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 usually shrug and tell myself you could collectively fix it if you wanted to.
You underestimate just how propagandized we are over here. The State hardly needs to invest in propaganda when “grind/hustle” culture exists. Are you in a position where you have to choose between health or financial ruin? That’s on you for not hustling hard enough.
At a work event the other day health care came up, and one of my coworkers said something like “But in europe you have to wait six months to see a doctor.” I started to say “And in the US, you get slow AND expensive” but decided to just hit the “Let’s not talk about this at a work event” button instead.
You don’t have to wait longer at the hospital in Europe than you do in America. It’s the same. I’ve been to both, although different places (states, EU countries) are different.
Yeah, there’s a wait for a particular doctor of your choice. That’s the same anywhere. Good doctors have a waiting list.
“if you wanted to”
There is some small progress in that direction, but the organizations which would allow us to actively act have long ago been dismantled. We’re only just recently begging to rebuild our unions here. I hope this time, organized labor is more resilient.