American reacts to 'My Healthcare experience in Europe compared to America'
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- čas přidán 13. 11. 2023
- Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to My Healthcare Experience in Europe as an American
Original video: • My Healthcare Experien...
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I have chronic kidney disease. I am constantly in hospital, also in the ER. I have no insurance, I always go to the public hospital where I get top service, I've had several surgeries, treatments, tests, x-rays, etc. I pay ZERO. NOTHING. It's universal healthcare, that's where my Portuguese taxes go. Health is not a business, it's a moral duty to citizens. ❤
Solidarity of citizens with those who need health care and support is key.
Because one day it might be you who needs it badly.
In Germany we pay some 15-16 percent of our income for public health insurance, roughly half of that is covered by the employer, so you end up with some 8 percent of your income for health care.
I think that's really worth it and you only wait for some (few!) treatments which are not essential.
There's no biggest BS than "free healthcare in Europe".
It's "free" because you pay HUGE tax (in differet way). Only VAT is often 23% or so.
@@podunkman2709 Do you live in Europe, by any chance? Taxes are acceptable if they are well employed, such as in Health and Education. I suggest you travel more. A lot more. But thank you for your input, anyway.
My friend, i have for you high recommendation how to ressolve your health problems. You bellieve me, you go to visit Bosnian pyramids, 50 km from Sarajevo. There are tunnels that have enormous energy. Thousands of people come there from all over the world, and after visiting those tunnels, in a few days people are completely cured of all serious health problems. Trust me, it's the best natural hospital in the world. You can be cured for 50 Euros, which is how much it costs to visit the tunnels for four days. Check this video about Bosnian pyramids:
czcams.com/video/B05elZmeku4/video.html
And, for all friends, you can everybody visit Bosnian Pyramids, especialy older people. This is Paradise, Tunnels Ravne, Visoko, 50 km from Sarajevo.
@@podunkman2709 I live in Denmark, we have some of the highest taxes in the world, but it's an 'all inclusive', there are a couple of americans that has moved here, they have a channel called Traveling Young, they did a calculation that showed that yes, we pay high income taxes, but because we don't have to do a college fund, a healtcare insurance, we don't have 'state' and 'federal' taxes (we only have one tax) and a lot of other expenses, we actually pay just about the same as others, but we get free education (we actually get partly supported by the state during our education), we get free hospital care, we get free caregiving when we get old, we have quite long vacations (5 weeks), if we get ill, we actually still get paid during the illness ( the company can get some of the salary refunded from the government). If you look at why the Corona was so rapidly spread in the US, it wasn't purely because the president told people to drink drayno, but also because people went to work ill because they didn't have any saved 'sickdays'. So the question can't be simplified to high taxes, it's much more complex.
Hi, Spanish here. Years ago my brother had an American coworker here in Spain, who wasn't aware of Spanish Healthcare at all. I remember when she went to the doctor to receive the treatment for a chronic disease she had; I don't remember what disease but I know she needed to take one pill on a daily basis. The doctor made the prescription and she went to the drugstore to buy her pills. The medicine costs 4€, 30 pills (one per day, one month worth of medicine). We (me and my brother) were waiting her outside the store and when she was out she suddenly started crying. We were worried and when we asked her what's was wrong she yelled in the US that medicine costs her 120$ monthly and here, it's not even 5$. Now she has learned Spanish, is married to a Spanish husband and still lives in our city. And she's enjoying Spanish and European Healthcare :)
no sabemos la suerte que tenemos la verdad
@@raxuk_ muchos no son conscientes de ello por desgracia.
Spanish are Europeans. You separated them at the end of your comment.
Nice ❤❤❤
My healthcare pays for my sensibilisation tablets for my allergy. I pay 10€/3 months and my healthcare provider pays 540€/3 months. Just prescribed and I can pick them up at the pharmacy. Nothing else, no papers, no looking for anything, no asking for prices, nothing, I just get my medicine and pay 10€ to the pharmacy which happens every 3 months (90 tablets). It's night and day not having allergies anymore
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
The remarkable thing about this story is that the first doctor was in the Netherlands, and he then used that doctors x-ray recommendation in an emergency room across the border in Germany. Easy to miss in the story that he started treatment in one country and continued it in another as he travelled. Without issue.
This 👏🏻 😂 I wanted to make this point also.
Almost like the idea of the EU just makes sense
@@ClownOwer The first doctor a day earlier !! That was a general practitioner and not in the emergency room.
@@ClownOwer Unless MunchenGladbach moved to the Netherlands... - He said in the story, the doctor was near the hotel where he was staying for the wedding he was attending which was in the Netherlands. - But that he want to the ER the next day, after the wedding, when his relatives had driven him back into Germany.
I don't think that's the case. I don't think he used the "recomendation letter" from one country in to another. I think when they check him in the emergency room in Germany they also think that an X-ray is needed and they have that machine in the facilities so they used it. The same way the doctor from Holland intended to do, but they didn't have the machine so wrote a recomendation so he can go to another health center for it.
German here. A few years ago I suddenly saw these flickering lights and distortions in front of my eyes. I thought I was having a stroke but then they went away again. Went to the doctor, got seen within maybe 15 minutes. She correctly diagnosed it a type of migraine but said best have a neurologist check it out to make sure. I called the neurologist and she insisted I come in the same day. Waited maybe 30/45 minutes there, had several tests done. Diagnosis confirmed. Price: 0€. Don't believe anything in US media about waiting times in Europe. None of our systems are perfect but in general they work a million times better than the US system.
Stats even prove that. The waiting times in Germany for example are significantly lower than in the US.
you must live in a more urban area.
Only at my dentist i wait under 15 min. nomal at any other doctor 20min up to 3 hours. getting an appointment up to 3 month. Denist mostly same day. But we have a lot of denists. even here in my area of Hamburg 5 denists in under 10min by foot. family doctors i the same reach, 1 whos ot going to take i more paitinets. we had 3, 2 just quit for pension last month no new doctor yet.
@@redzora80 I don‘t care what you say tbh. Stats prove me right.
@@gregork.1079 First of all to say i don't care what you say is disrespectful und ignorant.
And i didn't reply to you. My comment was a reply to the first comment. Don't know why it didn't show like that.
@@gregork.1079 Stats in that area are super shallow since not every doctors office in even a single city is compareable yet alone across whole Germany. So to match your kind of attitude, I don't care about your stats. I live in Germany for like 30 years now and I've been countless times to the doctors office and less so in the emergency room. Waiting times can go from 5 minutes to easily 1-2 hours at a doctors office and at the emergency room I've waited from 30 minutes to 4 hours.
Like I said, I don't care about your stats on some paper as those are real life experiences. You clearly fail to actually understand what those facts even mean.
« What are we doing over here » : it’s because healthcare is a business in the USA, where over here it’s a right.
Exactly!
that`s what I was going to write.
If you are 30 before you get qualified as a doctor, then you have only 20 to 25 years to pay off your student debts.
A right that everyone pays for in taxes(67 to 70%). Just so a bureaucrat can say yes or no on treatment. Weeks if not months to see Dr. Euthanasia for treatment of any life long injuries. Now that's some healthcare right for you.
@@damonbryan7232Oh Look, it's an idiot who has no clue.
If we travel to the usa we will make sure, we have travel insurance 😂 i think 99,9% of European citizens know that
Yes British people always take out Travel Insurance when travelling abroad too. I paid for my youngest daughter's recently when she went to Greece. It was very reasonable at £9 for her holiday.
While I was at the US and had a travel health insurance
Yes, of course. If you leave Europe you better have a travel health insurance. Because the normal one will not cover all the expenses that might come up. And the insurance for a few weeks holidays is really not expensive.
Your home insurance is valid for a visit int he US of less than 3 month. So your travle insurance is pretty much worthless
In Germany we call it „Auslandskrankenversicherung“. Typical german long word.😂
I recently became poorly here in the UK. My wife and I decided not to phone an ambulance, but jump in a taxi to our local emergency department. It was around 9am on arrival. I was assessed right away and was treated for a suspected stroke. I was given pain killers, blood tests an ECG and was assessed by at least three doctors the final one a consultant decided to send me to a different hospital with a stroke unit. I went by ambulance on blues and twos with three paramedics. I was put right away into a room and put on a drip. The consultant sent me for an MRI scan that came back clear. I was then diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy. I needed to take ten steroids a day and two stomach tablets all for ten days. My wife and I was then given lunch and released at 2pm. Our total cost for everything was £11 on two taxis! God bless the NHS
The NHS is amazing. We must fight to keep it.
@@renavaleh576 I can see that working, the ones you fight against will then require the NHS themselves. Making them switch to the pro-NHS camp. I see no downsides (apart from assault and battery being somewhat illegal)
The really stupid part is that some people in England want to make it more like the US "health care" system.
Make sure the Tory government doesn't fuck it up.
Because they're doing it right now
I’m Polish and my husband is American. His aunt came to visit us in Poland once and while she was here she lost her consciousness and her husband called for ambulance. They took her to the hospital and checked what happened. Long story short she was OK but expected to get a large bill. She was super surprised when she didn’t have to pay anything. For us Polish people it’s totally normal to call for help and not have to pay for the hospital. It looks like it applies even if you are a foreigner and don’t have insurance here. When me and my husband lived in the U.S. I was terrified something would happen to me without a decent insurance. It’s one of the reasons we moved back to Europe.
She must have had schengen visa insurance
Gardzę tobą następna z kompleksami co Polakiem wzgardziła pluje na ciebie
Takie jak ty wychodzą za obcokrajowców a Polska demograficznie umiera na naszych oczach a ty tu się chwalisz służbą zdrowia w Polsce i Europie co za hipokryzja Co w Polsce nie było nikogo z kim mogłaś się związać rodzinę założyć ? To powiem ci dlaczego wybrałaś obcokrajowca żeby podnieść swoją ocenę bo masz kompleksy bo tak ci media wpompowały w mózg że jak się zwiążesz z obcokrajowcem to będziesz bardziej światowa. Takie jak ty niszczą Polskę. Brzydzę się tobą. Nie jesteś już Polką takim jak ty zabierałbym obywatelstwo.
