Ask Lemmy

UK.

If you go to the hospital the only thing you have to pay is for the car park (assuming you were driven there).

Prescriptions cost £9.50. Or you can pay £120 for an entire year of unlimited prescriptions if you require lots of different medications.

The charge is waived if you are disabled, a student or long term unemployed.

The national insurance we pay also pays for:

Redundancy pay, sick pay, maternity pay etc.

What does it feel like? It feels great knowing that no matter how shit life might get, if my health starts to fail I won't have to worry about medical expenses on top of it all

Uk. Im incredibly grateful for the NHS and regularly thankful we don't have the shitshow of medical insurance etc. However. We've had 15 or so fucking years of austerity so all public services are on their knees. The NHS are having a massive retention and recruitment issues. So in short you do get treatment, but may have to fight to not get fobbed off. Main issues are:

1. NHS try to make you go away cos they can't cope with more strain
2. Recruitment issues mean staff quality is poor
3. Lazy staff are hiding behind points 1 and 2 so that they can dodge work

So...atm it's the worst I've ever known it

Norway. Far from perfect, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

There is a bit of a wait for non-critical stuff, but for the most part that's OK. It's technically not free: costs around 30$ equivalent to see the doctor for anything not critical. Not sure why; I think it's mostly symbolic.

My kid broke his arm last year and got a titanium rod inserted into the bone. The only expende was that I bought a sandwich while he was in surgery.

Russia

Everyone has free health insurance that covers all procedures, doctor visits, ambulance calls, and most hospitalization cases in the respective government clinics based on where they live.

General physicians are available at any government clinic as needed, regardless of where you are. Other specialists are only available at your main clinic and directed to either by GP or as part of a free 5-yearly checkup. You can book an appointment online, call into the clinic, or come in person to do so. GPs are always available on short notice, and you can get there without booking if you need urgent care. Dentists are also available without booking for urgent cases. Trauma units operate 24/7 and accept without booking.

If you're too sick to come in person, you can also call for a GP to arrive through a unified hotline, regardless of your current location, or even whether you have Russian citizenship or insurance for that matter.

The quality of care itself is highly regionally dependent, but mostly alright. Larger cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg have it better, smaller, faraway cities have it worse. Queues differ significantly between places and specialists, and can be anything between 15 minutes and 2-3 weeks.

Private clinics exist, prices are bitey, but the quality of care is generally high. Work can offer private health insurance, giving free access to their services.

TL;DR all free (with some paid options), available to everyone, decent quality, acceptable waiting times.

Should not have opened this today. Was already depressed.

Germany. A fucker broke my arm with his car driving reckless. I paid nothing. 3 days of hospital, a surgery at my thumb (ligament tear) and several physiotherapy sessions. I also wouldn't have had to pay anything if it had been my fault. The idea behind this insurance system is, that they want you to go to work again as soon as possible. Because they also pay out sick pay. Your company pays for the first 6 weeks, then it's the insurance.

Austrian here: medical debt does not exist.

Both my boys broke their arms snowboarding (a couple of years between each accident), costs for the first one were none because we went to a regular hospital (including everything from setting the bone to cast to regular checkups, cast removal and clean bill of health report). Son #2 had to go to a private clinic. Which was still subsidized by our national healthcare provider, so I only paid 65€ for x-ray, setting the bone and the cast. Checkup and removal back home were free.

GP visits are fully covered. Some medication is subsidized, but not everything. I rarely pay more than 10€ for a box of pills of any kind, even if I get them without a subscription (for instance sea sickness in my case). Our docs recommend various exams the older you get to catch any budding cancer cells before they can cause too much damage (Prostate exam, Mammogram, Colonoscopy, ...). All covered.

Dental depends. Fillings are covered, if you go for the cheap (bad) ones. Anything beyond that will cost you. Orthodontics depends on age. For kids up to 18yo it's completely free. Adults have to pay. Don't ask me for prices though.

Pregnancy/birth: all covered, including all necessary exams.

If a parent is insured (i.e. employed), their kids are covered as well automatically.

