Ask Lemmy

American here on Medicaid, I expect it's a lot like that.

What's it like to go to doctor?

Well, annoying. Something is wrong in your body and that's never fun. And then they need to do some procedures that also usually won't feel nice.

A broken arm, for example, probably means some kind of painkiller pushed into my muscles with a syringe. That hurts. And then I'll be needing a cast. Meh.

This answer sounds kind of banal... But this is proably about what you did expect(?)
And I don't know if I'd have to pay. Never broken an arm. Probably nothing. Or maybe many tens of euros? Definitely not over 50 €, though.

I'm in Finland, but this should, by all logic, apply to pretty much the whole of not-USA.

Canada here. I'm very thankful for it. I don't think I'd survive if I had to individually pay.

Aus.

I'm waiting for minor surgery. Basically every 6 months or so they make me come to the hospital to talk to a nurse or doctor or whatever, it's pretty pointless. Ends with them saying "yep you need surgery" then I go back to waiting. No idea when I'll actually get it done, should be any year now.

If I got private insurance I'd have to wait a year before cashing out, so I'm fine not paying anything and waiting a bit longer. If I had known I'd be waiting as long as I have I might have opted for private, but there isn't any solid timeline given for waiting times.

Everything outside of that is quick and easy. Go to gp, get referral, see specialist. No roadblocks at all, but the specialists likely cost a couple hundred bucks. Medication is pretty cheap, usually $10-20 for a month's supply of anything you need.

apparently dental care is quite expensive in some countries despite covering for healthcare that isnt teeth. just for context, in some areas in states, west coast. i had limited x-ray exam on tooths that were hurting it was around several hundred outofpocket, no insurance. seems inidvidual insurance is alot worst for dental than an employer negotiated one.

and that xray isnt looking at your whole mouth. all bets are off on cost if your tooth needs rootcanal, crowns,,,etc. apparently molars are more expensive compared to front teeth for rootcanal and crowns. RTC itself(not including xray or general workup) can be 1-2k per teeth, doesnt include temp crowns. definitely have to shop around if your insurance doesnt pay for it, or a specific clinic cost too much.

We pay 25 usd ish per doctors appointment in Norway. With a cap of 300 or something.

Some medication you’ll have to pay for. But it’s pretty heavily subsidised.

But like when my wife gave birth, we paid nothing

Italy here.

It's great to have it, and as I see what happens around the world I understand how nearly utopian-like the concept is.

... but people will complain and moan about it anyway, and the main reason is that:

• while being universal every different region (20 in italy) has its own locally administered and budgeted subsystem implementation which ~~might~~ will differ from the next region system and so patients data won't be able to be transferable or even observable from each different region network
  Also the level of cures you receive might vary in their quality from region to region

• it is understaffed because the salary is not worth the responsibilities, unless you get to be a specialist doctor, so for instance there are not nearly enough nurses or sometimes triage doctors, and so many workers have to go through extenuating working hours schedules to cover missing work force, and of course this will affect their performance and even send someone into burnout

• it is understaffed because it is underbudgeted, and this is by design by politicians, ultimately run by right-wingers since some decades already, who are trying to give the people more and more reason to hate the public health system, so one day they might be able to succeed to sell all the public (paid with peoples taxes) infrastructures to privates, transforming the public health system into the "american dream" health system

• it is underbudgeted because taxes here are paid for the 70% of the total by employees and by retired people, which constitutes but a glimpse of the personal profits of the total, while every one with an autonomous job, including companies, just fuck with taxes, year after year, in a systematic and systemic way, so much that every new government will indict a new taxation amnesty because the budget needed to go after the unpaid taxation is more than the taxation not earned.
  ...oh yeah and then after that the same politician will complain and moan about the public health system being inefficient and needing a privatization reform.

Canadian. I have a chronic issue that I wait long times to see a specialist. Mainly because after seeing them for a few visits to update treatment, I don't see them for a couple years but can't immediately go back because I need to be re-referred which can take awhile due to waitlists. But I can see my GP (in person or phone call) very quickly if needed and all free. I had a serious issue not long ago and got seen in Urgent Care in a couple hours (avoided ER), sent to specialist next day, and got all the testing done quite quickly and then treated - less than a week. No cost. Might have been a bit quicker in a pay system but my life wasn't threatened and I didn't have to worry about whether or not it would be covered by my insurance or what the copay would be. I know people who complain about the slowness of non life threating issues but they always have the option of paying for care - they just need to leave Canada, and some do. I have a relative who was ticked that the surgeon he saw wouldn't recommend an operation so he went to the US and paid to have it done only to find that it didn't really solve his problem (just like his 'idiot' Canadian doc had said) and he was now out a load of money and still had a chronic issue. For life threatening issues, all my family and friends have had timely & free service. An aunt went into ER 2 weeks ago for severe stomach pain. Got a CT and was into surgery a day later. Five days in hosptial and she's now recovering at home with occassional health nurse visits. No charge. Didn't even have to pay for most of her medication costs because they were mostly covered under Pharmacare.