@@trente78 xddd
@@trente78a to co ma z kompleksami wspólnego... Wszyscy jesteśmy ludźmi czy to Polak czy to Czech czy rus czy nawet Amerykanin... Nie zdziw się przy analizie twojego drzewa genealogicznego. Połowa Polaków jak jak to mieszanka genetyczna. Ci że wychodzi Ukraińcami czy Rusinami ci z zachodu Niemcami a z południa Czechami czy nawet Pruso Austriakami. Polakiem czujesz się nie dlatego że twój ślubny jest Polakiem ... Polakiem czujesz się gdy twój ślubny (nie Polak) chce być Polakiem.
I nie pluj tyle bo ci jedzie...
In The Netherlands, prescriptions are digital, but that requires the patient's data to be in the systems. In his case, a prescription on paper was probably the easiest solution.
Same here in Belgium. The key to your personal file (diagnosis, presciptions, anamnese, ...) is your national eID, so for non-citizens it will also here be on paper.
And it's the same in Denmark.
Prescriptions, which are almost never on paper anymore, are no longer sent to a specific pharmacy. They are put on a nation-wide prescription server, which any pharmacy, hospital and doctor's office can access. So no matter where we are in the country, we can buy our prescription medicine in the nearest pharmacy. I could see this being expanded to include all EU countries in the future, so I could buy prescription medicine in the Netherlands, Belgium or wherever.
In addition, people with smartphones can install a public and free app, which gives us access to our personal file on the prescription server. This way, I can keep track of my prescription medicine (I have some chronic diseases). The app also lets me request renewals of prescriptions. It is one of my doctors that actually make the renewals, but I don't have to call anyone to ask for it. And it usually happens within a few hours, when the doctor's office is open.
I find myself fortunate, living in Denmark. We tend to complain - that is deeply rooted in our culture. But in reality, the majority of us have a pretty good life here.
@@erikthomsen4007Finnish e-prescription can already be used in Estonia, Croatia, Portugal, Poland and Spain. In Estonia and Croatia it is in use in all pharmacies, in other listed countries not all pharmacies may be included.
As someone said digital requires the no persons history to benin the system so yes a paper one is so much easier xx sadly Americans are trapped in a horrendous healthcare (and I use that term loosely) system because it's the worst in any first world country I'm so blessed to be in the UK and have the NHS I've never waited for any procedures it's amazing and when you reach 60 it's all free no more paying tax from your paycheck xx
@@lilja8667 That is cool!
I live in Spain and I have an autistic son. He is 2 years old and I cannot even begin to tell you how grateful I am for the Spanish Health System. He has a neurologist that he sees every 6 months, a gastroenterologists he sees every 3 months, psichologists he sees twice a month, early care and support specialists, an appointed nurse, he also has blood tests pretty much every month, he works with a team of people specialized in eating behaviors and disorders, he needs diferent types of medications, not only vitamins and minerals but also for sleeping and to control his behavior. I KNOW in America I wouldnt have been able to pay for all of this. In Spain I only pay a small percentage of the medicines. That's all.
My nephew has had epilepsy and a form of autism since he was 2 years old. My sister has no problem paying for the medicine, or the many hospital visits, specialists, regular treatments, experimental treatments, brain surgery, etc in the US. There is healthcare insurance in the US. I'm not saying the US has the best system, but it's not the worst. Some people do well under the system, some people do better then in Europe, some do worse.
And the point is that the far right and right are destroying the system because they want to send people to private systems to rip them off, cause they are some in the business of private medical cares...
@@stevefl7175doesnt seem like the care is any better than in europe from what you are saying. In most eu countries, even the lowest income earners receive that care without paying for anything else than a MUCH smaller fee for the medicine (drugs are ridiculously overpriced in the US.) Most countries also have a strict break for how much medicine can cost in a year. In sweden i think the highest possible amount you need to pay yourself is like 200 bucks.
Same care, afforded for everyone so no innocent kid need to suffer for being born with a crippling diesease. Sorry, your way of doing things seem crule and inhumane.
200 bucks a year for clarification
@@stevefl7175 I think the point here is that if your sister didn't have health insurance, what would happen? Would your nephew still be afforded the same treatment without your sister being in debt or creating a gofundme?
That's the biggest difference, car wise I imagine they're similar, but the very poorest in Europe (I'm British so can only really speak for us), will receive that same care. The poorest here don't even pay for prescriptions, neither do expectent mum, over 65 or under 18s. So regardless of whether you're homeless, a student, out of work, working, wealthy, retired, you'll still be treated for free when you need it.
Americans seem to have a very different view of this, it seems much more individual freedom focussed rather than collectively caring for people so I don't think it'll ever change, but I couldn't imagine a world where we'd rather that than the NHS.
German here. As a kid I fell from a half-pipe in a skate park and broke part of my skull behind my left eye. I was flown to a specialist head trauma clinic with an emergency helicopter. They tested my brain functions, did crt scans and kept me there for a whole month. My parents at that time were pretty young and had almost no income or safings. Since our public healthcare paid EVERYTHING my parents were not struck with poverty early on in their lifes and I was able to have a normal upbringing.
PS: Im fine. Everything healed perfectly, no visible scars :)
A friend of mine had an anaphylactic shock in 1980 in communist (!) Poland.
Was flown by a medical plane to the nearest children's hospital, because allergies weren't understood back then, so the dispatcher thought "better safe than sorry".
(Today he'd get a shot of adrenaline)
Bottom line: many developing countries have better medical care than the US.
To those Americans who say that we abuse the universal healthcare and make it slow, my reply would be… why would I want to waste my time going to the doctor if I don’t really need it?
Have travelled many times to the US and yes we take out travel insurance, as a European, it usually comes in 3 types: Europe (very cheap, like maybe 10 euro for a month), World without US (slightly more expensive, something like 15-20 euro), and World with US (far more expensive, something like 100 euro). The huge difference is simply because the insurance company needs to spend so much time fighting with providers in the US over their scammy prices, where everywhere else they just bill them the actual costs.
Its cheaper not to get a travel insurance every time you travel but to get one all year round worldwide coverage valid for 8 weeks max. I pay around 20 Euro per year and it covered my treatment in the US. Cannot say what company as CZcams deletes unfortunately all posts referring to companies, stores, etc
@@cybilm133 Ìf you never travel usually, it is money thrown away for the one trip to the US.
The insurer in the US is an unnecessary middleman. They approve procedures (or not: the "Death Panels" have always been located in the insurance industry), and take their cut of the "costs" which are PROFITS.
Check out your credit card, most of them provide insurance during travel.
If you can have something big and expensive in the US and you can still travel they might actually pay for the plane home because it's cheaper than dealing with US healthcare system LOL 🙂
In Sweden every time you go see a doctor you pay 25 $ and when reaching 130 $ you don’t pay anything more for the rest of the year - the rule is maximum 130 $ for public health care during 12 months. Same with medication - when you reach 250 € you don’t pay anything more for your medication for the rest of the year. Staying at a hospital is 12 $ per day. So yes, one doesn’t need to worry about being ill in Sweden and I am so thankful for this - definitively makes it worth paying the taxes!
I never paid anything to see a doctor in Denmark. And I've been at several hospitals in bed for weeks 3 times now and had all kinds of things done to me with 900 machines plugged into me. Never paid 1 cent for that. In 50 years... So im right DK wins over the rest of EU. And im not a danish citizen even. Im a brit. Beat that world.
Didn't know that😳
But we should have something similar in germany! Some people go to the doctor just because of gossip in the waiting room😂
Edit: just my sense of humor, don't take it to literally 😉
@@nonamegirl9368 haha no gossip in Swedish waiting rooms! In Sweden one shouldn’t even say hello to one’s fellow patients. That’s why I was quite surprised when entering a waiting room at a medical clinic in France - there seemed being some gossip going on there too! Jokes aside, it’s quite difficult to get a medical appointment in Sweden (at least they try to make you cure yourself first so no abuse in Sweden) so when you go, you’re serious about it.
@@nonamegirl9368 we have. look up "zuzahlungsbefreiung" which is relative to a persons income and quite a bit higher than that flat cap the swedes have, but we have something already.
nah, a few years ago germany made people pay 10€ for visiting a doctor ... 10 EURO... and people with serious illnesses stopped going and in the end it all becoems so much more expensive for the health insurance because people go to late.
overall its still cheaper for the insurance if u go to often then when u go to late because as more serious it gets as more expensive it gets.
so they got rid of the 10€ in germany a short time ago @@nonamegirl9368
As a kid in the UK I had major kidney problems, i was facing transplants and all the issues that come with waiting for that. Instead the NHS flew in a specialist team from Latvia to perform an experimental new surgery, I was the second in the UK and the fifth in the world to have it. 8 hours of surgery from a team of 6 specialists and 5 other doctors learning this new technique, 4 months in the hospital and the bill to my parents was £0 for, so far, 40 years of good health. People knock the NHS but anyone who has gone through serious medical issues knows what they are about.
In the US you would be in debt for a couple hundred grand without insurance. I bet with insurance you would still have a bill of 50k or more. Kinda mindblowing that threw no fault of your own you could be in debt for life because of some random health issue. I am glad i live in Germany where i dont have to worry about things like that.
There's no biggest BS than "free healthcare in Europe".
It's "free" because you pay HUGE tax (in differet way). Only VAT is often 23% or so.
@@podunkman2709 You really should educate yourself about Europe, it's just a silly statement.
@@podunkman2709 And look what it gets us. Usually people don't consider taxes expensive here, people still have enough for other things because basic needs are covered by taxes and when they're taken care of at the national level there are serious economies of scale at play. It's cheap, regardless of what's your view on it.
@@podunkman2709 You must be an healthy son of a rich, or someone who has never had health problems. Or simply, just another American who has never learned another language, traveled, studied. I live in Switzerland, not quite Europe, but still, it's surrounded by Europe. By the way, Switzerland, not Sweeden, and no, I do not speak Swiss... Can you show me where Europe is on the map or the globe without looking on google? Do not make me start talking about USA instruction, wich is also a business...
