Of course they were shocked, they pay nothing for equal or even better service and they are covered through the whole EU.
The problem is not if $150/mo is too much or not. The problems are [1] copay and [2] what happens when you don't have a job or money or neither.
We all heard the stories "This car ran over me and I'm $100k in debt now" or "I got this $15k bill because I passed out and the ambulance took me to the hospital". That's just plain impossible in the UK or pretty much in any other country in the EU.
That doesn't mean that you can do just fine in regards to health care if your salary is $100k/year in the US.
And I'll give you that in reality it doesn't look cheap when your paying 40% of your salary in taxes, but I'm happy to know that today I'm the one contributing and tomorrow I could be the one receiving treatment "for free" or "paid by others". It's called society.
The problem is not if $150/mo is too much or not. The problems are [1] copay and [2] what happens when you don't have a job or money or neither. We all heard the stories "This car ran over me and I'm $100k in debt now" or "I got this $15k bill because I passed out and the ambulance took me to the hospital". That's just plain impossible in the UK or pretty much in any other country in the EU.
That doesn't mean that you can do just fine in regards to health care if your salary is $100k/year in the US.
And I'll give you that in reality it doesn't look cheap when your paying 40% of your salary in taxes, but I'm happy to know that today I'm the one contributing and tomorrow I could be the one receiving treatment "for free" or "paid by others". It's called society.