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It's immensely expensive!
I went to the doctor and he charged me 1 euro.
The imaging in the hospital and the orthopedist only cost 2.8 euro.
So they're really leeching it.
But seriously it's difficult to get an appointment and nowhere do they take new patients.
Smart government decided on a numerus clausus and now there aren't enough doctors.
The ones that are there lately don't want to work fulltime, so even less availability.
Swede here, if it's something minor I can get an appointment within a few days, if it's more major there's some open clinics I can turn to, but if I have to see a professional I have to get in a months-long line.
Similar to Canada unless you have to see a mental health professional and then it’s like there are none.
But also the hospital allows patients to fall out of bed and play the ‘I didn’t do it’ game.
Canada
Wait 7 years to get a family doctor. Wait 3 months to get an actual appointment. Lose family doctor. Rinse and repeat.
I think this is why they went the urgent care route now after closing clinics.
Germany. It has gotten worse over the last decade regarding waiting times but for regular appointments it might mean waiting 1 week to almost a year. Less, depending on your urgency or precondition. Usually it's still OK.
Regarding the finances it's still great in international comparison. I was resuscitated and taking quite a lot of medicine and am not broke but you still (might) pay a (very) small part on hospital stay and regular medication. Compared to.the full price on both that is neglegible though.
AMA!
In short: you go to the doctor based on medical requirement and not Financials. You call the ambulance whenever urgency is needed.
Australia, Canberra
Zero cost, 10 to 20 minute wait, no wait if my appointment is early in the day, 20 minutes if it's in the afternoon
Australian here from Victoria. Going to the GP will cost me around $80 up front and I get around $50 back from Medicare later. This is for about a 30 minute consultation with a doctor. The wait time is rarely longer than 15 minutes but it really depends on the practice. I've waited 2+hours for a GP that was fully covered by Medicare.
Thailand. Private pay.
Take a ride share car to the private hospital.
Greeted by concierge when I walk in. She asks why I'm here and then directs me to another desk on another floor.
Entering the next room feels a bit like a hotel lobby. There are big sofas and comfortable lighting. It feels cozy even though it's a large space. There's a Starbucks. Another concierge approaches me. I explain why I'm here and I'm sat down and handed an iPad where I can fill in some medical background. They have my record from a previous visit so it's quick. I confirm that I will pay with a credit card instead of using any insurance.
In about 10 minutes I'm brought to a room where a nurse catches my weight and blood pressure. Then I'm brought to the patient exam room.
A few minutes later the doctor comes in and performs his examination. He makes his diagnosis types some notes into his computer. He asks me to come back for a follow-up in one week and pick up my prescription on the way out.
Leaving the exam room, another nurse catches me to hand me the diagnosis paperwork and points me to the pharmacy.
I walk to the pharmacy and hand them my paperwork. They collect my payment for the whole visit and ask me to wait until my name is called to pick up the prescription.
About 10 minutes later the prescription is ready and I'm out the door with a small bag of drugs and about $125 out of my wallet.
The service is comprehensive and everything is available in one building. For this country it's a bit expensive but you feel like you're very well taken care of and it's instant.
United Kingdom (Bristol.)
Used to be pretty decent, but now the NHS is chronically overbooked and underfunded. Ambulances can take hours to come.
Only way to get a GP appointment is to literally call my practice at 8AM on the dot, wait in the queue and hope you're lucky to have your call answered before all the appointments are gone. There is no online booking system, and if you call at any other time, they won't be able to book you in advance unless you're willing to wait months.
My dad (80 years old) has had to go to hospital a few times in the past few years for various reasons, and the longest he's had to wait to be admitted into a ward was 13 hours. He had a hip replacement operation two years ago where he was on an 18 month waiting list.
My GP surgery was the same (except 8:30 not 8:00), but moved to an app a couple of months ago. Given that I suspect the point of it is to allow an AI to triage appointment requests I wouldn't be surprised if yours 'upgrades' as well.