I'm an American expat who lives in France. Last year I woke up at 3am with stomach pain so bad I could not even stand up straight. I called the paramedics and they immediately switched me to someone who spoke English. I told them what was going on and they said they'd send an ambulance. I walked from my apt to the front gate of my complex and within 5 minutes the ambulance arrived and I was transported to the hospital. I got checked in and moved to a ward where a nurse hooked me to an IV. I spent the first day having a myriad of tests done so they could determine the problem... EKG, full body MRI, ultra sound on my stomach, complete blood work, etc. Late in the afternoon the doc came in and told me they needed to remove my gall bladder. The next day they prepped me for laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery and in I went. After leaving the ICU was taken to a semi-private room (one other patient) where they left me to sleep. Early the following morning the doc came in to check on me and told me I could go home at noon. At noon I get dressed and walk down to the nurse's station. I ask for my bill and the lady starts to laugh and says "You must be the the American. There is no bill, but here is a list of meds you need to take for the next two weeks." So I called a cab and went home. The entire ordeal including the ambulance, tests, surgery and 3 day stay in the hospital cost me 17€. The post surgery meds cost me 49€, but I got reimbursed by my health insurance 40€.
If you're still wondering why he went to the emergency room, it's because his prescription wasn't valid. He was examined in Holland and they gave him the prescription there, but then he went to Germany to have x-rays. For this reason he went to the emergency room and for this reason he had to pay more. Otherwise he would have had to repeat the first visit to Germany and have a German prescription refilled.
Man, how clueless can this person be. Goes to Europe without any travel insurance, doesn't understand prescriptions don't cross borders, etc.
@@noseboop4354 Yep, one house pays tax to gov.be and the neighbors to gov.de, but where is that damned border? But I get it, it can be confusing that there are still autonomous countries though you do not notice changing from one to the other.
@@dutchman7623 The poeple speak another language ... could be a clue ... the names of the towns ...
@@gundleyG Nope, regional dialects do not differ a lot. Kölsch differs less from Limburgish than Bavarian. And I can speak with someone from Antwerp much easier than with someone from The Hague.
it is not a problem in the prescription, the problem is in the interpretation of the X-ray image
As you say, he went from the Netherlands to Germany
Doctors in Germany know very well what X-rays should be taken when it comes with Dutch prescription
but not every doctor can interpret an X-ray image,
for that you need a specialist, that's why he needed to go to the Emergency Service
My recent experience in Poland. I've had some severe stomach pain. It felt unusual and it was late evening so I decided to go to local emergency room. Doctor ordered me to go to hospital. They offered medical transport at 0 cost but I told them I can manage to go there myself and I'm not going to block ambulance van for others who may soon need it more than I. At the hospital I waited in an emergency room for about 20 minutes before doctor examined me. They decided to keep me there overnight to run thorough tests. They took 5 blood samples, X-ray, ECG, they gave me painkillers obviously and some other stuff. Following day they ran countless tests against some viruses. I spent there 3 days in total, have been checked inside-out (literally xD) and I paid 0.00 for it. Our healthcare isn't perfect at all, there are some major issues with it but still I cannot imagine living in the US system.
In US u would paly WAY LESS tax and buy insurrance.
There's no biggest BS than "free healthcare in Europe".
It's "free" because you pay HUGE tax (in differet way). Only VAT is often 23% or so.
@@podunkman2709 The income tax rates in poland are either 12% or 32%. A quick Google says the tax rates in the US are 10 - 37%. I.e. very similar. You are correct that the VAT rate is 23% on some items. These are items that you choose to buy and choose how much of each to buy. Healthcare isn't like that - you can't choose to not get ill. So surely it makes more sense to think "this month is a bit tight, I won't buy the expensive ice cream" compared to "this month is a bit tight, I can't afford to get that breathing difficulty checked out".
@@podunkman2709 Repeating stupidity does not make it more true.
the healtcare tax is 15 euro in Bulgaria(poorest EU country)hihi@@podunkman2709
@@podunkman2709 I wouldn't say that in Poland we pay such a huge tax (almost everybody has insurance). But even if we did, almost everything is included in it :D Sometimes, if you want to have something like plastic surgery or a specific procedure with a new method that is not necessary, then you have to do it in a private institution. However, every procedure in a public hospital or institution is free (of course, paid by taxes beforehand). Most drugs for people under 18 and over 65 are reimbursed, which means you pay $0 when you need them. And you never know what disease you might get. For example, if your child is born with SMA - a serious, fatal disease - without insurance for the new drug that would treat it, you would have to pay $2.1 million :D In Poland, it's covered. It's normal that many people won't get a serious illness, and that's why those who do can be treated. Of course, our system also has its flaws and needs many reforms. For instance, sometimes you have to wait a long time for a visit to a specialist (but in emergency situations, you don't need to wait, and if you have the flu, you don't need to wait to see a GP). And if you really need to see a specialist sooner, you can do it privately at a much cheaper cost than in the U.S.
I live in Czech Republic and from what I know the healthcare system here is very similar to the one in Germany.
The reason why you get the recomendation is to give you the choice of where and when to go. You can choose to go further away from your home, but with almost no waiting time, or you can go somewhere closer to home, but wait longer till your appointment. It also helps to reduce the queues of certain places, as people can choose other less crowded facilitied to go to.
Just to hammer it home for the us americans: He went to a doctor in the netherlands and got a recommendation for an x-ray. He then went to germany to a hospital. He continued his treatment in another country. And since heath insurance is mandatory in europe they have little experience with uninsured patients, so sometimes billing mistakes are made.
I think the difference in billing was that the 60 Euros for the trip and the time in the ER itself would normally be handled automatically by the insurance, which is why they first only asked for just 20 Euros for the X-ray.
I'm pretty sure that letter was not used in the process. They'd help him regardless of that.
The letter is mostly important for people with Dutch insurance, though. In general, in they won't pay up unless you go through a GP first and get such a reference for a "specialist".
Even in emergency rooms, you first go through a GP and follow a similar process. Unless the case is obvious (e.g. you came in by ambulance or your bone sticks out :p).
Let's not forget he got recommended an xray in one country (Holland) and actually had the xray in another (Germany).
Holland is a province in the Netherlands.
Netherlands is the country.
I think the reference from the Dutch doctor didn't work directly. That's probably the reason he got checked again in Germany.
Well, he saw the first doctor and got his pain pills in Holland, but left before getting the X-ray, and had to start over in Germany.
"dancing too long in the nightclub" in Amsterdam. He was at a rave.
I'm from the Netherlands, and i'm really happy with our system.
I pay 180 euro's a month and i'm covered for everything! Dentist, physical therapist, psychologist, all the medicines i need, literally everything. We have to pay the first 385 euros we spend on healthcare yearly. Everything else is covered 100% without co pay. Waiting at the doctors office or hospital takes less than 1 hour, and they may apologise to you for the delay if its more than 30 minutes 😅
180 month? lol so expensive, i full covered for 165€ a year, netherland is way to expensive
@@carlo0000aLiar. Where do you live? You are probably barely earning anything and are living off of the taxes of others!
In Germany, going to the doctor without an appointment can definitely mean that you have to wait a bit longer. Most general practitioners have offices with one to three doctors, so none of them will just play backup, but they will all have a relatively full schedule. They will usually tell you, if you have to expect a particularly long waiting time, though. I have seen that some doctors leave a time slot explicitly for walk-ins, but I would not rely on that.
if i go to my doctor i always call, if its an emergency etc. they will always tell me to come in immediatley. i will go first and when i walk in i will recieve help straight away. if i walk in there without an emergency or appointment. they will tell me to make an appointment or indeed have to wait a few minutes longer. but never to long. they always have a doc here that is free and specially there to help unexpected patients.
It is rare that someone is not insured in Germany. If you have absolutely no money, no (German) address and are obviously in need, no doctor will bill you.
Ohne Versicherungskarte wirst du teilweise nicht behandelt. Ich hatte das letztens bei meinem Sohn als wir die Karte vergessen hatten. Die Versicherung musste dem Kieferorthopäden was faxen, ansonsten wären wir nicht behandelt worden.
@@christinadieker120 Kieferorthopäden sind ja auch keine Allgemeinärzte. Ich rede von jemanden in Not, ohne Geld und ersthaft Krank
@@christinadieker120 Das ist auch kein Notfall! Im Notfall wirst du IMMER behandelt, sonst machen die Ärzte sich strafbar
@@Raider714 aber nur, wenn man Sozialversicherungspflichtig beschäftigt ist. Es kann sein, dass man als Selbstständiger nicht versichert ist. Problematisch ist es auch, wenn man Rentner ist und dann plötzlich n die PKV nicht mehr zahlen kann.
@@nettcologne9186 bei einem Notfall ist das richtig. Allerdings wird die Rechnung dann z.B. vom Sozialamt übernommen.
I'm Greek and I live in the Netherlands. I don't know about other people. I only speak about myself, but I have never waited for more than 1 hour in any of these countries , inside hospitals, emergencies , or any other clinic .
I'm Dutch and living in the Netherlands, but I have had to wait longer once. Was a very special occasion. Some major accident had happened and 10+ emergencies arrived by ambulance. My situation wasn't life threatening in any way, so of course these people had priority. Otherwise half an hour up to an hour is more standard in emergency.
@@user-xi6nk4xs4s For some procedures you have to wait months though it is not a lie. My dad needed prosthetic knees and waited 4 weeks for a bed to be available. Some procedures take even longer. In covid time everything was pushed back also, but it is still not bad and if you can't wait you will be pushed ahead.
Mijn ervaring is hetzelfde. Ik heb in 23 jaar nog nooit hoeven wachten. Niet voor de huisarts, niet voor het ziekenhuis, niet voor de tandarts. Welcome to the Netherlands my friend.
@@OGruurdeen keer bij de eerste hulp, omdat het gewoon erg druk was. Die Amerikanen worden gewoon genaaid door de verzekeringsmaatschappij.
