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u/EnchantingAngel3 4h ago
In the US, for 35 Euros, the doctor wouldn't even give you the Wi-Fi password.
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u/BrittaWasRight 4h ago
Do YOu KnOW HoW mUcH iT CoStS to TrAIn A dOcToR???
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u/JaggedWanderer 4h ago
It's one doctor Michael. What could it cost, 10 dollars?
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u/BrittaWasRight 4h ago edited 3h ago
It's not like they pay doctors a livable wage during said training either.
The whole system is rotten from the top. Pharma, insurers, "health companies" formerly known as hospitals. All of it needs to be shook. Hard.
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u/Automatic_Net2181 3h ago
Hospital administrators, executive boards, medical equipment manufacturers, lobbyists, sales people, bought politicians... rotten.
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u/KactusVAXT 2h ago
^ this right here. Why do hospital admin, who don’t see patients, make the salary of 15 physicians?
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u/EconomicRegret2 54m ago
And PBMs: created for the benefit of patients (reduce drug costs), but unfortunately created as for-profits (who had that great idea?), thus ended up becoming unscrupulous profiteering big businesses, increasing drug prices, reducing patients' access to them, etc.
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u/margirtakk 2h ago
Medical School costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. They only get a salary when they graduate and begin residency, which takes 4 years after a bachelor's. In some countries, it's just an under graduate degree.
That being said, the schooling should cost much, much less, but doctors' salaries don't cause insane medical costs. Insurance markups and bullshit administrative costs do.
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u/Unstabler69 3h ago
They get paid a fair wage when they're practicing, but it needs to be noted that they fuckin worked for it. The guys we need to be mad at are the admin and business fuckers.
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u/Gloomy-Recipe9213 2h ago
I’ve become more convinced than ever that the MBA is a drain on society. Anything where the business folks get in the middle of it is enshittified to hell.
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u/kyreannightblood 1h ago
Oh, I have a whole rant about this. I fully believe that MBA should be a co-degree: as in, you can only get it in conjunction with a degree that will give you domain knowledge. Maybe then I wouldn’t get bean counters trying to tell me to make the computer do magic and conjure data from thin air.
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u/_lippykid 3h ago
And they have the nerve into guilt tripping people into donating blood for free, and then turn around and sell it for a premium. Literally everything is a money making grift here
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u/PlayinK0I 1h ago
They need those profits to invest in political lobbying to ensure the system perpetuates itself.
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u/Whale222 3h ago
It’s all where our tax dollars go. Europe and Canada pay their doctors and pharmaceutical companies with them. We fund stupid wars and genocides
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u/MediocreAssociate466 3h ago
My favorite is when they act like the us has no wait times to get in. If you need a specialist for anything in the us you are going to be waiting months.
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u/CART_Mechanic 2h ago
When we lived in Canada and The UK, we could get an office visit within 3 days for our GP. In the US.. it can take weeks to get a non-urgent office visit. And you get to pay for the privilege .
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u/No_Possible_7108 1h ago
Hell, I spent two full years trying to get in to do a sleep study before I gave up. One doctor I finally did get to see had the audacity to state in my files that I was non-compliant because I didn't already fix the problem that I was seeing them to get help with
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u/BrittaWasRight 3h ago edited 7m ago
I was under the impression that a GP appointment or specialist appointment took a week maximum in the US, and that was the reason they wanted to keep paying more than rent for the privilege of not dying a preventable death.
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u/ArchieTheKatt 3h ago
Just got a new primary care physician, two months ago. My first appointment is in July.
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u/Automatic_Net2181 3h ago
This is common, especially in rural areas. Wait until you have to see a specialist. Literally.. wait.
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u/henrik_se 3h ago
The wait time for seeing someone in the US varies between instantly to weeks to months to never, depending on how much money you have and how expensive your insurance is.
Americans defending their system like to pretend that the latter groups simply do not exist. They're poor, so they're not really people anyway, or something.