Never in my 45+ years have I ever had to wonder if I could afford a medical procedure. Sure, there's a big lump of money removed from my paycheck every month (minimum employment period is a month, you can't fire people with shorter notice except when they messed up royally). But it's the same for everyone in the same salary bracket (more income = higher share; does not change level of care), and it is a guarantee for social peace.

In Spain, if you pay all your taxes you are covered for everything for free. Issue with it is that the system is overcrowded, so people who can afford it pay for private health insurance

As an example, I pay 220€/month for a family of 3 and we are covered for everything, except dental.

Scotland, the getting to the doctor is variable. Many GPs are overrun with patients. Same day appointments are pretty much if you're lucky or if you have an actual emergency. If you just want a checkup, most of the time you can get an appointment within a week or two (or at least at my GP).

Hospital referrals can take ages, once again if it's serious or urgent you'll be seen, but otherwise it can take a very long time (like I had them get back to me 2 years after I got the referral at some point for something). You also don't know how long is the queue in front of you.

It's very variable though, I lived in a different town before and there I could walk in to the GP an be seen the same day after waiting 1-2 hours every time. That was before Brexit and COVID though.

Cost wise, all free (other than taxes). Any prescription you just walk into the pharmacy and get it for free.

The specific tax for this is around 8% (not strictly true as it covers other things than just healthcare though, like unemployment and other social benefit stuff). That being said, you get the benefit even if you are not paying the tax, students, unemployed etc.

Sweden.

Pretty decent for anything acute (broken something, dislocated whatchamacallit), but utter dog shit for chronic issues. "Yeah, you have sinus issues, wait 3+ months for ENT" or "Okay, Sertraline's doing shit for you except making you more grumpy, but keep trying with it". So fucking awful that literal WebMD can be better for some chronic conditions.

German here. It's all paid by my social contribution aside taxes. And when I go to the doctor I pay nothing, no matter what I have as long as its not a vanity issue.

If I want something unnecessary done I would have to pay myself. But injuries or illnesses are always fully covered.

Same for teeth, but there are bigger quality differences. Paying extra there for some actions taken is common.

Canadian:

Lots of things are covered, not even a bill or anything to sign put in front of you. Childbirth: $0. ER visit for an injury: $0. Tests of all kinds: $0

Mental, dental, and eye care are out of pocket. If you have a job that is a "career", as in not fast food etc., you will likely have some workplace coverage for that stuff through insurance. My insurance covers eye exam and some money for glasses every 2 years, fairly generous amount for dental that will pay for cleaning and cavity filling and small procedures, drug coverage so most medications are $0, but sadly only a pittance for mental health (therapy, psychiatrist, etc).

The Netherlands.

Had gall stones fucking with me. Had 3 attacks happen in the middle of the night over a 8 month period which resulted in me showing up to the ER due to sweating bullets of pain. They got worried one day due to high infection counters in the blood, but it actually was fine by the time they checked again.

With gall stones, you need to have "enough attacks" before they refer they let you rip the fucker out. So eventually I got referred. 4 week waiting time from consult to operation (just coming out of corona time late 2021, not sure if that matters). Had a secondary infection around my navel which resulted in 6 weeks of manual flushing the wound and had to reopen it due to external skin healing too quick.

All of this cost €385, which was my "own risk" which resets every calendar year. All vists (even middle of the night), surgery, post care (even infection stuff) included. I never once thought about the cost, and the bill comes 6-9 months later.

(Note, you do pay for medical insurance here, however it is required by law to have it. People get fines if they dont have it. Subsidies/free for low incomes. Its essentially tax at the end etc. All "base insurance" from all providers must cover 100% GP costs, and a bunch of other things).

Japan. MRI $40. Basic doctor visit $5. Basic antibiotics $5. Almost all hospitals and clinics in the country are in-zone or whatever... There is no annual deductible.

amazing. i cant fathom this not being the global norm

Ireland. Public health is high quality but it can be slow to get into the system. If you want high quality and fast you pay for insurance which is about 2K per year, depending on age and cover.

All prescribed medicine maxes out at 80 euro / about 95 USD a month for our entire family. Government covers the rest.

You pay for trips to the GP (local doctor) which are about 60 euro / 75 USD unless you're low income in which case they're free. They will refer you to the hospital if necessary and that is free.