Australia
pretty much anything where i’ve talked about costs or free you give them your medicare (federal health system for everyone - not just low income etc) details and they bill the govt a set amount for time and materials used. GP clinics etc store it on file so sometimes you can just walk out without talking to anyone
Switzerland
Depends a bit on the plan you have. Generally I would call the clinic registered with my health insurance or fill in their online form to make an appointment. Depending on what it is you get an appointment within the week, but for more pressing issues it's usually on the same day.
If it's an emergency I can go to any hospital or clinic, but depending on my insurance I would be transfered after the acute symptoms are taken care of.
If for some reason I'm not anywhere close to my registered clinic, I have to call a 24/7 number to get a referral to a doctor nearby.
Prices are reasonable for the high level in Switzerland. Deductibles limits handle how much you have to pay out of pocket, so it rarely fucks you up.
The real issue is the ever increasing insurance premiums. They are not tied to your income level, but to where you live, your gender and age. Poorer people get support by the government, but that's just tax money flowing directly into private insurance companies.
France
Most GPs afaik are liberal -they have their own private office instead of working in the confines of a hospital-, and there's three different possible cost levels, whether or not the GP adheres to what's called the "convention" with social security (which fixes prices for typical medical acts), adheres partly, or does not adhere at all (pretty rare). Full adherence to the convention means the base consultation costs 30e, and makes sure the patient is reimbursed to 70% of that cost with basic universal healthcare (=you have to pay 10e from your own pocket), the rest being covered by their (highly regulated) private insurance if they have one. I have a pretty standard one at 37e/month which ensures I get reimbursed for pretty much all acts. I am getting treated for a cavity and a fill replacement next week at no cost for me.
So the teeth are covered by your standard insurance, or is a separate you factored into the price? I'm used to health, dental, vision, and life all being sesperate here in the U.S.
It's all under the same umbrella. I did not know insurance was separated in the US. Back when social security was created after the war (see complete history of its creation helmed by Ambroise Croizat), it was conceived as a single fund for 1.health 2.unemployment and 3.retirement, the idea being that discrimination would be impossible and everyone would chip in for everything. Basically socialism. It was quickly (within a few years, would have to check exactly) split into separate funds, but social security has been pretty sturdy ever since, in the sense that private sharks were kept at bay (compared to the US). This is not the case for retirement funds, unfortunately, which have been shifted to a capitalisation method recently caused by lobbying from fucking blackrock. Anyway, I digress.
To give you an idea, my private plan is 37e a month and covers 100% of medical acts with up to 540e dental expenses a year, one pair of glasses every two years with a ceiling of roughly 200e (depends on the lens type), hearing aids with a ceiling of 1700e, and 150% on GP appointments if they go over standard rate (home or night visits will do that). Dental covers 150% on prostheses as well, I assume those aren't fully covered by universal healthcare but I haven't checked for sure. Anything related to hospital stays is also covered 100%, as well as transport (SMUR, ambulance, etc). Maternity stay is also covered for 12 days a year, but I'm a dude.
We're also in the process of in vitro fertilisation and our entire stay overseas is paid for : lodging, transport, and of course the process itself : daily shots and echographies for her, spermograms for me, as well as a few appointments... This one required special request to social security (to attest that there's an actual possibility of conceiving), and does not involve private insurers at all.
Thanks for making me peruse all this, I probably wouldn't have if not to share the info over here.
Thank you for doing so! Our insurance varies drastically. The last time I had insurance available from work it was $134 per pay period so ~3500 U.S. dollars a year. It had a $5000 deductible, so while you had a co-pay/consult fee so the doctor would see you for $15. But if you needed them to do something, say fix a broken arm, you pay out of pocket until you pass that $5000 mark for the year. Prescriptions they pay some of, but for people like me it's not much different than just not having the insurance. Amoxicillin is less than $10 with a prescription, and that's usually all I need if I get a soar throat and jazz. So once every couple years I'll get that and Mucinex D and I'm usually good in a few days.
Now if you want dental or vision those come separate. My last job offered them but I can't remember what they are split, something like $20 per pay period, so another $240 a year.