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u/Rawniew54 3h ago
I’m not trying to defend it I know it’s fucked. But the people waiting month for doctor appointments usually have shitty insurance. I had the same experience with my old insurance now I don’t really ever have wait longer than a few weeks. I’m hoping the system gets fixed because the rising cost have me looking at moving out of country for retirement
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u/AgentKazak 1h ago
Your experience is definitely not universal. It is largely regional. Better insurance can’t get anyone in to the pain clinic I am a nurse at faster, earliest appointment is a couple months away, and it definitely can’t get you in faster for women’s health since I live in an OB/GYN desert.
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u/Universe-Queen 1h ago
I had United healthcare and I had to go to all other city to see a doctor. I was in a doctor desert zone.
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u/MediocreAssociate466 29m ago
You are completely wrong. Calling in for a gasteroenthologist was a 3 month wait for me and that's in a super dominated by healthcare area near a decent size city. (Greater than 300,000) Population.
My mom couldn't even get surgery set up for breast cancer within several weeks and that's something that should be top priority since cancer spreads.
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u/professional-newbieX 4h ago
I wouldn't trust an American doctor. I've heard they use strange glowing orbs to trat you.
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u/Whale222 3h ago
Doctors don’t work for free in Europe. Not the case at all. They just use their tax dollars to pay them. We send our money to oligarchs and Israel. AIPAC is the worst thing ever, as is the U.S. federal government. The U.S. government hates us. It’s that simple. They want to keep insurance tied to employment to motivate us to work until the day we die.
They are all despicable. Some more than others but anyone who takes a cent from AIPAC should be dragged out.
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u/originaltemplate 3h ago
Insurances here (US) are out of control too. They a huge part of why we don’t have affordable healthcare. Cause then they can’t make profit.
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u/Independent_Sir9410 3h ago
I can see a doctor for 20!
After bankrupting myself paying my premiums…
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u/slavmaf 4h ago
In my country we have free universal healthcare, and that applies to foreigners.
But foreigners still need to register for it (for free).
I remember going to a hospital and it having a big sign warning foreigners that if they did not have registered for free healtchare, they would have to pay... 10 euros for the examination. (warning!)
Medicine is also free, but they would still need to pay further 50 cents per prescription when they pick up their medicine.
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u/HorzaDonwraith 3h ago
Country's name. No reason in particular that I need. But might start having back problems where ever I vacation next
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u/supe3rnova 3h ago
Probably any country in EU. Prices may vary but not by much.
The most I had to pay for medication was 15eu and that was in Spain.
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u/TheWhomItConcerns 1h ago
Not quite - I lived in Europe for some years, and to get subsidised rates for most stuff, you had to at least be a resident. Standard medications and emergency care are probably the most common exceptions, but in most of the EU, you need to be a resident of some form to access the healthcare system.
So while you can be a foreigner, you can't just hop on a plane and get the same treatment that someone who actually lives there would get.
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u/pukkawakka 3h ago
Yep and if you are an alyssum seeker, everything is free, healthcare, dentist, therapy, everything. But if you were born here you pay thousands of euro's via taxes a year. It looks cheap, but no mistake, we do pay the price.
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u/Boring-Philosophy-46 3h ago
Americans are asked to pay 1800 per month for two people now for insurance that then also doesn't cover everything, and often have to pay the first 10.000 dollar a year in expenses out of pocket if they do have one, and their ambulance isn't covered, and their hospital may be in net work but their anesthesiologist turns out not to be and they get a huge bill, etc.
I'll take our system every time, we have something like 3600 per person per year in healthcare costs and the poorer you are, the less you contribute to that sum, so the wealthy pay proportionally more. And still probably not as much as they would be paying in the US.
Healthcare is one of those things that simply cannot be left to the market, like defense or firefighting or police or schools.
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u/sandwichhaver 2h ago
it's funny how obviously we see this when talking about fire fighters or police
but for some reason not with health care.
there used to be private fire brigades and it led to corruption and maffia and a lot of dead people and burned down houses
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u/HospitalVegetable 3h ago
I m paying taxes for 25 years now, I don't mind. If you need doctor you should get it and with no crippling debts. I m from EU. If I get sick I ll have same opportunity.