At that point if you're not private things can get slow but my most recent example was fast. Daughter had ongoing headaches for a while. Third trip to the GP she wrote the referral letter and we went to the emergency room. She got seen quickly and they set up an MRI for the following week. After that we had two follow ups with a consultant (high level specialist doctor). All free.

There is huge room for improvement but I honestly couldn't imagine living in a place that will let you die if you don't have enough money. I honestly find that notion both crazy and disgusting.

Edit: I forgot to add, if you just show up to accident and emergency without a referral it's 100 euro / 120 USD. Regardless of treatment that's the full cost. Triage can mean that if you don't actually have an emergency you'll be waiting hours. If you show up with life threatening symptoms you'll be seen very quickly though.

Ambulance is always free.

There are other supports for folks who need regular trips to the hospital but can't drive (e.g. regular chemo). There's a community car here in my town for example (10k people) with volunteers but I think they cover taxis in many cases.

Last edit: you can claim any medical expenses for the year off your tax bill

UK, only concern was how will I get home. Could walk but it's 3AM and cold, do I still need cash for a taxi?

China

I broke my foot during the previous spring festival. They called the surgeon back from his holiday, opened a operating room especially for my surgery, got a private room and my wife could stay in the room with me on a extra bed, 6 days in hospital. Total cost around €120 including x-rays, medication etc. The only thing I had to pay for extra was lunch at 2€.

General checkup is 50 RMB which is 7 US$.

More price comparison info: https://www.lostincn.com/medical-tourism-cost-china-price-guide-2026/

Ontario, Canada:

My wife had bad abdominal pains in the evening. She's had period cramps before, and it wasn't this. She's even had ovarian cysts go, which were terrible, but weren't this. So we went to the hospital. We sat in chairs for probably 5 hours, then got a physical exam by a doctor. They sent us for an ultrasound within the hospital to see if it was an ovarian cyst, but nothing showed on that. That took a few hours. Then we went for a CAT I think it was, also within the hospital, and that showed that it was a swollen appendix. Sat in chairs upstairs, not the entryway, for another hour or so, until the doctor came by and told us that she should probably have that out, but that it wasn't an imminent emergency and so they'll keep her overnight in case something happens, give some pain meds, and then have surgery the next morning when the OR opens again proper, because by now it was probably 2am.

So she got a bed upatairs, I went home and slept at home, then met her the next morning back in her room. She did have a roommate in her room, and that roomie sucked, so that's unfortunate. Then she went for surgery while I watched TV in the waiting room, then she was rolled out and stayed in a recovery room for a few hours while the anaesthesia wore off. The nurse came by and gave us medication to take, along with a prescription for some other meds, and some instructions, and we went on our way. The surgery was laparoscopic, so it only took a week or so to heal, and she was up and shuffling by the end of that first day.

All told, it was probably about 18 hours beginning to end, but that included some sleep in the middle. And, importantly, she didn't die at any point in that process.

At no point in this process did my money leave my pocket. Money was simply not discussed. When weighing the options of going to the hospital versus staying home, or staying in the hospital overnight versus going home, or having the surgery versus not, or having a laparoscopic surgery versus not, money was never a factor. At all times our collective concern was on the health of my wife.

Her surprise appendicitis didn't impact our life in any way, besides the one day we spent hanging out at the hospital.

Portugal.

Health care is free in the public system. Prescriptions cost but they are token amounts, usually like 50 cents to 5 euros.

Emergency and urgent care is generally good.

Routine care, like family doctor / GP stuff, has some issues with wait times.

Private hospital systems exist as do private insurance plans, but these are pretty inexpensive. In general, they treat routine to minor problems. For major surgeries or serious stuff like cancer treatment, you’ll likely be handled in the public hospitals anyway.

Australia here.

I'm going to start off with this since most Americans I have spoken with don't know it: You can have private health cover on top of the universal healthcare which subsidizes dental, glasses, private hospital cover, maternity and prosthetics etc. Important to note, private cover still gets the benefit of the universal health care. For example, about 18 years ago having a voluntary c-section in a private hospital without health cover was ~$5k, but you would be covered in a public hospital or if your private cover took care of x%. For that $5k my wife and I had a private room with a queen size bed and I was also covered for meals for 3 nights. That's also when I realized my private cover didn't have maternity care, oh well.