You also pay copays for the visits and deductibles for the procedures and something's aren't covered like normal.
The sad thing is that is considered pretty good insurance to many people. My uncle always used private healthcare, and his was much higher than that.
5000$ deductible ? shit... must make you wonder why you're insured in the first place. The other big difference is that your insurance is tied to your job. What if you're unemployed, do you just not get glasses ? or the tooth filling that you need ? what's the alternative ? if you're unemployed at the moment, it stands to reason that you would have less earnings... at least 240$/year for dental (or is it dental+vision?) seems more reasonable.
There will be a day where USians will be able to boast about how good and cheap their coverage is, I'm confident. First the people have to win the revolution for that to happen, but surely it's something worth fighting for.
Standardly you lose the insurance on the day your job ends. There is a program called COBRA that exists where you can pay more (whatever the employer was paying on top of what you were paying, and a fee) to keep it going until you find your next job. I think it maxes out at a year but I'm not sure. Never done it, as I couldn't afford it between jobs. Hope that day you speak of comes sooner than later. Also I hope all goes well in life for you. Best of luck
Cheers, same to you
in my city (southeastern Brazil) we have two facilities for public healthcare: the emergency center (UPA - unidade de pronto atendimento, emergency medical unit) and the family health center (UBS - unidade básica de saúde, basic health unit)
at the UBS I can see a doctor or a nurse, get prescriptions, get referred to specialists and exams/tests, IST tests, and so forth, if I'm not in meed of urgent care
at the UPA I can be treated (rather) quickly if I'm in an emergency
a few weeks ago my uncle had a heart attack. it was nothing serious, thankfully. we called the ambulance and in 5 minutes they were here, he was treated quickly, sent to another city nearby for emergency catheterism and angioplasty, and he paid a total amount of zero reais for everything
I love SUS (sistema universal de saúde - universal healthcare system)
And if you really want to pay for that appointment, you can schedule one for R$ 50~200 (more or less 8~40 dollars) depending on the place you go.
Brazil:
Call an Uber, go to the hospital, grab a ticket, pass thru triage, called by name, show my id, triage decide which specialist to see, go to specialist waiting room and wait to be called by name.
Doctor examines me, ask for exams, maybe prescribe medication, do the exams, wait for result.
Back to doctor, prescribe medication, hospital provides medication (unless is something very uncommon, if so go to the pharmacy and buy it).
Call Uber, go home.
Total cost: Uber fare, usually about 6 dollars total.
Insurance is about 180 reais for two people, or about 30 dollars per month.
The Netherlands
I call my doctor, make an appointment the same day, go there, tell my story, get referred to a specialist or get meds or whatever, all covered by insurance.
Specialist: sometimes appointment within a week or 2, sometimes it takes a month. It's covered by insurance, but there's an own risk budget each year of 380 euros. So all costs up to that budget are paid by yourself, the rest is covered. But since I'm getting mental health care, I pay 380 each januari and the rest for the entire year is all covered. This year I've had a broken collarbone repaired with a metal plate with all the photos before and after, I had 2 bladder infections which needed antibiotics and I had food poisoning on holiday and intestand infection, which was all covered at home and abroad.
Insurance
I pay 180 a month. It includes dental and some extras like 9 physical therapist appointments.
Norway, I book online if it's not urgent and wait a few weeks. If it's urgent I call them and get it same day. Costs about ~250 NOK or ~20 USD I think. Public doctors are always at least 45 minutes late (unless you are late if course, then they call you on time)
I also had a non-urgent matter, but felt like wait time was too long (holiday season) so I went to a private clinic, got appointment same day and paid about 700 NOK I think.
I go there, tell my story, if they need to take some samples they can usually do them on site right away for no additional charge.
If I need some medicine they prescribe that and tell me to come back in x weeks if it's not getting better.
If they can't help me I get a referral. It could take a long time to get certain procedures, especially if they are not urgent/very important, but most of the time it's been a few weeks for my issues.