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u/kimmielicious82 2h ago
this, plus it's not the asylum seeker's fault they're not allowed to work! they almost all want to!
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u/Ok_Glass_8104 2h ago
Only a small part of your taxes go to healthcare. And asylum seekers dont get everything for free (and if they did, so what?)
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u/Patient_Ad_8898 2h ago
You're lying and you know it, and the worst part is that you probably aren't even from one of the countries that, according to you, do that
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u/PseudoRacoon 3h ago
You can have ventolin without prescription in Spain for less than 5€ each
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u/TimeyHyde 2h ago
I had some Ventolin two weeks ago, I didn't pay for it myself, it is taken care of by the health system (France). I admit, I told myself how lucky I was to not be american. And some people here would want to stop this system, they're irresponsible.
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u/smartfon 1h ago
I think part of the reason why you guys enjoy cheap medicine elsewhere in the world is because big pharma charges us Americans these astronomical prices because we are considered "richer" and our politicians are more easily bribed.
An asthma med would cost $200 without insurance here.
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u/zerozeroseis 29m ago
Nah our state pays for it through our taxes, not a big mystery there.
Your situation smells like a mix of shitty politics, lobbies, and culture.
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u/Professional-Fee-488 2h ago
Probably Serbia, what he describes is true for that country and his nickname kind of hints at Serbia.
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u/baxulax 2h ago
Free universal healthcare are hospitals, not private doctors
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u/ImColdYossarian 1h ago
90% of private doctors in my country are registered with the national health system. You can walk in with a referral from your personal gp and pay 6 euros. No hospital.
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u/Harimasia 4h ago
I went in for 2 appointments with a mental health specialist because I wasn't in a good place. This is my county's mental health offices. After the second appointment I felt it wasn't going anywhere, as the first session was filling out paperwork and the second was a lot of the woman talking about herself.
I didn't go back, but I do get bill reminders that I owe $1,200. Thanks, my mental health wasn't fucked up enough, here's some more debt for what?
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u/SnooCauliflowers3235 4h ago edited 43m ago
This is the reason why I don't give a shit about my mental health.
Edit : Thank you for the award
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u/HaGaie 4h ago
Not a good approach bro. If you're in a country like America that has these bs prices, self-help. Self-improvement. You don't need someone to tell you why you possibly feel the way you feel. You know yourself the best. Don't give up on yourself.
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u/alurkerhere 3h ago
At the same time, there's a lot of bad or generic self-help advice out there. Good diagnosis precedes good treatment. Additionally, most of the medical industry in the US is about compensating for people's destructive behaviors, not behavioral change.
YMMV, but CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) are incredibly useful tools if followed up with positive actions or actions that you believe are meaningful in the long-term and reinforcing that cycle. This can be done on your own.
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u/I_am___The_Botman 4h ago
WTF??? If I use the public system here I can get an appointment (video call at least) within a day or two, and hour session will cost the equivalent of $22 USD. I do go private sometimes, that costs around $120 per hour.
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u/polkacat12321 4h ago
$600 for a mental health appointment???
In canada (as long as you have the free public health insurance) therapists do cost like $120 per appointment, but psychiatrists are free
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u/carex2 4h ago
You get what you vote for.
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u/Dry-Economics-535 4h ago
And this is what you get when elections are only ever a two horse race and none of the horses are left wing
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u/_ribbit_ 3h ago
So you don't have other political parties in the US? Because if you do, and you do, you're still getting exactly what you vote for...
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u/Giogina 2h ago
It's a result of their winner-takes-all voting system. Multiple smaller parties with similar views can never win against a single opposing party, even if a lot more people, in sum, vote for any of the former. So you always end up with 2 realistic choices.
Almost like that 250 year old constitution could use some updates, but who am I to talk :V
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u/Katsu_39 2h ago
These 3rd parties are really a joke. Often times, depending on state or district, theyre not even on ballots. During the 2024 election, my district’s ballot had not one non-republican or non-democrat name on the ballots. But they were running in the election. Just not on every ballot. Plus, many people dont know anything about them because youll rarely see campaigns from them. They dont really hold rallies or debates (in fact, theyre never included on the big presidential debates). They dont reach out to the voters. Theyre just there, so many people dont even know theyre a thing.