My friend was on her honeymoon in Greece and she went to the hospital for some reason. She only speaks Italian the doctor spoke in English and Greek, anyways they fixed her and they charged her nothing
20 was for the X-ray and 60 for consultation and stuff the doctor did. They charged him that only because he didn't have any insurance and that is why they probably billed him wrong... they are just not used to bill people at all :)
13:15 He didn't go to an urgent care. He went to a "huisarts". Which can be best translated as a general practitioner (GP), and they are basically the gatekeeper to healthcare. The GP knows a little bit of everything in healthcare and so can recommend you to more specialized healthcare. They can also help you with basic care in cases where a specialist isn't really needed. For example, I used to have an extremely bad pollen allergy to the point where sometimes I saw everything blurry. The GP recommend me to go to a specialist, and they started immunotherapy on me. Which meant that I needed 2 injections every four weeks. It wouldn't be necessary to drive an hour to a specialist every four weeks only to let them give me 2 injections and nothing else. So, the GP did it instead (who is around 5 minutes away). This makes specialist treatment way cheaper since they can now focus on patients that actually need them and let the simpler things be done by someone less specialized in that area. Though note that a GP is definitely specialized, they are specialized in treating everything simple and being a jack of all trades.
I am from Belgium and my GP is Dutch (from Friesland 🙂). She says in the Netherlands it can be pretty hard to get a doctor's appointment within a reasonable period of time, at least compared to Belgium. She works in a medical practice with 3 other GPs, and if I can't see her the next day, I can always see one of her colleagues if it's urgent.
@stevenvanhulle7242 What would you consider a reasonable period of time? I can always see my GP within 2 days, and if it's urgent, I can see him the same day. Though I live in a small village so it might be different here.
Describing a Huisarts as 'knowing a little bit of everything' sounds a tad disrespectful in light of the 3 years specialisation study required after the 6 years of General medicine study. They solve 90% of medical problems of their patients themselves.
@@rmyikzelf5604 because 50% of the issues are very common, or take a couple of days rest to resolve. If not more.
@@rmyikzelf5604 I get that it sounds disrespectful, but it's basically a direct translation of how my GP describes his job
"everything's free and abusing it"
Oh yeah, we just looove going to the hospital getting xrays, pet scan and random MRIs for shits and giggles !
Joke aside, in some places you might need to be patient if you need to see a specialist, but if it's super urgent your GP will always manage to get you an emergency appointment and be seen asap.
if the USA had universal health care, it would mean that a farmers taxes in Wisconsin would raise, because part of them wold go towards a rehab patient in Alabama, and he would not want that!!
I live in Germany and we don't pay to go to the doctor but we do pay 8% of our wages to health care, mandatory insurance. The wait times are usually longer than he experienced. Prescriptions and referrals are on paper and you can take them anywhere, not like you have to pick a pharmacy or a certain specialist it gets written out to.
16%. It's 8% that you pay, and another 8% that the employer pays - which is basically the same.
I'm self employed and I pay 16%. Fortunately there's a maximum of around 950€ per month - you pay that when you hit the maximum, not 16%.
@@LMB222 True, they really mess with you when you are self employed. A friend of mine, self employed, made a bit more one year and once they found out which is after taxes at least 1-2 years later, they backcharged him a few grand. By then he's broke again so he asked to pay the back charge in installments. They accepted the payment plan but next time he needed a doctor he found that his card was blocked. He asked them and they said yeah, until you're paid up. So in theory we are all supposed to be insured but in reality if you're self employed and owe them, you are not.
Tell the average American they could pay 16% for full coverage, no copay, no deductible, etc
They will queue to sign up.
As a British citizen, everytime I go to the United States, I have to buy a travel insurance to cover me if I got sick or I get admitted to the hospital in the usa for any unforseen circumstances. So yea, its very important to have a travel insurance.
Few weeks ago my shoulder was giving me grief.
Phoned the doctor in the morning, was given an appointment for that day.
He sent me to the local hospital for an X ray. Waited about 20 minutes i think. Didn't cost me a penny.
Got to love the NHS.
If we travel to the US we get health insurance.
I wouldn't want to receive a US medical bill 😂🤑
Where were you?
@@earnesta.brooks7123 England
uk@@earnesta.brooks7123
@@earnesta.brooks7123 NHS is GB/England
@@earnesta.brooks7123 The NHS is British, so I guess anywhere in the UK.
I live in Vienna and have a long list of mainly rare chronic illnesses like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Relapsing Polychondritis, epilepsy, complex and many back, joint and skull issues and I had a rare paraplegia cause where I needed an emergency surgery.
So I‘ve had dozens of hospital stays/ER visits and absolutely had hundreds of appointments and tests like x-rays, MRIs and bloodwork done. I take many necessary medications too.
I have friends in the US who have the same/similar chronic illnesses and many literally can’t afford the most basic care. Many will die for stupid reasons like money. Which is not just sad but so preventable!!
With rare disorders you really need experienced specialists and sometimes there are only 5 in the whole world. If I can prove to my public health insurance that I need surgery X done by a specialist and it cannot be done here in Austria, they will pay for it in a different country. I already had a surgery done in Germany.
I tried working after rehab for my paraplegia but it was just too much and I had to retire. Since then I receive disability pension and disability benefits.
So you can probably imagine how much I profited from the healthcare system and social security net. In the US I‘d be in debt if not already dead.
So in most of Europe a general practicioner or a specialist who is not equipped to treat you will normally give you a "transfer slip" for a specialist or a hospital. On that transfer slip they CAN specify a recommendation on where to go specifically (like a specialist they know personally to be good), but you are not bound to go there. You can simply take this transfer slip to any hospital or specialist that fulfils the requirements of the transfer. So when you get a transfer slip two days before moving to a different part of the country, you can also just take it to the hospital near your new place rather than answering to the whims of an insurance or the doctor who transferred you.
Two weeks ago i was in Germany ( i do live in Switzerland as a German citizen) and I felt pain in the shoulder, the arm and numb fingers. A chiropractor told me to check for herniated disc. Back in Switzerland i got an appointment at my doctor, told him about it and the next day i got a date at the radiology and got a MRI. This is how long you have to wait in Europe. Btw. the chiro costs 20 €.
My best friend's son was born with a congenital condition called Fallot's tetralogy (which means his heart has a number of life threatening defects) and he underwent 2 open heart surgeries till the age of 8. He's now in his mid-twenties, has a job of his own and must replace one of his heart valves. It cost my friend's 0€ for the two surgeries, and will cost his son 0€, to replace the tricuspid valve. Thank God I live in a country that respects its citizens and doesn't see them as walking wallets. I can't even fathom what could have happened if the boy was born in the States
In The States he'd be either bankrupt or dead, pick one, l don't know how Americans endure such unfairness and callous soulless system. Unbelievable 😮
The best part: That son will be paying taxes for a long time, once he is sorted, whereas he'd be a big zero in the US. @@cal9112 Exploiting your workforce instead of having them work smoothly is never clever in the long run, but the US system is run by economists who only have short-term attention spans and memories. Sadly, most of Europe is beginning to follow suit.
@@Ned-Ryerson Pretty cynical viewpoint but I get it and I agree with you
I am working in Mönchengladbach and for me it was interesting that he said it is close to the border. We don't feel so but guess from American view it seems to be. That means you have quite a different relation to distances.
😂 I live at the east-side of MG and we are close at the border. I need more time, to drive by car to Düsseldorf than to Roermond..
@@assellator7298Holland ist um die Ecke für Gladbacher.
Well if you look at a map of the US, it's pretty obvious that they have a very different view of distances
Sach ich doch..@@worldoftanksaveragaplayer 😁
It's less than 40 km from Mönchengladbach to the Netherlands. I'd call that close even from a Dutch point of view.
I'm brazilian. In Brazil you could go to the ER, receive treatment and it would be free. Even for foreigners. It's far from perfect but it's free (tax sustain).
As an Australian subscriber of all 3 chanels i find it great learning the diffrent sides of topics from various angles helps me learn too
I think If America ever did go universal healthcare the waiting times would skyrocket because suddenly everyone who has been putting off going will be able to go without fear of becomming bankrupt. Might take a good 5 or so years to settle down.
It might happen, but people could also still be scared to have to pay unforeseen cost and still not go since they haven't known any other way.
Sadly, I cannot see America changing to ANY form of 'Universal Healthcare' because too many people are making so many $$$'s from pills, drugs, hospitals and medical procedures... Plus too many politicians get lobbied and have 'donations' thrown at them by the BIG PHARMA... And finally, because of the American 'mindset' with the words 'socialised healthcare' - BOOM - they read/see the words as 'communism'! 😎
I’m I English living in the U.K., and I’m coming to the end of a two and a half month NHS experience. I discovered late on a Friday night a very scary looking, very large burst blister on my foot. I went to Accident and Emergency at 8:30 the next morning. I waited for two minutes to see a triage nurse. Then I waited less than ten minutes to see a consultant. He sent me to hospital and gave me the name of a department to go to. I arrived, went to the department named and was greeted by a nurse who knew my name and was waiting for me. Half an hour later I was in bed. I had a three week stay in hospital, was on IV antibiotics 24/7. I had a CAT scan, an MRI, X-rays and a ECG from a cardiology consultant. I was under the care of a vascular surgeon who I saw everyday. I came close to losing my leg, but they saved me. There was so much effort focussed on me. The food was great!
Upon discharge, I was fitted with an Off-Loading boot, to protect the wound on my foot. Oh and my three week car park fee was waved.
In the six weeks since discharge my leg has been cleaned treated and redressed three times a week. One by a specialist treatment nurse, once by a podiatrist and once by the consultant. My large, deep wound is almost healed. The car parking charges for all those visits was waved.
The whole experience has cost my NOTHING!
Your NHS is not free, you pay taxes that fund the NHS
@@nettcologne9186
That is true, however, I don’t work, so I pay no tax, nor do I ask for or receive any benefits. But if I did pay tax, the contribution that pays for the NHS would be orders of magnitude greater than you, I assume from your aggressive defensive stand point you’re American, would have to pay.
Why do you defend a system that is so unfair, expensive, and cruel to those who are disadvantaged. The objective of the NHS is to care for our society “from cradle to grave” and to do it “free at the point of delivery”. The NHS’s biggest threat is from American insurance companies and drug manufacturers greedy influence on our greedy corrupt Tory government, who are, generationally, underfunding it, to let it fail, so they can somehow dissociate themselves from their actions whilst carving up the profits. A health service should not make a profit, that statement would leave an American apoplectic, which of course, the NHS would treat gratis.
