I’d like to know other non-US citizen’s opinions on your health care system are when you read a story like this. I know there are worse places in the world to receive health care, and better. What runs through your heads when you have a medical emergency?
A little background on my question:
My son was having trouble breathing after having a cold for a couple of days and we needed to stop and take the time to see if our insurance would be accepted at the closest emergency room so we didn’t end up with a huge bill (like 2000$-5000$). This was a pretty involved ~10 minute process of logging into our insurance carrier, and unsuccessfully finding the answer there. Then calling the hospital and having them tell us to look it up by scrolling through some links using the local search tool on their website. This gave me some serious pause, what if it was a real emergency, like the kind where you have no time to call and see if the closest hospital takes your insurance.
I think third world country.
That would imply not taking a side in WW2.
No, the US is a developing nation. Still has plenty of ways to go in order to stomp out corruption and the oligarchy running it, and also lower the divide between rich and poor. Only then will they be able to look after their own people the way a real developed nation would.
But as long as people in the US need a gun in order to feel safe walking around, it will stay a shithole.
I think that’s unfair on third world countries
Two main benefits/“public goods” from having your lives in a societal arrangement:
- Having an educated population allows overall advancements that wouldn’t be possible where education standards are low. If the protestant dogma of “work hard and you’ll get salvation” was still prevalent in all groups we’d still be chiseling stones as that is real manly work. Intellectuality is still mostly frowned upon in the US. The whole purpose is to work less and enjoy living as the benefit of having basic needs solved for. Access to free education has plenty of positive externalities that we aren’t even able to quantify. Would the US still be engrossed in its culture wars or other wars?
- Having a healthy population allows a sense of group and care for a country. Belonging to a country should mean that your fellow countrymen have your back in time of need. Father time comes for us all. How unpatriotic it is that people proudly wave their flags whilst letting their own fellow countrymen die from preventable causes or having to face choices such as living longer and getting bankrupt or let sickness fester until perishing. Not having free healthcare from an outside perspective is as unpatriotic as you could get.
The US seems a prime example of too much emphasis on GDP and limited focus on quality of life. I’d rather be homeless in Cuba than in the US albeit all wealth and quality of life indicators are better in the US.
Orphan Crushing Machine
I think “That’s the US health care system for you” or “Yep, that checks out”.
That story is horrific, I can’t imagine living like that.
When I have a medical emergency (or even if it’s just a possibility) then I go straight to the ER. I might have a small administration cost to pay, but it’s easy enough to manage that I don’t have to give it a second thought.
My job isn’t linked to my healthcare, that sounds like insane leverage.
Well, in my country you have the option to pay for medcare or use a private plan. However you have full access to public, free and universal healthcare which you don’t have to pay anything for it.
We don’t have to convince anyone here. If you need attention, you’ll get attention. For free.
I think that USA healthcare is a joke. A bad taste joke.
I can just explain the mindset, and then you can draw your conclusions: When people get sick, they evaluate whether it is bad/concerning enough as to be worth the hassle of making time to go to the doctor.
Now the situation is getting increasingly worse every year, because the public health system is underfunded, so that private alternatives look much better… So that rich people and/or private health interests, can use their wealth to “argue” (paid propaganda is cheapest) that the public heal care is not adequate, and should be further defunded… So, we’re headed in the same direction, for sure. The US just serves as the example of: take that path to its conclusion, and that’s fucked up solution you end up with.
But, people still selfishly vote for their own interests, or dumb enough to be convinced regardless. Humans sucks. Fingers crossed.
I’m a union autoworker, my health insurance is premium-free and covers pretty much whatever in exchange for a 25 dollar copay. We need stronger unions in this country. If you have a job, unionize it. The government has proven to be wholly ineffective at providing for the common good. They will never help you. Help yourself by unionizing your workplace.
No, we just need universal healthcare.
Not being bankrupted by an accident or emergency isnt a privilege that should only belong to the rich or well employed.
I think I’m fucking glad I emigrated to Canada.
I know it’s not something everyone can do, but if you can afford it GTFO.