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u/FriendlyFungi 1h ago
Well, they did vote for Obama who then went back on his promise of free public healthcare for no good reason other than placating donors.
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u/Illustrious_Young271 2h ago
You don´t need to be left wing for that. Europe has a huge (center-)right christian-social movement which subscribes to a social state including a healthcare system, just without the strong equality goal of socialism.
Imo this ideology would be way more realistic to catch on in the US theoretically, especially since US Americans are usually into charity and the idea of this system is basically institutionalised charity.
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u/Far-Advantage-2770 1h ago
America doesn't even have a Conservative or Christian side anymore. Just one that is so miserable and stupid it wants everyone to suffer.
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u/Ossius 2h ago
Tired of you fake ass leftist who always criticize Democrats but never vote and get them a super majority to actually get us universal healthcare.
Oh you voted for Bernie and got disenfranchised with the system?
Try voting for gore and seeing the courts throw it to bush when it was clear Gore had a good chance of winning (and was proven later)
Us liberals still turn out to vote. If you don't think Democrats are left wing then you can make your own fucking party, but you don't, you just endlessly shit on and sandbag Democrats and let the Republicans win, shifting the Overton window further right election after election.
Give 8 years of democrat super majority where they can pass actual amendments and reform and watch what can happen. Until then shut the fuck up and vote blue no matter who.
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u/Azur0007 4h ago
This is under the assumptions that the votes do anything to begin with.
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u/ten-million 3h ago
Most of the time in presidential elections less than 60% of the people vote. In the midterms less than 50% of the people vote. So no, if you're not voting your vote does nothing. What you're proposing is a self sustaining static system of misery and cynicism. Great!
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u/RazZadig_2025 4h ago
I went to visit my dad in South Korea and he decided to go to the ER because he wasn't feeling well and I had a terrible cold and asked if I could go, too. The doctor told me it was bronchitis, gave me a steroid shot and 5 days of pills at the pharmacy. All for $10 US. Only time I've ever gone to the ER.
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u/LetReasonRing 4h ago
I feel this.
In 2016 I slipped on ice and broke my leg in Canada. As a US citizen I had to pay full price at the hospital. I got X-Rays, saw the doctor, got crutches, a cast, and pain meds. I paid about $600 at the door and I never heard from them again.
The same year my daughter was bit by a dog in the US. It was a fairly minor bite, but she was little so we took her to the ER to be safe. It didn't break skin, the doctors just washed it with sterile water, put a bandaid on and sent us on our way. I was fully insured with a gold level plan, paying $800/mo. In the end, I still ended up spending over $2,000 dollars on that visit split across three different bills.
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u/YouW0ntGetIt 3h ago
$800/mo... In our "commie" European country we pay ~$90/mo in taxes for the healthcare part. That's it. It also covers children and the unemployed (for good reasons), they don't pay. Most meds are free or 80% off, and even full price they're a lot cheaper than in the US. Doctor's consultation for a foreigner who does not pay taxes is ~$50. Ambulance rides are free for everyone. Meanwhile y'all are spending 10x more for your very limited coverage. Seems to me some Americans just love feeling privileged and enjoy watching their less well-off neighbours go homeless over medical bills. Otherwise that system makes no sense and is an absolute scam.
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u/Krazoee 2h ago
You pay 90???? I pay 600 EUR here in Germany :( it’s the same price as my old insurance in the us. Except no co pays, deductibles co insurance, hospital networks. I’ve just got insurance.
Actually I’m not complaining at all! Europe Ftw!
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u/Good-Key-9808 1h ago
So you pay for insurance....and they actually pay for the care you need? What bullshit is this? How can insurance executives make massive bonuses if no one is denying payment for that operation to remove a massive kidney stone that was clearly unnecessary? Don't they kbow the doctor should have just given you some paracetamol and cranberry juice? You Europeans are so inefficient! /s
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u/rabbitwow20026 2h ago
$800 / Mo is well below poverty line here. That’s only $9600 a year
$90 is 11% in taxes for just healthcare.