Because your society is so insular you believe everything you’re indoctrinated with. The rest of the planet watches and pities you. Try and get some perspective.
I can answer that for you.. there is a certain type of american that fundamentally believes that if something bad happens to you...its your fault and you should fix it yourself...or die trying as they assume when present with such a scenario they personally would have no issues dealing with it,
For all thats good about the states there is this streak of callousness and moral superiority they have in their psyche they just cant seem to let go of that taints much of their interaction with the world @@1967AJB
@@1967AJB Unfortunately the NHS is underfunded, and this can be easily found out. I'm a German living in Switzerland and think the German and Swiss systems have advantages over socialistic systems like UK or Skandinavia.
Here as well as in Germany many health insurance companies compete for customers, you also pay a small amount every time you go see a doctor or get prescription medicine (otherwise people will go to emergency room with only a scratch). You can chose between general, semi private and private insurance plan. In the rankings Switzerland and Germany are always on top in terms of quality of healthcare. Health insurance is paid separately to taxes and poor people will have to pay less but health costs in both countries are high.
They are very expensive compared to the rest of the world but good systems. All my claims can be looked up
@@1967AJB That being said, the Swiss (including Liechtenstein, who do so many things the same as the swiss like their currency) and German systems are universal too but, set up differently. It has been found that this type of system is more efficient and gives Doctors more time with patients (through health insurance companies, and you pay max. 10% of costs but no more than 200 francs/euro per treatment (let's say a knee operation costs 40'000 this isn't a lot)
I have heard some bad stories from British colleagues who live here in Switzerland and work in the same company I work in, some of them do not like the NHS
German here...For planned checkups, you make an appointment months before, but in case of something currently happening, you always get examined fast...
Example: I got an eye injury a decade ago...some years ago, I had a problem with that eye...Went to the doctor (a specialist for eyes, where I have annual appountments) and told the receptionist...The doctor was with another patient, so she said, that she will tell the doctor, when the other patient is finished and call me...That was around 10:00...10 minutes later, she calls me, to tell me to come in at noon, when they usually have their break, to get examined...
Hmmmm...long waittime? I dont think so^^Especially at a specialist, where appointments need to be made at least 4 months in advance^°
Don't know how it is in the Netherlands, but in Germany, when a doctor orders an x-ray that they cannot do themselves, they give you a referral that you can use in every office or clinic that offers this service. It basically means that a doctor has found that this procedure is medically justified. In general, the doctor's office has a few places they can recommend for where you want to get the x-ray, but it is up to you to basically call them and see who has time and where you want to go.
Bigger cities usually have longer waiting times, especially in the evening or at the weekend. But in a smaller town it's quite common to be seen very quickly. Doctors usually take into account that you're a tourist and try to fit you in, a citizen would have to make an appointment and have a decent wait
Citizens can wait for any normal checkup/diagnosis. And get an appointment somewhere in the future.
In emergencies however they will be treated the same as foreigners (who are mostly an emergency case, else they would not come)
@@reiniernn9071 Yeah totally agree, i haven't seen preference for tourists in emergency rooms. I understand why regular doctors do try and fit tourists in for an appointment and if it were me travelling I'd be glad it worked that way!
Generally in the UK the doctor you see in an NHS hospital is the same doctor you would see in a private hospital , they tend to work in both
And being overworked while at it.
I'm English and when I was 20 I climbed over a small wall (2 feet high) and when I stepped down my knee cartilage split, I was lying on the floor in pain while my girlfriend and father were laughing at me before they realised it was serious. The NHS ambulance took me to a hospital that gave me an x-ray, then moved me to a different hospital for an MRI to find the problem and then took me home and sent me a message calling me in to perform surgery on my knee to repair the damage. They didn't charge me a penny, not on single cent, nothing. God Bless The NHS!
Edit - The highest cost was for my dad's parking because he had to fetch me back from hospital.
These days in Belgium the physician puts your prescriptions on your digital health record and then you can take it out from any pharmacy you want. He definitely had a very speedy service, that’s definitely not always the case in Europe. I've often had to wait an hour or longer at a physician when I went without an appointment. And getting an appointment to see a specialist can take quite a long time. It was recently in the news that going to a plastic surgeon in hospital for a procedure like botox takes 6-12 months.
I have this issue with seeing doctors, especially specialists in Norway. I often have to wait awhile, they often have to cancel, and sometimes I am so ill I have to cancel - but getting a new appointment with a GP can take a week or more and months or even a year or more for specialists.
Hey Ryan. If travelling from the UK to the US I can get travel insurance which depending on age, medical history and activities you'd be doing in the US could be bought for as little as $40 or $50 to cover multiple trips per year to the US. This would cover pretty much all costs including helicopter ambulance and flying you home via special aircraft.
At least here in Slovakia, we get electronic prescription ( if the system is down than it´s paper prescription) than you can go to any pharmacy show them your insurance card and they will give you your medication depending on the medication it´s ether covered fully by your insurance or you pay few euros.
Similarly here (see the flag in case you're wondering what country it is)
But he was a tourist with no insurance. I am sure if he was a citizen, it would be like that.
I‘m from Germany, work fulltime and get paid at the median. I pay over 300 Euros from it each month, if I like it or not and if I am ill / injured or not. Last year I dislocated my knee. It aches 11 out 10 🙈. I had to wait 3 hours in the hospital before getting pain relief, another hour for x-rays and another four hours to locate it again. Waiting 8-10 hours is normal in our hospital near Hamburg. I made this experience a few times the last years. When you have private insurance you experience faster times and better care. I know that, because I once testet it on my own. I had to pay for extra care, because the normal didn’t work. It was faster, very much less painful, but also expensive.
I think he had luck and the cash on his side.
Yeah that's the thing. I prefer our German system over the American one any day, but it is definitely not a perfect system, it has flaws, and two-class-medicine is definitely a thing.
I agree. Although It is very reliant on the region. I lived in hamburg and had experiences with the public and private healthcare. What shocked me, since I didn't grow up in Hamburg is, that a lot of clinics don't even treat non-private patients. I moved in my hometown near Bremen. Here I always get a appointment, everything is super fast and my doctor knows me by name.
14:22 when you travel to any country where you are not willing to pay any healthcare bills it's possible to buy a temporary insurance even for one day
It's valid also within EU where some countries do not cover all procedures with their public healthcare (which is free for every EU citizens) and countries where some procedures require copaying.
The price for such insurance is less than dozen euro per day, and even much less for longer trips, especially in bigger groups.
In Estonia, we also have digital prescription and DIGILUGU ~Digital medical history - it helps that you don't have to tell the same story to every doctor! But it's tied to your ID code. You go to ANY drug store, show your ID and they can see all the prescribed medications for you. I think since he is a foreigner they really can't to it online for him.
In Austria it is the same - we just use another name!
Italy too, except it's accessed through a different document, not the ID.
In Finland too
Well, for germans that would be a nightmare..privacy reasons and such
@@mats7492 no, only those authorised can access the data. That includes your GP, the hospital that treats you, and the specialists you refer to. Besides, you need to physically hand them the document.
30 minutes waiting-time in an ER? Seems it wasn´t busy on that day. It depends on how many people are there and how bad are the "Injuries"... One time i waited for about 2 Hours (Friday evening) and another time there was no one in the waiting room, took me about 10 min to see a doctor ^^But i think thats just logical, you have 3 doctors in the ER, and 30 people waiting to be seen, so the nurses have to prioritize who´s first (worst condition or abulance first of course) :-)
But all in all i am happy with the health-care system in Germany, at least the ER... when i think how overworked and understaffed many Hospitals are, most of them trying their best just to help people.
I got stuck in ER for a few hours. But the parameds had done all the checks in the ambulance, I was not in danger, just in some pain which cocodamol made easier. So I was down the list. Fair enough.
Here in Germany, it's kind of a mixed bag for your wait times.
If It's acute but not life-threatening, you go to your "local doctor" (in German it's "Hausarzt", basically a doctor that is responsible for your local area and does general examinations to then decide if a specialist is needed or mild painkillers and time to heal) and there you likely wait ~15-45 minutes to see your doctor.
If it's acute and maybe life-threatening, you call an ambulance or if you are close go to the emergency room and there you are assessed based on priority (heart attack patients bump your broken limb down the waiting list etc.) but generally It's also not too bad for waiting time.
However, appointment for specialists can really take months.
I am in treatment for sleep apnea and from when I phoned the specialist doctor because of the recommendation, to the actual appointment there to get checked out in a sleep lab it took around 2 months (with 1 pre-examination, but still)
And at the moment I have high blood pressure and my local doc gave me a recommendation to get my kidneys checked if they don't get enough blood. And this appointment also takes over 1 month despite it being quite seriously if my kidneys don't get enough oxygen.
For your explanation of the recommendations, it's basically a slip of paper where your info is printed on alongside the title of the specialist medical field he refers you too, and his first step diagnosis from where they can take on. So basically it's your personal information + "Angiologie" (for a kidney specialist) + the diagnosis of high blood pressure and the recommended next steps like "look for a blocked artery to the kidneys", but that's all done in medial jargon.
German here. To be fair, the wait times are a big issue, this guy was lucky. However, everything else he said is the standard, as citizens with national health insurance you wouldn't even pay those 80 Euros for the X-Ray, maybe just 5 for the medication. And to answer your question: Yes, we do take out temporary insurance when we travel outside the EU, especially to the US, mine costs 11 Euros per year and they would pay for it if I had to get medical treatment in any foreign country across the world.
In the UK the NHS/gov has arrangements with other countries so that in general, if you have an accident etc you will be treated without up front cost to yourself. The government then recoups the cost from your country of origin. There are many arrangements in place.
However people from the UK pretty much always take out travel insurance when we go abroad in case of things like repatriation etc.
Travel insurance is very cheap too, it's way better to just spend the extra £10 per person to be safe than risk losing big.
In my experience travel insurance is also very quick to pay out, they'd rather throw £200 at you for a tetanus shot and a few check ups because you scraped your arm on something than fight it.
I think Americans are just used to insurance being evil like their health insurance companies.