Private cover also gives you a tax rebate.

Last year I went to doctor with a sore thumb that wasn't getting better after a week and a half (fell on it when sitting down on wet grass). Private practice, after hours, had to pay the gap fee of ~$80 for which I got a partial rebate back into my account next day. He examined me, wrote up up two scripts and told me to get an x-ray and ultrasound with urgency first thing in the morning.

I called up, made a booking while driving to work, and quoted what he said. By 10 am I was getting the scans. By 3pm I got a call that they had set me up to get an MRI at a private hospital for 8pm that night. Total cost? The $80 gap that I got partially refunded. I ended up going with a top rated private plastic surgeon since I had coverage but I could have gone with the public system and gotten fixed up. I ended up getting a tailor made splint at a private clinic during recovery and found out that way my private insurance didn't have prosthetics, so I ended up ~$180 out of pocket.

As another example, about 10 years ago my grandma was going through chemo. A pensioner ,no health insurance, she paid ~$20 gap for a months worth of medication. I looked up the unsubsidized price and it was the cost of a small car ~30,000. That is a result of the PBS (pharmaceutical benefit scheme) where the main lever is, the government negotiates the price of medicine, and then subsidies it. The standing agreement is that you can't charge more for a class of drugs that the lowest provider of a similar medication. Numerous Australia-US free trade agreements have tried to water this down but its always been a hard no, its a beloved system and even our conservative government knows it would be political suicide if they ever tried to weaken it.

Really importantly to understand is also the safety net. If your out of pocket costs for the public healthcare (gap fees etc) exceed a threshold for the year, those gap fees start getting additionally covered between 80-100% (depending if it is in hospital or out of hospital care.) And those benefits start coming in after you are only $594.40 out of pocket.
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/how-medicare-safety-nets-and-thresholds-work?context=22001 https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/what-are-medicare-safety-nets-thresholds?context=22001

Netherlands: 2x stage 4 cancer with 10 years difference, so constant checkups, and of course the 2 treatments. we have "eigen risico" (own contribution) here (385 eur per year), and due to the many checkups I always max this out, but that's pretty much where it ends, everything else is covered by the state (well, my state health insurance). the treatments were of course FoC, incl all the scans, the chemo, an operation, etc. i can not imagine the stress somebody without health insurance must have, when facing something like this. there are things that health insurance doesn't cover or not fully: dentist i bought extra coverage for, fysiotherapy is only covered max 10x per year.

Canadian here.

All my prescriptions are paid out of pocket but it's not very expensive. 4 different pills is around $300 to $400 a year.

All tests and lab work are zero cost as is doctor visits.

Here in Nova Scotia, we have a doctor shortage so Registered Nurses were assigned their own clinics. Imho, my nurse is giving me better care than any doctor I've been to. They take the time to listen and are very knowledgeable. Doctors just want you in and out so they can see any many patients as possible in one day (it's how they make money in a private practice).

Wait times at the ER takes longer than it did pre-covid. I had an issue years ago. All the walkins (I didn't have a GP at the time) were full so I went to the ER Saturday morning. I was back home within 4 hours and that was after waiting at a pharmacy to get the prescription filled.

Two years ago, same issue came back. My nurse told me I had to go to the ER. After 4.5 hours I went home without seeing anyone. There was a total of 6 people in the ER's waiting area. Two days later someone from the hospital called and asked me why I left.

Today, we can go to a pharmacy and be treated for a number of conditions without taking up resources at the ER.

Sweden here. Our health system is under some strain right now but still functioning. If we want a GP appointment we have to call at exactly 08:00 am to register and then get a call back several hours later, usually you get an appointment the same day if it's potentially serious, a week or two for non-urgent issues. There are GP offices and health centres everywhere, even in small towns of 1-2 k people, so you rarely have to go far. We have an annual fee cap of about €300 after which all prescriptions and treatments are free. In many cases your employer will refund the cost of doctors appointments (€20). My partner had a tissue sample tested for breast cancer recently (negative thankfully!) it was totally free and took about a month for the results.

What is it like here in France? I don't have to lose sleep at night because I can't afford the cosmically expensive medications that are the only thing keeping me alive. Edit: well worth the many taxes I pay...