I’m glad I was born here . My son was 3 months premature so I would of had mountains of dept from all the ultrasounds from before he was born to monitor the issues we where having. Plus a 3 month stay in the NICU with special tests done all the time to make sure everything was fine .
Also I get kidney stones and have to somewhat regularly get it treated with lithotripsy to break them down to smaller peices.
My partner’s son was also premature and also had complex developmental issues. The fact that they weren’t bankrupted (and that my stepson actually has access to support staff) amazes me still.
Honestly, I am so glad my parents didn’t move to the USA and moved to the UK instead. Me and my sister had several health issues including asthma, food allergies, broken bones playing sports, and as a result several hospital and doctor visits. Considering my parents were self employed shop keepers, I don’t know if we’d be alive, let alone what sort of life we would have had. Then also having to pay for college would’ve been tricky. Having so few work holidays also completely sucks!
We are now both professionals with great jobs, paying lots of taxes and volunteer a lot to try to give back. Would that be possible in the USA - I honestly have no idea! Would we move to the USA - absolutely no way! We’d both actually earn lots more money in the USA in the same role but factoring in health and happiness, it’s not worth it.
When you hear “greatest country on earth” and “the American dream”, I think anybody in Western countries really roll their eyes. It’s not a utopia here in the UK but nobody claims it to be, and stories like this just prove we are better off here.
However, we know the people themselves are great and don’t deserve this position. We feel sorry for you and wish part of your population would travel and see things for themselves to push for changes back home.
In the UK, we are terrified that we will end up in the same position as our out of touch political elite and ultra wealthy would love to copy this.
I used to be horrified and outraged. Now I just think it’s hilarious. No problem, cause you got the 2nd amendment, right? You can get all the health care you need by just holding up a hospital. Haha.
I have learned that whenever something doesn’t make sense about the US, it is racism. When segregation was declared unconstitutional, the southern states vowed “massive resistance”. The baddies can also riot and mobilize civil society. They privatized what they could to thwart the overreach of the tyrannical government. People are naturally selfless, in that they are willing to suffer to hurt the right people. I fear this insanity is also spreading in Europe, as people are becoming aware of immigration. People do not vote in their own interest if it might benefit “the other”, but they do vote against it if it might hurt “the other”.
Of course, rational self-interest is also a factor. The US spends ~17% of its GDP on health care, compared to ~13% in Germany on second place. This is despite the fact that it has a younger population and does not cover everyone. So, yeah, those evil corporations again. But, maybe not just “them”. That’s also a lot of white collar jobs and you can see in AI threads how people feel when those are threatened.
Guns are a right, but you can be jailed for getting an abortion. The US is turning into a third world country.
Actually most third world countries don’t have guns as rights. And their laws on abortion vary wildly.
So the US would be worse than third world.
New achievement unlocked: fourth world
Biggest number! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Thoughts and prayers!
I think I hope the right wing political parties where I live don’t manage to dismantle what little functioning public healthcare we do still have.
Your friend just hasn’t gotten bitten yet. You could have a million in the bank, cash, get sick and burn it up in no time. I blow basically every dollar I make because I think you’d have to be an idiot to grind and save up, unless you’re really wealthy, it can all go poof in an instant thru no fault of your own.
I ain’t suffering for the chance I might get to stop working now. I’ll enjoy my scraps now, and when it gets too be too much, I’ll paint the ceiling red.
…you just…that’s idiotic. you’re idiotic.
Ok well, it’s my life and it works for me, I have health issues that make living to a high age an unlikely proposition, and the chances I’d lose everything to medical costs anyways extremely likely.
The US healthcare system has provided me with lots of entertainment value via John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. I like it for that
For real though, despite being a software engineer who could find a very lucrative job in the US in a heartbeat, there’s no way in hell I’ll ever even remotely consider it, and the healthcare system is one of the reasons.
As a software engineer, you’d likely get a well paying job that included better health insurance than most people get. Also you’d be more likely to be able to afford the gaps that would still exist. You would not be affected by half these horror stories
Not OP, but living in the system is supporting the system so I prefer to just live somewhere else. Going to the States for vacation is plenty to experience the cool things