Yes, many countries have reciprocal 'agreements' with the NHS, so always worth checking the NHS website before travelling to check the country and how it works (those that DO have agreements all work differently as to what level of service and conditions you will get). Many are one's you might not even realise, such as: Serbia, Montenegro, the Faroe Islands or North Macedonia! Most BOT's (British Overseas Territories) and similar like the British Virgin Islands, St Helena, Jersey and Gibraltar etc. VERY Important: make sure you carry or have available the required info, because they will need PROOF in the way of (for instance), documents that may include a passport, driver’s licence, proof of national insurance enrolment or even a utility bill with name and address.
The terms of the reciprocal agreements are that a citizen of one country visiting the other will get the same treatment on the same terms as a local. So the actual level of treatment and payment will vary.
In Finland, everything is digital. You can go to any pharmacy and just let them scan your id. Or you can authorize digitally someone to get your meds for you. And you can also search online which pharmacies have your med available.
having your medical history tied to your id is the stuff of nightmares for a german..
@@mats7492why so?
@@peketee2278 privacy concerns.
There have been instances in germany where medical data was stolen and sold..
also the german technical infrastructure is just terrible so it would probably take 20 years to implement a system like finnland..
@@mats7492 you wanted to say 20 years AFTER the 100 years it will take to decide about the proceedure 😂
If you are citizen
I bought tourist health insurance for my 3 weeks trip to the US for a value of EUR 100,000 for 160 zl (+- 40 USD). For that price it covered life insurance, health insurance, emergency dentist care coverage (up to EUR 600) and civil liability (EUR 30,000), luggage loss and some other minor situations. I am a Polish citizen, and the insurance company is Polish.
In Europe you see the doctor pretty much immediately and he gives you prescriptions for further treatment and medication as required. Literally 24 hours you can get seen diagnosed treated/admitted to hospital. This is France, great healthcare.
Its all about taking out a health care travel policy if you don't live in a country with universal health care .Most Americans don't seem to be aware of travel policies when they travel.
It depends. Older people tend to take out travel insurance when they go away. It covers healthcare as well as trip cancellations, lost luggage, etc. It's the younger people who tend to skip it. Also depends on how much the trip costs and where it's going.
I never go abroad without an insurance, just in case I trip over a cat or something like that.
I'm European and live in Spain. So I have access to the health care system. But there they only speak Spanish and I am at a beginners level. Thats why I prefer to have an insurance so I can go to a private clinic where they speak English or my own tongue.
I pay 62€ a month
12:27 LMAO, Imagine getting charged extra because you visited the ER on a Saturday... "Oh yeah, I should have waited two more days in excruciating pain to have my broken arm visited, now I can't feed my family for the rest of the month, but that's on me obviously, I should be more thoughtful next time", that's some hellish dystopic stuff
Thats the ultra free market :D
I'm German and I can tell you, that his experience about waiting at the doctors office and also the emergency room is actually way less than usual. I've countless times waited an hour or two at the doctors office when I had no appointment. Whenever you make an appointment, it tends to be quick, yes. If you check in without having an appointment, you are lucky if you can even wait because a lot of the time it's already filled with peoples appointments but if they aren't full you can wait, you will wait a long time though. For the emergency room it just depends for how many emergencies there are, quite obvious I guess. But when you for example break your foot or whatever at the weekened and have to go to the emergency room at a hospital in the middle of like Saturday night, you can also easily wait 4 hours.
Yes, you wait forever. Once you've been treated it goes relatively quickly, but if not, you'll have to get an appointment with a specialist first. The cardiologists are now making appointments for next fall and most are no longer accepting new patients. They're all totally overcrowded.
I'm currently undergoing chemo and always get appointments for a whole month, which I then have to complete. I only have to pay the prescription fees. Was 80€ last month. In any case, I don't have to cook meth like Walter White to pay for chemo.
I have similar experience here in the Netherlands
I'd say it's quick for the UK too, but it does happen. I've been in and out of a no-app xray before in less than 30 mins. Never usually wait 2 hours though, generally it gets like that when it's at the very peak times though as I understand it.
I really enjoyed your video and comments plus learning more about the world around me.
I'm from Iceland. We get coverage from our national health insurance when we're abroad. I lived for five years in the Boston area. My US work payed for some level of insurance but it was actually less of a hassle to use my Icelandic health insurance to cover my expenses since it just worked seamlessly and had better coverage. I went to the emergency room once, my daughter got great care, vaccines, checkups etc, and we had another kid! Payed the same as I would have at home, i.e. very little. I'm amazed at the reluctance of Americans to take up single payer or universal healthcare. Especially since you actually already have one of the worlds largest social healthcare systems, the VA and medicare.
And Medicaid which pays for any and all child (care and meds) who lives at or below decent income levels and for all disabled people (care and meds at the small copays of $0.50 for a GP/cheap medication/bloodwork, $1.00 mid-range medication, and $2.00 for expensive medication). There are many reasons why we don't want the government in charge of health care, however. (See my reply about my experiences here in Norway I posted a few minutes ago for a short comparison.) One of the biggest reasons is choice - when you have the choice of which doctor(s) you see, which hospitals you go to, which medication brand or off-brand you take, etc., you are more in control of your own health care, and you are likely to get better care. When bureaucrats get involved, things tend to become less about the rights and choices of citizens but about what is best for the country's pocketbook. Health care should never be about saving or making a government money.
@@KristinJohansen1 You misunderstand Single Payer.
The government isn't in charge of your healthcare, the doctor is. The government is just the one paying for it.
In the US, it's the insurance company paying for it - but unlike the government in the UK, apparently the insurance company doesn't trust the doctor to only give you the tests and treatments you need, where the government does...
Admittedly, we don't have politicians deciding that 10 year old rape victims can't get an abortion. So I'm not sure we'd trust your government either in that regard.
@@michaelleiper That isn’t true as the government decides what medicines are covered by them or not and what medicines they will allow in from other countries. Several medicines I need that were created in other countries aren’t allowed in Norway, and many medicines I need due to health conditions are treated as if they are antibiotics and aren’t ‘covered’ by the government’s health care plan. Also, in Europe there are many tests I can’t get that I used to get, one yearly to gauge how active my rheumatoid disease is for example, as they won’t allow it here because it’s “too expensive” even though it gives vital information useful to my entire treatment team to help us evaluate and treat my disease so that my body can stop hurting itself. The government being in charge of deciding what is or isn’t allowed or too expensive isn’t really any different than private insurance companies doing so except that at least private companies are at least responsible to shareholders to make a profit and so, often overboard admittedly, are at least trying to ensure cutting costs by requiring doctors to submit requests for certain tests. Often those requests are denied and doctors have to spend way too much time and effort appealing those decisions. As I’ve stated before, the system is not perfect by far. But neither is a system where the government is in control - I am living proof of that and my socialist husband has realized that just seeing how different and difficult getting proper care for me is here in Europe. What we all need to do is, instead of arguing that this system is right or that system is right, is to figure out the pros and cons of both systems and work together to figure out what is best for each country individually that helps the most individuals within each country. What will be best for the UK might not be what is best for Norway might not be what is best for the US, etc., as we have different cultures, tax structures, amount of oil we can and do use and trade, amount of people - especially those relying on the government for their income, food, etc.
I live in the UK and I've seen so many of these videos about the US healthcare system and the underlying failure of the US system is that it is for-profit and there are little or no controls! Practically any country in Europe the healthcare system is for the health of the people, that is the purpose behind it. Charges are typically at cost, just to cover the cost of the service and materials. Yes there can be waits if you need to see a consultant for something that requires a specialist, and local doctors (GPs in the UK) waits can be a few days for non-urgent. If you have an urgent condition you can get same-day appointments at your doctor or go to the ER (Accident & Emergency - A&E in the UK) for immediate treatment which is done on a priority basis. Non-urgent consultations can be a number of weeks or months at the moment in the UK but you will get treated without paying rediculous amount of money. The US government need to change their attitude to healthcare and see it as important for the health of its citizens...
The concern is the "health" -- profit -- of the insurance corporations, which have no legitimate role in medicine. It's all about bean-counting -- accounting. Same on the medical industry side: profits.
American healthcare is a scam (with or without insurance). If you travel to Europe and break your leg, you will pay the actual costs and be surprised how low that is compared to your bill in de USA.
Same with medicines. We have the same products, produced by the same companies like Pfizer. Still we pay 10 times less for these products.
That’s because out governments do not allow hospitals or pharma companies to charge whatever they want. That’s not socialism, but not allowing cheating companies to ripp of citizens.
Indeed. The shareholder value must be healthy. 🤢
i am glad to hear that, thats how it should be all over the globe.
What I understood from how certain things work in the US with their Healthcare etc is how overcharged prices are on drugs/medicine, then you have insurance companies that try to profit as much as possible too and the funniest part what I noticed, it is not like the US-Government isn't putting money into Healthcare, they do throw a lot at it, but it seems like those companies just leech off of it, they gotta start revamping that and penalize those bad apples or close the money pipe.
I couldn't tell much about doctors office in the netherlands, but here in Germany you get priority when you are hurt or in pain. A patient with a cold CAN wait. Its not nice, but its not nice to be sick in the first place, but injurys can getmore serious if not taken care of and that is what "The Healthsystem" is trying to avoid.
I checked some prices here in Finland: short travelling insurance ~40€, yearly fee depending on a company 65~180€ /year.
Voluntary health insurance, depending on one’s health, age etc 65 € - 620€/year. A lot of people choose to pay this to be able to go to the private clinics and hospitals.
Here in italy you can take your x ray/ specialist prescipion and choose the hospital you like the most, and if i go in a diffent EU country i don t need other private Healthcare enscurance becaus i have the EU enscurance card
I think I've had 2 such cases, where I had to do smth fast and without waiting for appointments (In Latvia):
1) Most expensive - Tooth hurts, really bad, painkillers didn't help at all. Didn't wait 2 days for appointment to dentist and drove directly to institute (most advanced dental/face surgery etc place in country) to deal with it in live line. No appointments, no extra insurances etc. Turns out was infection above one of the tooth root. So had dentist, then x-ray, again dentist to drill and fill the root, then surgeon to do the cutting above the tooth, stitches. Total time spent there ~4h. Bill 83€. Week later checkup and removing stitches was free.