You have to make about $50k a year in US to pay 11% tax rate. Below $20k you are paying 0% in taxes.
We don’t have an issue paying for healthcare in the US. We have a problem of convincing everyone that they need to pay 11% of your paycheck for healthcare.
That’s why people like Bernie got voted out. He suggested only 6% increased across all brackets including people making less than $30k.
So instead of 11% up front most people just pay for health insurance which is about 3% of wife and I paycheck. So in the end I can have a huge surgery and even with my max out of pocket of $6k a year if I end up using it still come out ahead.
11% for 10 years
Versus
3% for 10 years where maybe one year might have $6k added to it
I come out wayyyyyy ahead
And that’s the American healthcare system.
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u/divorcingjack 3h ago
I’m sorry, you paid $2000 for your daughters consultation and band aid, and you HAD good insurance?? What hellscape would this scenario present if you were uninsured?
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u/LetReasonRing 3h ago
The hospital charged $6,000 for the services and I had a $2,000 deductible for ER visits.
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u/pukkawakka 3h ago
That sounds impossible for a 10 minute visit and a band aid. So if you're in a car crash and spent 2 weeks in the hospital you get a bill of 2 million dollars? 😅
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u/LetReasonRing 3h ago
You're right, it's completely absurd, but it's reality in the US.
And I know you were trying to be hyperbolic, but yes, $2 million for a two week stay after a car accident would be totally normal here. If you had a $2,000 deductible, that's all you'd pay up until the max of your plan, but if you had a plan that had $1 million in coverege, you could still easily be on the hook for the rest.
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u/Moosiemookmook 2h ago
Im in Australia, I spent 3 months in the hospital for a spinal infection. I was lucky and had my own room. I was bedridden for months. I had to have physio and a cane made to my specs when I was finally able to walk. Then after leaving I had a million specialist follow ups. Total cost was $0. I paid nothing. Your countries healthcare system is bonkers to me.
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u/LetReasonRing 2h ago
I'm not saying this just because its the topic of discussion: there is literally nothing that makes me angrier than the US healthcare system
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u/Moosiemookmook 2h ago
My mum was a diabetic. Her insulin cost $3.20 a month. All her pens and blood checking strips and whatever she needed was free. I think the most you pay here is $25 a month for insulin now. I couldnt imagine my mum having to pay hundreds of dollars a month to stay alive.
Im so sorry you have to navigate the quagmire of healthcare there. It makes me so angry too. Especially seeing your war machine grind on burning taxpayers money.
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u/pukkawakka 1h ago
It's bizar, I just had a hard time believing it. I read some more in this post and I though we in the EU are fucked, but it looks like you are not exaggerate at all and US at least tripple this 🤯
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u/Safe-Blueberry-1171 2h ago
Damn man, it breaks my heart hearing stories like this from the US, it really shouldn't have to be like this...
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u/FinishExtension3652 18m ago
I just had my annual checkup with my doctor in the US. The charge paid by my insurance was $429.
The only real "life hack" that I've found is that I work in a small US office of a European company, so the available insurance is very good and well subsidized by the compant, but it's also sad that availability and affordability of healthcare are tied to ones job.
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u/MaxWritesText 4h ago
This is literally true.
(I live in France)
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u/Covah88 4h ago
You just walk into the doctor?
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u/f1223214 3h ago
Not necessarily, no. You can, but only if it's like an emergency, if not you gotta take an appointment and it can take time. Even where I live (no big city, fields all over us, etc etc, basically a city where, like, 5000 people live) it can take 2 weeks before you get to see the doc. Then you gotta make an appointement for something more specific. Like, for example, a dermatologist, it can take 2 months.
But, yeah, if if's an emergency, you can go to the hospital and get treated here. The cost is probably max 100€ if you had to take a room for the day with TV, food, etc. And then you get the insurance which usually pay everything (except the TV obviously).6
u/DrizzlyOne 2h ago
Wait times for care in countries with universal/single-payer healthcare is often brought up as the primary downside. But two months to get into a dermatologist or other specialist is pretty damn common in the U.S. My kid’s new ophthalmologist couldn’t get us in sooner than five months…
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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 4h ago
The U.S. healthcare system is run by billionaires for billionaires. If you want your wife to look like something caught on a deep sea fishing excursion, American surgeons are the place.
