Ask Lemmy

Canada - All of that would be covered, prescriptions aren't.

Seemingly more and more people want the American system.

Germany, due to politicians gutting it more and more and it needing reforms its going down hill systemicly.

But its better than having none!

Austria here. Costs go from nothing to basically nothing. Prescribed medicine costs a flat fee of a few € per item/box. Wait times are usually short but can vary, I've only had really bad experiences for general doctors outside of normal hours (there are always some of them open for availability on weekends and holidays). But that's to be expected.

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.

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.

Canada. You don't pay for a broken arm or a checkup. You only pay for things like physiotherapy or massage. Dentisit is covered if you're old, young, or not making much money. Pharmacy is covered (with a small fee) if you're old. The emergency room works on a triage system so, if you're not seriously sick, you'll probably wait a long time. There are long wait times for specialists in some areas. I can't speak for everyone, but the care my extended family and I have received has been excellent.

UK

I have never paid anything for any kind of medical care. I do pay for my medicine prescriptions, which coat about £10 when I need them, which is infrequent.

They are essentially capped at something like £120 per year if you did need a lot.

UK here. Last year I spent four months in hospital with a moderately obscure neurological condition called Guilian Barre syndrome, half of it in critical care (some sedated) and much of the rest in a specialist neuro-rehab unit. My partner had a foot amputated two years ago after spending several weeks in hospital with blood poisoning caused by an infected foot ulcer, they now had a prosthetic leg and have had physiotherapy and psychological counselling (they recognise it's a big life change). We're both disabled, and my partner has dialysis three times a week. I take 11 prescription pills a day (plus three non prescription magnesium recommended by a physiotherapist). Nurses are generally friendly and caring (if understaffed and overworked), and the doctors don't have the adversarial money-driven approach I hear about from the US, plus they're often some of the best in the world - my partner got one of the world's leading podiatrists because they happened to get his rotation!

Total cost for medical care: £0.00 plus some petrol and taxi rides - being registered disabled I don't even pay for prescriptions but if I did it's, I think, £12.50 a time no matter how many pills you're collecting.

The NHS is not flawless: recently my partner had a day surgery that turned into a week as an in-patient as the second part of the surgery kept being pushed back (some for good reasons like the Accident and Emergency department having a sudden glut and needing all the surgeons, some for less good reasons); wait times in A&E can be as much as 12 hours on uncomfortable (but easily cleaned) seats if you're not an emergency and you show up at a busy time like Friday night; and waiting lists for adult ADHD diagnosis was seven years (so I went private cos I could afford it). It also don't fully cover dental work (and finding an NHS dentist is notoriously difficult), and if you have a complex prescription it doesn't fully cover glasses either, but it does contribute to both of those bringing them down to merely expensive rather than ludicrous.

But when you really need it, it's there, you will get good care, and you don't have to worry about being bankrupted.

Would recommend, 9 out of 10

Slovakia here. It's pretty liberating, TBH. Even despite trying to stay healthy and vital, one will eventually get sick or injured and will need help. It is nice that it is already paid (by taxes) and we can just get the needed care without fear of of ruining ourselves financially. Also meds are pretty cheap or free for patients.

The system is set out in the way that it is better for state that patients be healthy, because patients' sickness is state's expense. So state tries to limit its spending while still providing reasonable care. Although, it is hard with the population getting generally older (more serious, and so expensive, illnesses) while we still have only very limited medicine to reverse aging.

I am wondering how the universal health care system affects humans proactivity for preserving their health. But from what I have heard, it is unfortunately low in both cases 😕

I had an appendicitis go undiagnosed for a few days (partly because of bad emergency care, partly because I keep waiting forever before seeing a doctor). Turned into peritonitis, as it does. Decision to operate was instantaneous; I didn't even go back to the emergency "landing area" after the radiography, but straight to showering before the operating room. Then, had to spent a week in the hospital, including four days of full-blown crazyness-inducing fever, three different kinds of painkillers (btw I'm allergic to three derivatives of morphine… found out the fun way).

It all cost me something around 8€ in the end. That would have been around… $8 at the time. Not to mention, I had no issue at my job back then because we have sick leave too.

At no point in any of this have I considered "but can I avoid going to the doctor" or "I should leave the hospital as soon as possible", or "I have to work during this week of madness". I just got better, and got back on track.

That was France, btw.

Our family public health insurance in Germany is 12.5% of your income. There's minimum rates for people who make very little income, but it does cover your household and dependents.

Checkups, illness visits, and initial consultations are free. I had a specialist visit with a cardiologist and it cost zero.

The dental only covers basics. The cost on extra dental is way less than it was in the US for basics.

In the US our good company insurance cost $1200/month, and even then we'd have $3k/year deductables. Oh, and every visit not in the annual checkup was a minimum of $170 out of pocket. Specialists would be $400 out of pocket per visit.