2) Again infection now in throat, was very painful to eat and drink, again didn't wait 2-3 days for appointment, but just went to ER on Sunday noon. Got initial checkup in ~10-15min to determine how urgent it is and which doctor I need (priority is for more life threatening cases), had to wait abt an hour. Went to doc, a bit of cutting and cleaning, gave meds to use for a week. Total bill 4.26€ (yes, dot in there isn't mistake. 4€ and 26 cents).
My gf is from Latvia. When we visited her family, I cracked my tooth because I ate seedless cherries, but one of them still had a seed. Went into a private clinic and they fixed not only that one tooth, they fixed all of my mouth for 80€. It was dirt cheap.
I am Danish and we went to Barcelona, Spain this summer. Our daughter got a bad cough and we took her to the emergency room in the middle of the night. Apart from problems communicating (because my Spanish is non existent) we were treated really well and was checked by a doctor, got a prescription, went by the 24hr pharmacy and returned back to our hotel with a total cost of 7 EUR for the pills.
In Denmark you pay around 2 - 3 USD as an extra fee if you are filling non-urgent prescriptions at the pharmacy at night.
Like in Germany. If you need non irgend medicine in the night, you pay a few € more
Recommendations are a Bismarck model thing. You go to a doctor and they might think that you need a specialist or need a specific examination. They will give you a paper recommendation which you can use/bring to any place which can offer that kind of care (if it's not an emergency). You can use a facility associated with the doctor or a place they recommend but you don't have to. You are free to choose where you want to get examined and sometimes it's better to contact multiple places to get the earliest appointment possible. That is in vast contrast to Beveridge model in the UK or Canada where they tell you exactly to which facility you have to go and it sometimes can take weeks to get an appointment.
The idea of co-pay is just mindbogling to me. You pay through your nose for insurance and still need to cough up extra cash to be seen by a doctor? I'd understand if you only had a basic insurance and wanted to go to a specialist that's not covered, but for a regular visit? That's crazy, you guys are getting shafted over there.
7:00 In Poland we get a paper prescription, but you also have the option to get a digital version sent to your email, and/or a code via sms. You can use either of those to get your medicine at any pharmacy. The prescription is stored digitally on a centralised server, so you can't go to one pharmacy with the paper one and then another one with the code though.
13:40 A recommendation is pretty much a legal document, signed by the doctor, which basically states that a professional has already did the basic triage on you and decided you need this or that procedure. The hospital will check the creentials of the doctor who signed it and if everything is in order then it's almost as in you've been triaged by their in-house doctor.
14:30 You can get travel insurance for the USA. I googled it and I found one for 200 PLN (~50 USD) for 10 days for a single person.
In the Netherlands it depends on the Practitioner. My GP just sends it downstairs to the pharmacy and their you tell them your personal and that the Practitioner send a prescription down. Sometimes you have to wait a little longer because it hasn't been send yet, mostly it is already in the computer. In my youth when this technology was not available yet, we actually got a written prescription.
Co-paying is the best and simplest solution to avoid abusing "free" services.
Co-payment amount can be even very low. It's rather a psychological barrier.
The same method is used in some "free" (in fact paid e.g. by municipality) entertainment events where number of participants is limited and the owner does not want to book tickets and let them be unused.
If you had to pay $1 for ticket you'd never book more than you need just in case.
@@lukask7445 Healthcare should not be hidden beneath a psychological barrier. It doesn't matter if some abuse it, it is better fro some to abuse the system
So in Austria for seeing a specialist doctor (Ophthalmologist, Gynecologist and so on), yes the waiting process for an appointment is usually 3 month. Unless you have pain, it's probably faster. Though for regular check ups with this specialist, you know as an European that you have to wait that long.
For Hausarzt/Allgemein arzt (general practitioner/doctor) some want you to phone them first for appointment. Because they know when the have less patients and the wating time is so much faster. But this - again - can change if you have pain. Then they'll push you in.
As for prescriptions it changes here in Austria too. We go to the doctor, give them our Heathinsurence card (e-card) and if we need medications they will put it on the e-card so you can use any pharmacy store in you region or will ask you which pharmacy you go, because some medications need to pre-order. Thouh medical referral are usually on paper. And if you go to the pharmacy store and you have to pre-order the medicin but left the cash already there, than you'll get payment confirmation on paper and the will tell you when it should arrive. Since some medications are not on stock (since delivery difficulties), it can take a week or more. With wound care it's more frequent that things are need to pre-order :/ and can be frustrating.
And yes, x-rays are usually done in the emergacy room. Since most hospitals have x-rays. So it's not that uncomom here to go directly to the hospital.
I think it is pretty much the same all over Europe, even though each state as a similar but different system. If you have an emergency you will get seen immediately where as for other stuff you may have to wait your turn.
@@dooley-ch Switzerland and Germany have completely different systems than the UK or Scandinavia. Switzerland and Germany have excellent systems but also the 2 most expensive in Europe.
My father in Germany had a letal illness. In his last 6 months of his life I called 911 5 times. We only paid 10 Euros for the ambulance each time. We paid only 10 Euros per day at the hospital. But at the end I took him home, because I want him to die in peace at home. But my family had not to worry about horrible hospital bills. I am so glad, that I live in Germany.
If you are citizen of UE it's free to use any medical facilities in UE. I am from Poland and constitution guarantee me a free medical care without any restrictions.
I am spanish, my dad was a fisherman, once he got really sick in the middle of the North sea. Oslo, Norway uthorities sent an helicopter to nearly the north pole to bring him to mainland, they gave him provisional treatment and sent him to our home hospital with a diplomatic member of the spanish embasy Accompanying him as his responsability. He never left him of his sight until my mum signed the authorisation to be the responsible of him. Yeah the difficult conditions drived him to a temporary mental derangement. They never charge us 1 cent, neither Norway, nor spain where he was for 3 months under treatment. God bless our health care.
In France, the recommendation is through your General Practitioner (médecin traitant) if you are not already in ER or have seen the appropriate specialist. It reduces the price. But for a foreigner, the prices seemed fair because you don't have insurance.
Though we have a specific health form to reduces the cost when travelling in European Union, UK and Switzerland. Thus we will pay what is custom to the country.
But each time I'm going to US, I'm making sure my health insurance is up to date "cause you have to be rich to get sick in US"
Here in Czechia, I had an ultrasound done as a preventative measure yesterday. Then I went to another doctor unannounced because of a different problem. I had to wait for 2 hours because people who have an appointment go first. The doctor examined me and gave me medication. So I saw 2 doctors yesterday and none of the appointments or that medication cost me money.
In fact, it isn't entirely cost-free since all Czech employees and employers are required to contribute to mandatory medical insurance. The healthcare system is built on the principle of mutual empathy. However, I see your perspective. Let's hope it remains the same in the future.
Wait times can get long, if your problem isn't urgent or there is some preparation needed (e.g. rentgen, sono, ...). Doctors usually take urgent patients first, then appointed ones and lastly all others. But this can wary from place to place.
In Portugal if you go to a public hospital ER, you pay 3,90€ for the appointment. However if you go to a private hospital with no insurance the average price for the ER is around 300€. If you're insured the average rate goes from 25 to 50€.
Never had to go to the hospital but Portuguese health unit are so bad that is better to wait a week more and go to work while sick or in pain. It's not a coincidence that about 30% of the population have a private health insurance here and the numbers are rising rapidly.
Norwegian here. I work at a large hospital and our patients pay about 30 dollars for each appointment up until they have paid a total of about 300 dollars, then they don't have to pay anymore until the end of the year. We call it frikort (free card). So no matter how many doctor's appointments or hospital admittions, none of us pay more than 300 dollars per year. Dentist is REALLY expensive, though. Kind of like going to the hospital in USA. :p
Imagine being scared to see a doctor. What kind of third world hell hole is that.
My sister lived and worked in the US for a decade. She moved back to Germany and is always happy to see the doctor. America is awesome until you see your bills
Some people say that USA are a very rich third world country....
Try having medical insurance!
@ryanwuzer What you said there in the beginning isn't correct when it comes to my country Denmark. Here you don't pay anything to see a Doctor or get an operation, scanning, blodtest or whatever public healthcare, and this also goes for visiting tourists.
As a person living in Denmark you can pay a maximum of 640 USD for prescription medication in a year. You pay in full up to about 150 USD in a year and after that it gets gradually subsidized. Some vital hospital prescribed medication is free from day 1. The flu vaccine and Covid boosters are free for the elderly and the one with chronic illnesses.
In Denmark he would have paid 0 for the Doctor and 0 for the Emergency room. He would only pay for his medication, and it is cheap here. Universal healthcare is free for everyone living in Denmark
Sweden also has a digitalized prescription system, however non-citizens can't usually be processed in it because the program foundation relies on having a swedish "personnummer" (literally means person number, so equivalent to social security number).
Instead non-citizens get a "reserve number" where their information gets processed, documented etc. (btw this number will forever be yours, so good to keep if you ever need to get healthcare in the country again). So the healthcare bit can still be digitally processed.
However when then writing a prescription it could sometimes be done digitally with a reserve number, but then the patient would be limited in where to go get their prescriptions filled because not all pharmacies has the program to process these reserve numbers digitally. I know it's weird. So for patient convinience the doctors would most likely make out a paper prescription that any pharmacy could process.
I assume something similar happened for his experience in The Netherlands, he got a paper prescription to be able to get his medication in the same building.
I've also sought medical care twice in The Netherlands when i was working there, but that was like almost 20 years ago and unsure how digitalized they were back then. I mean they had computers but not sure if they even had a digitalized prescription system for their own citizens at that time. I got some paper slips however that i could get filled from any pharmacy.
I'm from the Netherlands and in a wheelchair. I receive home healthcare 6 days a week and i have a lot of hospital visits. I also follow PT and OT ad a rehabilitation centre. Also a lot of painkillers because of my disability. I'm on social security and my healthcare insurance is with the deductions 40 euros per month.
If I needing a specialist i can have a appointment within 4 weeks if it can wait.
It is mandatory to have health insurance when you are going to US from my country.
