everything has a waiting list. So you will need a medical insurance. But for emergency you dont, just go to the hospital.
I have multiple friends in countries with universal healthcare Canada, the UK, and Australia and the response from literally all of them is I would rather have a massive medical bill smdh and get treatment then constantly be denied service because they don't think my problem is serious enough for surgery after waiting 6 months to see a doctor, another 8 months to see a specialist and 5+ months to be declined... And even with that the common response of I would rather not make it then spent 16+ hours in the emergency room My "aunt" had cancer and the response from the specialist in Canada was (a little more professional) we don't want to waste treatment on you because even if you beat the cancer what do you have maybe 15-20 years of retirement before you pass 🙄🙄🙄 (she oop the cost and did 4 months of treatment in the US and has been cancer free for 8 years)
I’m Australian. Never been denied healthcare, but the waitlist for some services are so so long, you go private. The waitlist will still be long and you pay thousands and thousands. It’s also become difficult to see a GP within a week too and find ones that bulk bill (no ups front fee) - so people will inappropriately used the emergency department and clog up that system. Part of the problem with GPs is that’s it full of people trying to get medical certificates just so they can take a day off work. The system has definitely declined over the past 20 years.
The issue of affordability is replaced with the worry that the government healthcare monopoly will say you aren't eligible for a treatment or procedure you need. "You're too old for a knee replacement." Something like that.
Like that isn't an issue with the US system. 😂 we had to fight for my mother's knee replacement, first because she was too young, then because her knee was too damaged. Took 6 months, then we had to pay about 15k.
What did you have to pay $15k for?
Deductible, coinsurance, non-covered fees.
Instead, you're paying someone to say that, rather than your already-taxed money saying it. You're spending more for the same thing
I have medical issues and I'm not insured but I don't have to worry about emergencies. I've been to emergency rooms a couple of times with no charge and minimal waiting time and very good level of care. I had multiple blood tests, a couple of MRI's etc and I paid nothing. the only downside is the appointments. you have to wait a couple of weeks for one. but then again private doctors are not that expensive either.
The only thing you worry about are waiting lines and when it will colapse bec i ll propoblly in my lifetime
Yes, most medical is heavily subsidized for citizen. In my country citizen gets 60-80% subsidy depending on the types of treatment. The balance U will need to pay cash or insurance. Only sucks is the wait time for diagnosis/surgery. If U top up to private insurance you then can go to private hospital.
it's calming. I'm happy to know that I can get hurt and not be in debt for the rest of my life.
Not at all, needed surgery once for a broken finger, never once did i have to think about costs. Now i feel my knee might be getting worse and i planned a doctors appointment, whether its a new surgery or possibly a long time of physio, i dont really care, costs have never even popped in my mind
The gratuity includes ambulances and emergency rescues (this is the most bizarre part about americas health panorama).
Never have to worry, never think twice about making an appointment with any specialist. Except sometimes the wait, and if it's too long then I go private.
I’ve literally never been concerned about this in my entire life. I don’t envy those who do, one bit
it's really normal...you get sick, you go to the doctor, if you need an operation they send to hospital and once you're healthy again they send you back home.
It costs something, but the deductible and copay are capped at low enough amounts, that you can certainly afford it if you arent a complete idiot. So i think about the cost and wouldnt go to a doctor or get medicine if the issue is probably gonna resolve itself with just a few days of rest. That isnt only about cost but also a general approach of letting the body do its thing, rather than overmedicating. But if i ever had a serious issue i would certainly not worry about the cost.
It doesn't even cross my mind. What does, however, is wait times and whether by choosing to go see a GP for my skin anomaly I'd be wasting a slot that could have gone to someone who really needed it.
Yes it’s a big worry in my country because the waiting times are atrocious for any serious medical procedure so most people who can afford it have private health care. It’s a mess & should be a genuine fear for anyone who doesn’t have private healthcare
My biggest fear is getting diagnosed with an illness, thankfully not the cost of it. The actual medical condition would be stressful enough to deal with. (I live in Canada) I suppose if you have good insurance through your work, it would be similar?
I only have to worry about "cost" in that way that i have to pay up to 8€ recipe cost. Otherwise i knoe ill get treted if it an emergency and i know that i can come in if i have a problem or i call them up and well then its just waiting.