Seeing a non-emergency specialist in Germany can take months. Of course, it was the same in the US, so whatever. Both countries could be better, and should work to improve services available. I'd take Germany's system any day over the commercialized mess that is the US commoditzing and charging people to live.

Nz here. Broken arm, go to emergency room, will cost about $50. Hospital would be free. General visit, probably $50 too, prices went up recently. Lower income is subsidised so cheaper if you can't afford much. Wait times are up to a few hours in ER and it's triaged on urgency

Canadian here. I broke my leg in January. The only thing I ended up paying for was $25 for a pair of crutches. I did have to wait a significant amount of time to get seen, but its a small hospital and someone walked in with a stab wound right after me, so I was okay with it.

We do currently have a doctor shortage in my province and I myself do not have a family doctor, which does complicate things, but there are clinics around that I can still go to that are just less personal than a family physician.

We do have to pay out of pocket for prescriptions, but generally speaking the cost for most things are pretty low. There's also a whole bunch of basic I also have 80% drug coverage through my employer, which is pretty common as well. In addition in my province a lot of diabetes medication is provided free of charge.

France.

General checkups are considered a US only thing that is actually detrimental. You don't go see a doctor if you're all right usually, there a few stupid reasons you still have to. If you have a benign seasonal illness but you need to be off work you need a form filled out by the doctor so your employer has to allow it and the health insurance can pay if they need to (I'll spare you the details but it mostly depends on the duration of your illness), if you are joining a sports club you typically need your doctor to certify you're fine to do that (this needs to stop doctors aren't nannies and they have too much work as it is!!!).

I'm very fortunate that I have a GP who's generally available within a day or two. There's a shortage for all healthcare professions, the French refuse to believe it but it's mostly because it pays shit: Luxembourg and Switzerland don't nearly have as many issues getting enough staff in hospitals. A lot of people don't even have a GP. If you can't travel the waiting times for some exams or specialists are 6 months or more, people think this is somehow acceptable. You can still do medical tourism at the expense of French insurance if you border one of the richer countries, any money leftover you'd have to pay would be a pretty reasonable amount but they may try to wriggle out of paying claiming you're doing medical tourism for no good reason.

For cancer checks if you live near one of the good hospitals for cancer you don't have to worry too much about them making you wait until it gets to stage 4. But you have to be assertive and advocate for yourself if you don't and possibly give up and go 500 km away.

For a broken arm you'd pay nothing usually unless you're in the cracks of the mandatory extra insurance thing because you don't have a job but you're also too rich for the State-funded one, so maybe around 50€ including X-rays and the cast.

France is very behind on mental health care and psychiatric wards in hospitals are a disgrace mostly due to extreme understaffing by doctors. For most other things they're all right except busy ERs have insane waiting times and they have no money to hospitalise you if you will survive so they'll send you home even if you barely have the strength to get into a taxi.

The food in hospitals is all right but I wouldn't ask too much of the vegan options.

Its nice. Paramedics and the hospital saved my life so im grateful.

Canada

I stayed with my parents for a few days when my grandmother died. I was sleeping on the couch and mom my noticed I wasn't breathing at regular intervals. She said I should get a sleep test when I flew home on Sunday.

I called my doctor on Monday, had an appointment on Wednesday, he sent a referral and I got called on Friday that there was a cancellation that night if I could make to the sleep lab for a sleep test. I had no plans so I paid for parking outside the sleep lab for the night.

I got a call Monday that my test results were back, went to an appointment a few weeks later. Paid for parking again. Was given a trial CPAP to use until a got another sleep test with the machine to get a proper pressure level. I was told not to drive until that test. I paid for subways and busses until that test a week later.

I went for another sleep test, I paid for a taxi since I wasn't allowed to drive.

I got a machine, a paid $700 dollars and a portion was covered by the govt and then my extended benefits covered the majority. I paid maybe $150 in the end for my machine because I didn't get the basic model that would have been completely covered.

In all I paid less than 200 for the CPAP and for parking. Everything else was covered.

In the years since I have had about 6 more sleep tests and that is only because my sleep apnea is complex central sleep apnea not obstructive. I have paid nothing for any of those tests or heart and brain scans that were involved. Just the occasional parking near a hospital.

I've paid for CPAP machines and masks but had them reimbursed by my extended benefits through work. If I wasn't covered through work they would still be covered to a certain amount through provincial medical coverage.

Germany

Mostly 0€ at the doctor, but per medicine 10€ (which sounds nice but with chronic illness and a stack, yes it's still not much).

Some exceptions apply, but it's still mostly good overall.

I live in Germany. It can be a bit complicated...
I was encouraged to sign a "contract" with my GP saying I should always go to them first with any non-emergency issue and they'll refer me to a specialized doctor. The idea is to have all my medical info in one place, which makes sense.