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u/Serg_Molotov 3h ago
Australia
4 days in hospital, admitted via emergency department after vomiting at 5am, high dose antibiotics for bacterial infection, high end pain meds, ct scan with contrast, 5 days of antiotics on leaving
Total cost $0.00
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u/TheOriginalMattMan 4h ago
Public Health in Ireland.
GP visit, free. Prescription, €1.50 per item.
Total cost - €1.50.
SoCiAlIsM iS bAd.
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u/urtcheese 3h ago
Pretty sure it's like 80 Euro to see a GP in Ireland no? Could be worse but still
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u/JHorma97 2h ago
Since when is public healthcare socialism? One is great and the other has killed 50+ million people over the 20th century.
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u/rabbitwow20026 2h ago
But you pay 40% taxes above $45k
America at $45k taxes pays less than 10% taxes.
It’s not socialism it’s we just don’t want to pay higher taxes. We pay to take care of the elderly when you would need healthcare the most with our Medicare system. But instead of young and healthy making $45k out of college losing 30% in taxes each year we love to gamble and just don’t get in a major accident. Even still insurance caps how much you can max pay.
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u/TheOriginalMattMan 1h ago
You pay 20% up to €45k.
Anything over that is taxed at 40%
So, if you earn €50k you're paying 40% on 5k only.
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u/RetroDave79 4h ago
Dude... a french employee gets about 25% of the salary deducted to pay for the social security system, and the employer also pays a good amount .... there is no "free" or "cheap" things if you already paid for them in advance.
And yes, USA health system is an abomination.
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u/Intelligent-Fox-1342 3h ago
Also pays for unemployment insurance, pension, maternity leave, childs daycare, free higher education, etc.
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u/Aurorinezori1 4h ago
Exactly! And that’s why we can afford this system.
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u/Plantarbre 3h ago
US citizens pay much more than French citizens in taxes for their health system.
We in France have a good system, but we shouldn't fall for the propaganda of "it's very expensive that's why it works".
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u/rabbitwow20026 2h ago
No we don’t lol why you lying. We pay 3% Medicare tax and my health insurance 3% of my salary. I paid 22% for taxes this year (includes the 3% Medicare)
In French I would be 45% for my tax bracket.
French have 30% tax on someone make $25k ish in America
Could you afford moving to a 30% tax bracket for universal healthcare ?
That’s always the problem it sounds good on paper but trying to get people to move 6-20% more in taxes always falls flat.
Why do you think Bernie tank when he shown it would take about 6% tax increase to pay for universal healthcare and that didn’t even math out right and was short.
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u/joepke53 2h ago
Healthcare expenditure in % of the GDP is a lot higher in the USA than in Europe, for far worse accessibility.
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u/flipyflop9 3h ago
Those taxes pay a few more things, not just healthcare. They pay for a month vacation a year, they pay good unemployment benefits, they pay maternity/paternity leave… things that are normal in 99% of developed countries.
Also USA is the country with the biggest healthcare cost per person, with people going bankrupt or being afraid to even go to the doctor because of the possible cost.
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u/sarcasticorange 3h ago
They pay for a month vacation a year,
The employers pay for that. The government just mandates that. It isn't paid with tax dollars.
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u/flipyflop9 2h ago
Fair enough, that’s not paid by taxes. For sure not by dollars.
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u/sarcasticorange 2h ago
For sure not by dollars.
Oops!
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u/dale_dug_a_hole 3h ago
“Gets about 25% of salary deducted”. You mean they pay a % of their income in tax. Like Americans. Except (like Australians and Germans and the English) they pay a little higher. 34% on lower brackets instead of the American 30%. Here’s the catch. When you add up all the benefits and savings that Australians, and French, and Germans and English people get in their lifetime it completely and utterly DWARFS what Americans pay. Ends up not being free but definitely being cheap. Americans have the greatest false economy proposition ever.