Germany.

I had a nasty fall off my bike about five weeks ago, but nothing seemed immediately broken. I went to the orthopedist the next day. Hand X-ray, then CT. Got a splint prescribed. I had to pay a 10€ fee for the splint, and might need to pay for the CT (we did it directly there instead of referring to a radiologist), but the insurance might cover it, as the reason for not transferring was due to a holiday and long weekend starting the next day.

Then I realized my other hand was having issues. Back to orthopedist. X-ray, referral to MRI, elbow splint prescribed. 10€ fee for the splint.

I also had some magnet field therapy, which I had to pay out of pocket: 40€ per session.

So the total out-of-pocket cost, assuming my insurance covers the CT: 300€ for three orthopedist visits, CT, MRI, two splints, and seven sessions of magnet therapy.

Germany does allow certain high earners to opt out of the public insurance and go private, ans the experience for privately insured people tends to be better, which I think sucks a lot. I personally am on the public plan and am overall very happy with it, but I can also easily afford the things that are out of pocket.

Australia. A broken arm no fee. General check up - no fee.

France

Fainted outside while getting a covid test with 40C fever

Ambulance trip to the hospital

Stayed a few hours

0€

Sweden.

I broke my knee at 16. Hospital bill: $0 (because I was under age at the time)

Any consultation with a nurse/doctor follows the standard fee of:~$25

Everyone gets free dental until they turn 26 years old.

My dad recently broke his arm (again). The total bill from the hospital including casting and xray: ~$35

If you have to spend more than ~$200 on medications in a year, you will be capped at that amount and everything above is literally, free.

Same goes for doctors visits but that's a separate ~$200 cap reached independently

Norway

General checkup: 2-3 weeks waiting time, cost 120-360 NOK (~20 US gallons)

Broken arm: Trip to ER, waiting time 0 minutes to 4 hours depending on pressure. Travel costs are reimbursed. Cost 0 NOK. (0 inches of coin)

Eye surgery: Few months waiting time. Travel costs reimbursed. if it was a surgery that was necessary to prevent severe handicap, cost is 0 NOK. If it is surgery to just remove the need to wear glasses, you'd have to pay the thing. Roughly 35000 NOK (3800 Fahrenheit)

Serbia - but more specific to my town it seems.

By the time I was born, they already sabotaged universal healthcare to such near uselesness, that I was prescribed horse meat as a child to treat my immune defficiency.

It has only gotten worse since.

They just look up your diagnosis, and prescribe generic meds that you have to buy.

It's rare that anything gets investigated or tested. All I can say is I had a mole removed for free, after an injury.

UK. It's great, mostly. However it is underfunded which means you can have long wait times for non-urgent stuff. If a hospital referral sees you in a week or so you can take that as a sign that you are fucked. But it's amazing not to have to fear financial ruin if I get sick. I think most UK taxpayers wouldn't mind paying a little extra if it was ringfenced for the NHS. We need more medical staff and they need to be paid a lot better.

Edit - dental care can be pretty expensive though.

NZ:

Doctor visit is fairly expensive, but very dependant on whichever government we have in. Between $0-45 per visit, kids are always free up to 18 years old. Kids meds are free.

ER is free, any meds prescribed from a hospital are free.

Dentistry is free up to 18 years old, excessively expensive after that.

Generally injuries are covered by ACC, so specialists related to an injury are also mostly covered.

I spent 28 days in hospital 3 years ago, including helicopter transfer on day 1 and two weeks later ambulance ride to a bigger hospital. Got surgery on my lung and various other procedures. Total cost $0.

Australia.

I don't think about my health. Like, at all. If something is wrong they'll deal with it.

Not broken an arm, but I broke my leg in a car crash, air lifted to hospital and a couple weeks stay, $0.

Romania: I use the private system cause the public system is mostly crap. People are still sometimes literally catching infections and dying in hospital, having been hospitalized for smth completely different. It's improving though. To clarify, the aforementioned situation is news-worthy nowadays, but still...

Private system is relatively affordable and partially integrated into the national one, so that's nice. You can see a specialist for like $50, or for free if your GP refers you to them.