Do you need to pay for any prescription medicine?
Yes, at the pharmacy, but it's not very much, I pay maybe 200 NOK for my two allergy medicines combined, they both lasts me about 3 months.
I just checked and there's a maximum payment of 520 NOK for 3 months worth of medicine for chronic illness, it's more complicated if there's more than one illness and multiple medications, but the norm is maximum 520 NOK for the months.
Amd ylthe cost I pay for prescription drugs for one time prescription have always been so small that it almost don't register.
My GP is often running 15-20m late, but the flipside of that is that there's not really a sense of urgency during the appointment. Doctors here take their time with you, which is very pleasant.
Like going to a post office.
You walk in, show your health ID, get treated, then leave.
Edit: Assuming you're going to a hospital. Family doctor care is similar, although in my province they're contractors, and it can be hard to find one with an opening for new patients right now.
Oh, I just noticed it wait time was requested. It varies for family doctors; the local one that sucks can pretty much always get you in immediately. I'm with one that needs a couple days notice now, haha.
If you get referred to a specialist it's a long wait, like many months, and when you do go it's a human production line coordinated down to the second.
I know for a fact you haven't been using the health care system in any province if you're spreading this bullshit.
UK. Phone local GP, no appointments available for ~3 weeks, maybe get a call back appointment in 2 weeks if I'm lucky. Alternative is to phone every morning between 0830-0900 and either not get through or be told there are still no appointments available.
I have found walk in pharmacists to be well educated (better than many GPs?!) and available without appointment so they're usually my first port of call.
I call my Dr.
I book an appointment. If urgent but not medically urgent to my immediate wellbeing I can get in in a week or so.
If urgent, but not emergency, I can go to a clinic or the hospital non emergency (hospital can have wait times up to several hours)
If emergency and severe or traumatic injury or life threatening - emergency at hospital. Triage assesses need. Last time I had to take someone it was maybe a 20 minute wait - they had been hurt pretty bad - got jumped.
None of any of the above will cost me any money.
An ambulance, though, costs like 75$ if it is not life threatening.
Canada.
The hospitals usually have a severity for triage. If you broke your arm your going to be waiting longer than someone with a sever allergic reaction. Which makes sense, some injuries can wait longer than others.
Germany. When I am sick I call my doctor in the morning ask what time would be best to go there as to not wait too long. Then I go there, wait maybe an hour sometimes because he likes taking time for his patients, tell him my symptoms, get a sick note for work and possibly a prescription if I need medication.
I dont pay anything for the visit. If I need medication I will go to the pharmacy near my flat after the visit give them my health card, get my medication and depending on what drug I got pay a little bit, maybe 5€ , maybe a bit more.
I've lived in multiple places, so I'll talk about all of them.
Brazil
I lived in two places there, essentially you can choose between public or private systems.
Under the private system you would book an appointment with whatever doctor you wanted, usually one or two weeks in advance, pay them (which is relatively expensive depending on the doctor), have the consultation, they might ask for some exams (some of which are paid, others included), possibly get a prescription (that you would have to pay for yourself), possibly go back for a follow up appointment (included in the price you already paid).
On the public system you book an appointment, wait some time (months in some places, days in others), have your consultation (if the doctor is in that day), possibly get a prescription (that you would likely get for free), possibly go back for a follow up appointment.
Ireland
There's a public system, but you have to be below a certain income level to use it, otherwise you have to go through the private system. You have to register with your GP (most of which don't have available spots), for anything you first need to contact your GP (which usually takes a week), and pay €60, explain your problem and if they choose to forward you to and specialist (even if you go and say I need to see a cardiologist they might say "no, you do not", although that's unlikely), then they send an email to the specialist who only then accepts that you book with them (usually for a week or so later), then you have to pay the specialist (which is usually >€300), they might ask for some exams (which you have to book and pay on your own, some blood work I did was €700), they might give you a prescription (which is paid but there's a €80 cap on medicine per house per month, which is the only nice part of the whole system), and if you need a follow up it's usually €150. If you have health insurance (or at least mine was like this) they give you back 50% of all your expenses up to a certain limit.