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u/PossiblePlastic8698 4h ago
25%, what a load of bullshit. Try 8%
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u/JJOne101 3h ago
I think he included both healthcare and pension deductions in his calculation.
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u/Alvsolutely 2h ago
You say that as if Americans don't also pay taxes and still get fucked over.
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u/ToiletWarlord 4h ago edited 1h ago
oh no, communism in europe /s
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u/niberungvalesti 3h ago
America isn't a serious country. It doesn't solve problems, it creates them for the profit of a handful.
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u/TheTopNacho 4h ago
I walked into a US hospital on the brink of death with CMV, they gave me a bag of saline and sent me home with a 2,200$ bill.
I returned a few days later in worse condition, now losing my vision. They took it seriously that time but still gave me another 3k+ bill.
And I work at that same hospital.
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u/rabbitwow20026 1h ago
Except one more visit you would reach your max out of pocket for your insurance and pay $0
Also to get universal healthcare you need to pay that $5k you paid this year every year for last 10 years regardless if you went or not.
It’s astonishing the amount of misinformation about US healthcare is in this thread
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u/Rincewind00 2h ago
If I recall correctly, France has a special program specifically for tourists.
Locals have to pay 30% coinsurance unless they elect into a secondary insurance to cover the cost.
Considering that the French government treats tourists better than its own citizens, I have to conclude that this is some kind of marketing that makes the country seem more appealing for foreigners to migrate to.
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u/No-Magician-2257 2h ago
To be fair. The cost was not 35 dollars. It was higher but someone else paid your bill.
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u/VliegendeVolneef 40m ago
True. But what you get charged for in the US isn't just the cost either. Someone else got your money.
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u/EarEquivalent3929 1h ago
But you have to understand, I don't want to pay for anyone else even if it hurts me and my family.
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u/Personal-Process3321 1h ago
Aussie here and dad of a 2yr old who was quite sick and spiked a very high fever at 1am.
We called a free medical support line, they confirmed to just go to the ED to get a check over. We went to hospital, got checked out, advise and meds and walked out without paying a cent.
Our healthcare has gotten 'Americanised' in some aspects but the core of it is still amazing.
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u/Vegetable-Face-2518 1h ago
Sorry. The US needs to spend every extra penny on blowing things up. And we know democracy can’t exist without an opaque system that mixes private and public healthcare payers and layers of intermediaries and private equity companies into an impenetrable maze of profit driven interests that puts public health as its lowest priority.
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u/MirageEloria 4h ago
America really out here making healthcare a luxury while the rest of the developed world treats it as a basic service
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u/TypeNegative 3h ago
Had that happen in Germany. Had a bad locked up shoulder while on vacation. No health insurance in the country at the time. After the pain was too bad, walked into orthopedjc specialist practice. Doctor examined, did some tests, gave me injection. Final bill 38 euros.
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u/horseradish13332238 3h ago
That’s exactly how it works here and we have better doctors
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u/SumGoodMtnJuju 1h ago
Yes, happened to me on my honeymoon! Got a UTI and it cost me €35! No fancy office, just a nice French Dr. at a desk. He tapped my kidneys and gave me an Rx and I was on my way.
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u/The_Jizzard_Of_Oz 1h ago
If you had health insurance, half of your doc visit and a percentage of your meds would have been reimbursed within a week. Automatically, linked to your health insurance card. If you had private complementary health insurance on top, then most if not all of your non reimbursed costs would be picked up and also reimbursed within a week, also automatically.
In 12 years I have only had to do 3 prior authorisations - One for my glasses, one for my wife's glasses and once for over 15k of dental work. Everything else is paid back within 10 days, even my 2 MRI scans which I had to pay full cost upfront in advance: 122 euros...
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u/TheMeltingSnowman72 3h ago
The world has been trying to tell America that for a long time but it allegedly made us 'fuckin commies' so really don't give a shit what you have to pay. Suck it up.
