I don't have any insurance and during the last 1.5 years I suffered symptomatic Covid (medicines and vaccines free), then a road accident with multiple fractures: left arm, right shoulder, both wrists and L4, (nearly 2 months hospitalized plus long rehab to learn to walk again: all free excluding the fees for printing the medical data, which were over 400 pages, and MRI/RX/CT images DVDs: around 20 Euros all included), then last January I got a heart attack and was hospitalized in a coronary care unit for 4 days plus 1 day at the ward where I was planted two stents: again all free including the 1st bag of medicines.
20 years ago I worked in the IT, pays were very good and therefore taxes were high, but all considered, in the end I got a lot more than I paid for. I could think of a thousand things I don't like at all about my country, but healthcare is definitely not one of them.
I think my post major car accident care (x-rays, ct, ambulance ride - had concussion) 10 years ago cost me $100 all said and done on my parents' kaiser plan in California.
When I walked into a kaiser urgent care last year for serious back pain I had chest X-rays and a CT and I paid $20.
The major issue is that you only get that kind of healthcare working for a decent company (and using an HMO plan). Not everyone has the access and that's the issue.
The even better thing now is that with the "No Surprises Act" taking effect, I could presumably walk into any hospital in the US and never get billed more than I'd have to pay with Kaiser.
If you're in an area where Kaiser's hospitals are, non-Kaiser hospitals will generally work with Kaiser. It's not like you get to choose which one you go to in an emergency. Outside of the states that Kaiser is in, you're usually fine but there are many horror stories about hospitals asking for fees beyond what Kaiser will cover under their global ER coverage.
Your healthcare cost a lot more than the 20 euros or “free” that you said. In the US it’s a bit more transparent since you’re receiving the bill. In a shared public healthcare system everyone foots the bill via their taxes. I’m sure hospitals make out more in the US — the entire system is designed to create profit at every stage - but saying things are “free” elsewhere is disingenuous.
He also built an x-ray machine, but his charges per the article were for a CT scan and staying at the hospital. A CT scan is a totally different beast than an x-ray machine, and staying at the hospital means you’re actively under medical care the entire time. It’s all very clickbaity.
Some days I wonder if we're subsidizing Europe's healthcare in a way.
European counties impose stringent controls on how much money their public health system will pay for something and in response, since said company still wants that money, it ends up jacking up rates in the US.
We certainly are. But I think global healthcare spend would still decrease if the US were to adopt strict price controls a la Europe. Of course, Europe will need to pay a bit more towards healthcare but the burden on the states would be much decreased.
I don't imagine it would come anywhere close to the cost we currently pay for services here though.
It's the same as university here in the states. If colleges know that students are walking in with a minimum of $45k, guaranteed from the federal government, why wouldn't a university charge anything less than that for a degree?
I don't think it's actually possible to get $45k in federal loans. The max is about an order of magnitude less than that, depending a little on personal circumstances.
So I guess there are two classes of student loans then (regarding interest)? When I went to school there were "Parent Plus" loans (the part in my parents' name) and I don't remember what they called the ones in my name. Both were unsubsidized - i.e. interest accumulation starts on day 1, although accumulated interest is not added to the principal until repayment starts following leaving school (graduation, a break, quit, etc.) for >6 months.
I really don't recall how much I borrowed versus the interest accumulation, but when I refinanced it a year after graduation I borrowed nearly $120k to do it. The early loans (from 2011) were 8% and I think the interest dropped to ~5% for the ones my senior year. I didn't have the money to pay for it directly and neither did my parents considering they had to put 3 kids through school and we lived near the bay area in CA.
Admittedly, I'm a bad example for loan burden because I went into tech and was able to pay them off in 5 years while living comfortably, but the take away is that unless you go into one of the wealthiest professions in the US, the cost is ridiculously high. Sadly, there are plenty of professions important to society which require a ton of education but just aren't that lucrative financially. We're putting pressure on people not to enter those fields.
The other thing that doesn't make sense to me is that after high school you are legally considered an adult. Why should your parents' financial situation have any effect on was kind (if any) aid you get? Say you have a bad relationship with your family, what then?
You mean because a large chunk for R&D in medicine is done in the USA? Maybe that is because in the USA pharma companies can go mental about pricing their products, who wouldn't want such a lucrative market that's easy to exploit thanks to a well-oiled lobby machinery? I highly doubt that pharma companies would stop their R&D if the USA was to introduce universal healthcare for everyone of its citizens.
Those fees are crazy nonetheless.
I don't have any insurance and during the last 1.5 years I suffered symptomatic Covid (medicines and vaccines free), then a road accident with multiple fractures: left arm, right shoulder, both wrists and L4, (nearly 2 months hospitalized plus long rehab to learn to walk again: all free excluding the fees for printing the medical data, which were over 400 pages, and MRI/RX/CT images DVDs: around 20 Euros all included), then last January I got a heart attack and was hospitalized in a coronary care unit for 4 days plus 1 day at the ward where I was planted two stents: again all free including the 1st bag of medicines.
20 years ago I worked in the IT, pays were very good and therefore taxes were high, but all considered, in the end I got a lot more than I paid for. I could think of a thousand things I don't like at all about my country, but healthcare is definitely not one of them.