So I was at work, pulling open a desk to wire up all the IT stuff, when something in my finger snapped.
I reported it to my team leader. He gave me an ice pack and told a colleague to drive me to the doctor.
The colleague asked me where to drive to, and I honestly had no idea. This is the first issue. I was expected to decide: Is this an emergency? It's not life-threatening, but it hurt and started to swell quickly. How time-critical is it, in order not to lose use of the finger? Should I go to the hospital? Do I need an X-Ray? How the fuck should I know before a doctor looked at it?

So I googled "X-Ray clinic" in my home town and found a big one. I waited in the phone queue while we started driving. Eventually I got through and they told me they only accept patients with referrals from a doctor.
So we re-routed to my GP, which is half an hour drive. When we got there and had found a parking spot, a sign at the door said that the doctor's practice had moved to a new address the week before.
We drove to the new address. I talked to the receptionist. She told us that since this is a work accident, I need to visit my workplace's approved doctor. She asked which one that is, and which insurance is responsible. I had no idea.

So I called my team leader. He also didn't know. He said he'd find out and call back. We waited.
After 15 minutes, we had the right address. It was a 30 minute drive in the other direction.
When we got there and had found a parking spot, a sign at the door informed us that the practice had recently moved.
We drove to the new address, which was another 30 minute drive, but within walking distance of my workplace. I was finally admitted to get looked at.

By then the ice pack had long melted, my finger was swollen, hurting and throbbing, and the receptionist told me she can't give me a new ice pack, only a doctor can. She then handed me a 4 page document in small print to fill out.
So I sat there, with a swollen, throbbing hand, filling out all kinds of info about me, my medical history, allergies, my work place info, insurance number, how I got injured, whether I had reported the injury, etc.

Then I had to wait an hour, was given an X-Ray, and 10 minutes of a doctor's time, who told me they can't see what it is. I should come back in a week if it doesn't get better, and then they'd give me a CT scan.
A week later, it was not fully healed but much better, so I didn't go back. That was 6 months ago. I can use the finger normally and have no pain, but I can still feel it a little.

Sweden. Doctor's appointments cost ~€30, normally capped at ~€150 per year. There's a cost ceiling for drugs at ~€300 per year. Urgent care is free. Dental is subsidized but only free up to age 19. The care itself is fine, there are multiple research hospitals and if you're in a real bind one of the best research hospitals in the world.

I'd gladly pay higher taxes for better healthcare.

UK

If you need urgent care, you get it and it's almost always high-quality. If non-urgent, you might wait several months for an appointment. I've never personally had a problem with quality of care, only wait times. That's one of the reasons the government is trying to reform the way we do cancer screening and prevention, because it's hard to catch it early when it takes so long to be seen. The NHS is not in a great state currently, but it's getting better and we're definitely better off with it than without it.

Latvia, a country where 1000 EUR after tax is considered a decent salary, but realistically you need to earn above that to live comfortably. There is a certain budget and quotas for government-funded procedures and appointments. For in-demand things it runs very fast. It's normal to have to get an appointment for non-urgent things 3-6 months in advance to get a partially funded price, then it usually costs less than 10 EUR per. Non-subsidized appointment slots are generally available very fast, but can cost anywhere form 25 to 90 EUR depending on the doctor, clinic and so on. Blood test subsidies are also very few and far between. I think I can only get one subsidized TSH test a year. There are private health insurance plans that generally cost triple digit sums per year. Not worth taking it privately as they will not cover existing chronic health conditions, but can be great if arranged through and partially covered by the employer. These insurances return part of the costs that patients pay out of pocket for these non-subsidized expenses. I think the rising popularity of these plans are partially to blame for 2-3x increase in medical appointment costs over the past 10 years.

Every now and then I see old people trying to register for appointments at the clinics and being astonished that they'll have to either wait for half a year or to pay 1/10th of their pension to see the doc in a couple of weeks.

I don't know that much about urgent procedures. I believe the ambulance rides are covered if the medical emergency is deemed serious enough. Surgeries and hospital stays are also partially covered for a time, especially in serious cases.

Italy:

Going to doctor is free. Going to hospital is free unless you went for a non-emergency. In that case you may be eligible to pay something like 30€ (if you are poor you pay 0 anyways).

UK resident: it is brilliant. HOWEVER the politicians seek to turn it into a private system by way of a thousand cuts and being paid members of various think tanks and even being on company boards.

Norway - I think the basic way you and me think about anything health related are so vastly different, its hard for each of us to comprehend the others mindset.

You can do things for free or cheap but some things have so long waiting times, that you opt for private doctors, which can be somewhat cheap, at least in comparison with the US and because there is "competition" with the public system.