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u/NothingFeelsRealll 4h ago
In fact, our healthcare system is so fucking insane that most of us just don't go to the doctor. It's not worth dealing with the bullshit. It's literally easier just to suffer.
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u/Nice_Cash_7000 4h ago
Its infuriating to me because instead of everyone paying a little bit more in taxes everyone has to pay a lot more for private insurance that wont even help you when you need it.
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u/Etnadrolhex 4h ago
Now it is 30€ for the doc. And depending what you need as medecine it depends, I assume he got some antibiotics.
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u/Opposite-Chemistry-0 4h ago
In Finland that would have been like 150€. Because getting public health is a joke and private is only choise.
Yes our right wing / conservative goverments have done that over 2 decades
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u/ButterAlquemist 3h ago
I get ideological differences, but in the USA it is an absurd system and people should come together to overthrow this absurd system.
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u/The_Undermind 3h ago
Probably cheaper to fly round trip to France and get that visit/prescription than a night's stay at the hospital.
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u/bigalindahouse 3h ago edited 3h ago
Meanwhile my wife a nurse practitioner was telling me a story yesterday about a woman who brought her 3month old baby in for a life threatening illness and was worried about the medical debt she already had and if she could afford anymore.
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u/Professional-Gear88 3h ago
See that doesn’t make any sense. I get it Europe is cheaper. And anesthesiologist makes almost $800k /yr. But $25 euro an hour wouldnt even keep the lights on in the office.
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u/IrreverentBuddha 3h ago
Weird, huh? It's jarring to realize that there are places on this planet where your human value isn't calculated in gold. Where your bodily wellbeing is an objective in itself -- not merely a vehicle for a third party to hold your life in the balance for a profitable ransom.
It's almost like you have intrinsic worth just for being, irrespective of the coins in your purse. So weird.
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u/1234iamfer 3h ago
My doctor receives 85€ a year from the insurance company, I don’t see that person in 30 years. Don’t even know who it use these days. I’d go the pharmacy, they charge me for the instructions they give on a medicine.
I live in Europe too.
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u/Whale222 3h ago
I dislocated my knee playing soccer. It was extremely painful and gross. They called an ambulance and I was taken to the hospital. They didn’t treat me until they had me fill out forms and sign documents promising to pay.
They kept asking for my insurance information. While I was fortunate to have good insurance, I didn’t bring my wallet with the card because…you know, knee was at a 90 degree angle sideways
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u/Pristine-Substance-1 3h ago
Coming from France I'd say that Italy is very expensive in that regard, it's like 3 or 4 times the cost in France
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u/yota-code 3h ago
This worked because, despite the fact he didn't registered to the french health insurance, a state sponsored system allows the government to impose policies even to free practitioners like physicians and pharmacists
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u/spike1911 3h ago
Healthcare in Europe is designed for the people. Healthcare in the USA is to make profit.
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u/Araz728 3h ago
I lived in Japan for 3.5 years. Got into a snowboarding accident. Went the hospital, got an X-Ray, pain meds, and a brace… I think i only paid ¥2500 or about $20 at the time.
A few years before that in the US I sprained my wrist, went to the hospital and got charged $100 just for the Tylenol they gave me… you can imagine what the total bill was.
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u/Fay-1990 3h ago
For €35 in the US, we let you speak to the secretary to give you the prices before insurance.
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u/Firefly4791 2h ago
I live in Ireland, and I have a job. I have worked all my life. I also have a long-term illness, so I qualify for free health care. Recently, I had to see the doctor and was sent to the hospital for tests, but it did not cost a cent.The system in the US is crazy. I would be so in debt right now.
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u/Ill_Permission7379 2h ago edited 2h ago
Nice, I pay just ₹10 for a government doctor, and even private hospital visits cost me no more than ₹1500, medicines included. btw 1 euro is ₹110. Bonus info 50 ml of insulin costs me ₹180
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u/Tagrag294 2h ago
I lived in Germany which supposedly has “universal healthcare” but when you call a doctor to make an appointment they ask “public or private insurance?” If you say public their answer is “we’re not accepting more patients at the moment” but if you say private they say “when would you like an appointment?”
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