Yeah, I get that from the US perspective the idea of there not really being a hard price tag on everything is a bit odd - the US system is bonkers and confusing from the outside as well (and it kinda feels like that’s by design).
Another example as to how this works in practice; my daughter was born a couple of years ago
As soon as we found out my wife was pregnant picked a midwife from the list of available ones in our area (we talked to 3, picked the one we liked the best)
We saw her once a month for the first 2 trimesters, then weekly from then
We got ultrasound scans every 8 weeks to keep tabs on development
Due to some minor complications we saw an OB/GYN at the hospital a couple of times
My wife needed to be induced, and there were some more complications during delivery so our total hospital stay was 9 days
She had an epidural, and needed a pair of specialists to help deliver the baby
We kept seeing our midwife fortnightly for 3 months after birth
We saw the OB/GYN again after that to check in on the complications and make sure everything was ok
Our out of pocket expenses were
The ultrasounds, because we chose to go to a clinic near where we lived
Parking
The insurance excess for when someone put a dent in my car door in the carpark
Food delivery for me for the time we were in hospital; I could have got very cheap meals from the canteen, but didn’t really fancy any of it
Grand total was less than $500 NZD (not counting the insurance excess), and we could have avoided the majority of those costs if we wanted to.
Not saying the system is perfect; it’s functionally impossible to get mental health support publicly, dental care isn’t publicly funded if you are over 18, it seems like nurses and junior doctors have to constantly fight to get pay rises that keep up with inflation, and the system as a whole has been chronically underfunded for decades - but we don’t have people choosing between death or bankruptcy, and we have higher life expectancy so shrug
Yeah, I get that from the US perspective the idea of there not really being a hard price tag on everything is a bit odd - the US system is bonkers and confusing from the outside as well (and it kinda feels like that’s by design).
Another example as to how this works in practice; my daughter was born a couple of years ago
Our out of pocket expenses were
Grand total was less than $500 NZD (not counting the insurance excess), and we could have avoided the majority of those costs if we wanted to.
Not saying the system is perfect; it’s functionally impossible to get mental health support publicly, dental care isn’t publicly funded if you are over 18, it seems like nurses and junior doctors have to constantly fight to get pay rises that keep up with inflation, and the system as a whole has been chronically underfunded for decades - but we don’t have people choosing between death or bankruptcy, and we have higher life expectancy so shrug