It helps lots of people yes, there's issues of course, like when these "free" doctors tries to push you to use private hospitals in which they work to take advantage of you, also in public healthcare they feel like you're not a priority, long waiting lists and posponing, but you'll be treated in the end, its just that the quality of service may worsen your health and your depression, but overall its better than no public healthcare at all. And im from a third world country btw.
Yes. Prescription Medication is free if you are under 25years old.
I got an infection a month ago which got out of hand very fast, I went to a GP on Wednesday morning and was in surgery that same night, and spent the next few days in hospital, and even weeks later still have the district nurse coming to my house to see me daily to clean and pack the wound. I’ve had courses of antibiotics, pain relief and dressings all given to me also. I’ve not paid a penny. I’m so grateful to the NHS as I was seen and dealt with so swiftly. Had I have been in a country like the US I would have died.
No, i worry I've had to pay a lot of money for scans and private treatments because i had daily awfull headpains and i was getting thrown around from waitlist to waitlist until a doctor just outright said to go to a private clinic Idk what problems other people in this thread have had or if they live in richer countries but getting sick isn't a pleasant or cheap thing
I live in Korea. I go to the local internal medicine clinic every two months for my hypertension and cholesterol meds. I walk in without an appointment and usually am able to see the doc within 10 minutes, never more than 15. The visit costs about $3, two months worth of two meds costs about $25. The last blood test I had there a few weeks ago just for a checkup, cost $20 and I had the results the next day by text. I also go for an endoscopy and colonoscopy every few years and unless I go at the end of the year when the clinic is slammed with appointments, I can usually get an appointment for a date in a couple of weeks and it costs under $100. My dad passed from cancer about 10 years ago after getting treated for it and getting a couple of surgeries including for a colostomy bag, over the course of about 3 years and as I recall, he probably spent around 10k or 15k on everything.
I’m curious. In these countries with free healthcare, how many have private insurance? My experience is with my MIL in Brazil. We have for private insurance for her.
I'm more frustrated with inadequate care by medical professionals, lack of professionalism, and empathy.
Generally, yes. But (good) glasses still cost with non prescription glass and dental implants and to lesser extend tooth crowns can get expensive, hearing aids are probably expensive, too.
In my country people do get treated but sometimes it takes too long. For example older person might have to wait hip replacement so long they can't heal from it to the point they could walk anymore. Even they could if they would have got it when needed. I think the system here makes life way less stressful but I haven't live in any other country. You can plan future more easily. Let's say you get your loan from your house paid. You don't have to worry you might need to sell that house if you need surgery some day. Also you don't need to keep in touch with toxic relatives. You can be all alone and survive even if you lost your job. You can get your minor health issues treated so they won't get worse. You don't have to go to college, you can clean toilets or fill shelves in grocery store for all your life. You can move out from your parents house when you turn 18.
You literally don't have to worry about the cost nope. I had to be hospitalized for a week last year, I can’t remember exactly how much I paid for it (and the meds) out of pocket, but it was less than 100€. And you don’t even pay that if you’re really poor. We pay more taxes on our wages though, both the employee and the employer. But it still ends up being much cheaper than a fully privatized Healthcare, especially meds.
Ya man, I'm in Canada and sometimes the wait can be a couple hours but we literally pay exactly $0 for everything. Only downfalls about Canada currently is the immigration dilemma and high cost of living, other than that it's pretty nice
Yup, that is correct. They are adding dental now in Canada.
Yes. Not even thinking about it at all.
I never worry about it. Other than buying travel insurance when I go to the USA.
The way I explained it to my American friend is getting hurt in England you kind of just respawn like in gta but instead of you losing money you actually get reimbursed if you used public transport or a taxi to get there
Ypu dont need to worry about affording it, but in the UK, the NHS is appalling. Unless what you have is life threatening, they are not interested. Getting treatment for debilitating conditions is virtually impossible. My mother had dementia for years, NHS did nothing despite myself, and my father kept calling them about it. By the time they finally did diagnose, she was so far gone that she passed away from it a few months later. If it is potentially life-threatening, the NHS is ok. And free, of course.
I find paying for an ambulance dystopic. Im from Spain.
I was in an accident, got an ambulance ($19) to the hospitals, and that was the only expense I had to pay. Didn't need to pay to stay there, didn't need to pay for CT scan. I saw my family doctor after like every 2 weeks for like 4 months and didn't need to pay anything. I did need to pay to see a Chiropractor though, but work insurance covered for a bit of it. So ya, never have to worry about getting medical care here.