Ryan you wouldn't be billed anything if you broke a bone in the UK whilst on vacation here. My Amercican ex was visiting for 6 months on vacation and got free health care even just to see the Doctor for his diabetic meds during his stay. He didn't pay a penny to see the General Practitioner or his meds for the whole time he was here.
This will be changing soon and non UK persons will be asked to pay. Those in the UK on a visa already pay around £650 a year for access to NHS
@@Westcountrynordic It will still be a fraction of the cost compared to the US. My ex went without diabetic meds in the US because he couldn't afford it. His diabetic meds were $200 per month with good insurance. He was paying $900 per month in 2007
Your NHS is not free, you pay taxes that fund the NHS
@@nettcologne9186 No, they don't pay taxes that fund the NHS. Instead a part of all the taxes they pay is directed towards NHS. That's a big difference.
@@nettcologne9186 True its not free, you pay taxes but the taxes paid is less than want Americans pay in health insurance and co-pays. If a America went single payer yes the taxes will go up but they will lose the co-pays so at the end of the year will pay less
Dutch person here. When I was 18, I had to get surgery done. I stayed at the hospital for 2 nights and 3 days. My bill came down to 350 euros and the rest was covered by my insurance.
I live in Norway and an American friend told me he had a school project about healthcare and the only downside he put in the presentation was that there was a longer waiting time. I told him I didn't understand what he meant? but I just figured maybe there was never a 10min waiting time in the US. Even the dentist here will see you always within minutes if your in pain and say you need it
It is normally true that waiting times in European healthcare are longer (and in some cases much longer) than in american private healthcare. What happens in this particular case is that waiting times for "emergencies" are non-existent. In any European city and town, there are clinics and hospitals on duty on practically every corner where they will treat you on the same day (sometimes, at night or on holidays it can take a few hours), and the more serious it is, the shorter the waiting time.
Long waiting times are for routine visits and not emergencies, where making an appointment for, for example, a specific x-ray, can take weeks because it is not urgent. Non-urgent operations can also take longer than necessary. The really good thing about European healthcare is that there is private healthcare here too, and private insurance. If you have a specific emergency which is not really urgent, but for you personally it may be, you can choose to visit a private hospital (paying, obviously) which will generally operate more quickly (and they will normally refer you to public hospitals depending on the situation).
At the end of the day it is a matter of pure efficiency, and in the US I am very sorry you do not have that. A hybrid public-private system like the European one would be much more efficient than what you have now, since waiting lists would not be affected because private healthcare would continue to exist. What happens in the US is that such a system would mean an economic catastrophe for the immense business that this model represents for insurance companies. In Europe they exist, but if you make the comparison between the Europeans and the Americans it is a joke, and the reason is that in Europe they are not really vital, so they cannot allow the abuses they commit in the US.
So what you are faced with here is "Which do we prefer, benefiting the consumer/citizen, or mantaining the lucrative economic model?"
So you pay for two healthcare systems then. Public with your taxes, and then additional money for private on top of that.
@@stevefl7175 Not really. Private medical insurance comes in multiple different packages, from the most luxurious ones that can cost you 4 digits a month to dental or emergency insurance that are cheap and affordable for everyone. And, of course, they are not mandatory. Many people in Europe simply trust public healthcare and do not have any sort of private insurance. And with respect to the public, yes, it is paid through taxes that are applied as a small percentage to the workers' payroll each month (at least in my country), percentage that later when you retire is "returned" to you in the form of a public pension.
The main point of the advantages of a European citizen can be seen when something happens that requires your presence in a hospital. Let's imagine you break your leg. How much does this treatment cost an American citizen between ambulance, emergency, operation, medications, etc.? In Europe you pay €0 if you go for public healthcare.
Obviously they are not real €0 since throughout your adult life you have been paying taxes to maintain this system, but the difference is in the impact on the citizen's pocket of having to pay thousands of dollars or even more at once, against small and under your own controll investments each month.
The only way in which this system can "harm" you as a citizen is if you have excellent health and are lucky enough not to suffer any accidents throughout your life, since you will have paid taxes for a system that you have not used but... do people who never need to go to the doctor really exist?
@@alejandroparra362 Yes, really. You pay for public healthcare. It comes out of your taxes whether you use it or not. Unless you're in a country that doesn't use taxation to pay for public healthcare, but I don't know of any off the top of my head in Europe. So whether you get private insurance or not, you have already paid for public healthcare. If you are paying for private healthcare is paying a second plan in addition to the public one. Whether it's cheap or expensive, it's still paying for a second healthcare plan. Maybe you thought I meant you have to pay for it, which I agree. The private is not mandatory. But if you do buy private, you are then paying for two healthcare system costs.
@@alejandroparra362 I think people who 'never need to go to a doctor' probably DO exist - although rarely! - BUT at some point in their life they surely have a friend, family member, loved one or even life partner or child who needs care interventions at a high, complex and/ or long-term level. In most of thevworld, those of us who never (or, more realistically, rarely) need to see the doctor, may have a microsecond of a grump about it _to themselves only_ , but we _know_ and _appreciate_ that our personally-unused contributions help to pay for Aunty Nellie's cancer treatment, baby John's resucitation, and our pal's ambulance evacuation when they fall over in the street and think they've broken a leg. Americans seem, too often , to _resent_ and even openly express vehement objections to, the exact same thing ...
Traveling anywhere, I carry travel insurance. As a foreign student in the US, I had to have either US health insurance or Norwegian student insurance (backed by government insurance). Because I wanted to be transported home if something really bad happened, I chose the Norwegian insurance. I paid 600 dollars a year. I was almost denied help once because the card I carried said «unlimited» as the upper limit for medical care or repatriation. The hospital had to call and check, because they thought the card was fraudulent..
😂😂😂😂
In Czech Republic there were only physical paper slips for prescriptions up until 2018. Now there is also a ePrescription system to send you a QR code prescription which you scan at any pharmacy (you don't specify which one). However it's still possible to get a paper one since old people often prefer physical prescriptions.
Italian here (from the poorest county of Italy): it took a bit longer than in Germany, but even here they treat us for free and as human beings
I live in Czechia. Just a few years ago, I had to get a surgical procedure done that involved special equipment not normally used too often in surgeries. I had to wait around a month to get it and the service was very good. I got good food 3 times a day for 3 days during the recovery period and had a practically infinite tea dispenser right down the hall. The best thing? It cost me nothing.
in Australia you get given a paper prescription or a paper referral for an xray and you can take it wherever is convenient for you.
Germany same
American abroad here,
I moved to Germany in 2010. As an American citizen we have an automatic 6 month Visa. I wanted to stay so I went to work on an army base near Stuttgart for the sofa card. Without that I would have to leave. With it I could have the privilege to live in Germany as a "working tourist " indefinitely as long as I worked for minimum us dollar wages. I wanted to stay so I did what I needed to. I digress, while visiting the city of Ulm I miss stepped on a flight of stairs out of a parking garage. Felt like a high ankle sprain but it just wouldn't go away. I definitely didn't want to go to a doctor as I had about 0 dollars and no insurance. Few weeks later I'm at work at burger king on an army base suffering through my pain for another 4 hour shift when took my break. Sat down and had my employe meal and when I was walking to the trash bin I heard a twig snap. Right foot don't know the name of the bone but it's the longest one in the foot for the pinky toe. Oh my lord it hurt! Told my manager that I think my foot is broken and I needed to leave. Him being American said how and I said I don't know and of course he doesn't believe me but me also being American without health insurance in a foreign country didn't and couldn't (or so I thought) afford an ambulance ride 40km to the hospital I called my future wife and limped out to the car and drove myself to the hospital. Funny thing about a German hospital, they won't let you leave if you come to the er until you are sorted out. Couple hours later I left the er in a foot cast and a referral to an orthopaedic surgeon for follow up. He took care of me throughout my dilemma as the bones were significantly seperated and could possibly require surgery. How ever long it took I don't remember at least 6 months then a few weeks of rehab.....
The whole thing cost me out of pocket and I kid you not,
Under 380€
EVERYTHING!
The whole ordeal!
US healthcare is a CON!
Whatever your co pay is.....
That's probably double or triple actual cost!
I'm now a permanent resident of Germany and have had my left knee replacement taken care of that I injured when I was 18 (1987) when I didn't have health insurance and was always considered a "pre existing condition"
Here, when I got health insurance in 2013 I went to the doctor and complained about pain in my knee, xrays and MRI, waited a couple weeks for the MRI but then. Boom. New knee straight away and like 9 months of rehab. In an actual rehabilitation centre mind you, shared room with three meals and daily doctor visits 3 times per day minimum all rehab was on site and after a while I was encouraged to have visitors coming and walking me to town for lunch or dinner to help me get range of motion back.
Absolutely wonderful experience....
If one had to go through that.
Out pocket expenses for me....
0€
Not possible to lose my job during sick time so I was receiving my basic salary from work the whole time.
And people ask me why we don't live in the states.
Two reasons.
Debt to income ratio and health insurance.
Dutch people often buy a 'Reisverzekering' (Travel insurance) when travelling abroad. This insurance would cover all medical costs abroad, regardless the country you're in. It would cost between 50 en 100 euros annually.
Inside EU we have a health insurance card that is basically what it says in all EU countries and it is for free :)
The EHIC card doesn't give you free healthcare, it gives you what a local would get.
When a German travels ANYWHERE, especially the US, they would never go without the proper extra insurances.
so true..and a Reiserücktrittsversicherung
@@nettcologne9186 Vince Ebert is awesome! 😉
Its not just Europe. As an American living in Canada with Permanent Residence, I went to the ER overnight, all the scans, bloodwork, a months worth of pharmacy medication, gave my card...$9
Im from Czech Republic 🇨🇿 (middle of Europe) and it works really well. When you pay some money every year ( health insurance specifically) then when you are hurt you can go in hospital for free they do everything what they can to help you and it’s about 3 hours when you have broken hand for example. X-ray, doctor, painkillers… almost everything it’s,,free,, and when it’s for longer days or you have a really bad injures your insurance company will give you money so you will have at least some money for food or whatever you need. Only one thing what you need to do it’s pay some money every year for health insurance and your or your family when you have kids are safe financially when you can’t go to work