Spain
I'm not too familiar with the options here because I have private insurance through my work and as you'll see I've had no reason to look elsewhere, but I've been told the public system is fairly similar. Whenever I need an appointment I open my insurance app or call a doctor office and ask if they take my insurance, book an appointment (usually for a week or two in advance), go there, show my id and insurance card, go to the appointment, if they ask for some exams I do them, if they give me a prescription I take it to a pharmacy and pay it out of pocket (this is the only part I know public system exists and is somewhat better because you get the drugs for free, but since I don't take any recurring prescriptions I haven't bothered to check), if I need a follow up I book it and go back. Never had to pay one cent for anything other than medicine. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop and getting billed for all of the Dr appointments, but so far it hasn't happened hahaha
Ireland
That's mostly accurate, though my GP always has appointments within 48h or on the day for urgent ones. Plus there's the out of hours doc where you will talk to someone and probably see someone that day/night.
East europe: Just use government level 2fa to sign into a health portal and send a message about your problem. It usually is answered within a few hous and you either get prescription or a checkup in a few days. If a specialist doctor is needed, wait times can be up to a year, unless you go the evil hypercapitalist route and pay them the price of happy meal to get a visit at a private clinic. All procedures are free or practically free. ER now costs like a tenner cause idiots would not fucking stop wasting their time with things like "oh I have a tick" and "oh my kid sneezed once"
From US and was visiting Singapore when I came down with a sinus infection.
Took the elevator from the government controlled housing to the ground floor.
Walked 5 minutes to the attached small community strip mall which consisted of cheap food options, a grocery/convenience store, and a number of essential stores including a small drs office.
Waited 15 minutes, saw the dr. Explained my condition, allergies and medication I usually take and went through the exam. We had to help look up some of the medication names.
Paid $35 for the exam. There was some confusion because I expected it to cost more and I asked about. They apologized and said that since I’m foreign I had to pay full price.
Walked across the mall to the small pharmacy. Waited 5 minutes for the antibiotics prescription. Paid maybe $5?
Bought some tea from the grocery and was better over a few days.
People from the US who travel and need healthcare know very well our system is the worst.
United Kingdom, Dorset.
My 3 year old daughter was vomiting and not keeping liquids down. Phoned the non-emergency line and after a bit of a wait, spoke to them and went through the script.
Was told to go to A&E and we would be expected. After a short wait there, was led down to the children's ward and she was given a bed in her own room. She was put on a drip, had antibiotics and kept in overnight. By the end of the following day she was able to keep down water and some toast so was discharged.
Had a follow on call from a GP the next day, she was back to normal in a couple of days.
Cost: £0 (I contribute to the NHS through general taxation)
Sweden.
A few alternatives:
All in all, things work fairly well in Sweden, but having gotten private health insurance has definitely jaded me a bit on account of how much better the experience is when you have that. If only the public system wasn't systematically underfunded and run by the dumbest politicians on offer in the country, then maybe everyone could have great patient experience.
Portugal
If it doesn't require immediate attention I call my health center. I can get an appointment with my family pshysician in a few days or, if it's more urgent, some other doctor will see me the same day but I'll have to wait there until one is free (can go anywhere between 15mn and 2 hours). I'm lucky though, some health centers suck really bad. The ones in big cities are generally better.
If it's more urgent I call the national health line and they'll A: tell me how to treat it myself B: set up an appointment in my health center (or another if mine is not available) C: send me straight to the closest emergency room.
Wait times in the emergency room depend on the gravity and the hospital. My hospital sucks. Low priority you'll spend there the whole day, easy. 10+ hours. Medium priority you'll wait 4 or 5 hours. High priority about an hour, maybe two. Very high priority (head falling off) you go right in. In good hospitals those times are much lower. In the major city I used to live I never waited more than 2 hours for any priority. I also had surgery there and it was great.
Never paid a cent, I think it goes without saying.
