American reacts to The Cost of Healthcare in EUROPE vs AMERICA (common drugs and procedures)
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- čas přidán 18. 02. 2024
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Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to The Cost of Healthcare in EUROPE vs AMERICA (common drugs and procedures)
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Keep in mind that you only pay if you want a private room, if you dont choose that option, you dont pay anything at all ( at least not in the public option )
Differences in prices: inefficiency, gouvernement doesn't negotiate for lower prices, transport costs, overuse of medicines, corruption, greed,..
Keep in mind that big pharma might have the excuse that america may develop a lot of the prescription drugs so need extra cash for that but id like to see a percentage of overseas drugs and how much those countries pay.
U wanna leave america yet😂?
In my country no diabetic person pays for insulin, they need it they get it.
The cost of healthcare in the USA is 20 times more expensive than in Europe because of the lack of regulation. In Europe we can choose to buy the generic version of a medication and by generic i mean no brand, which will costs us up to 10 times less than the same medication under a brand name, that ends up making the pharmaceutical companies lower their prices, otherwise nobody will buy from them. Only that regulation alone stopped the prices from going insanely high. USA could do it as well, but then healthcare would stop being a business.
If you want this to change, why does America keep voting for people who won’t implement universal healthcare?
for anyone in the US it will be almost impossible to change the system. the lobby which earns billions with the US health systen is too strong.
Because they think they’ll become billionaires one day and might have to pay more in taxes than they pay now for insurance.
That is because they are so uptight about anything that remotely whiffs of what they think is "socialism".
Not American but I think that it's much more complicated than switching just like that. They would have to overhaul almost their entire system, healthcare is closely linked to food safety standards , different ways to promote healthy life style, incentives for people to walk more eat better etc etc etc and the list is long which would affect the entire system. The American system is designed to be strictly profit first. I don't think that Wall Street will agree with that when politicians spend over 50% of time lobbying to get money from all sorts of companies so those companies can have it their way and not the people way.
Because a majority of US citizens don't actually bother learning about the rest of the world. Their education system is mostly focused on the US itself and barely covers anything else. This naturally results in ignorance and lack of understanding in general.
When my first kid was born i was so pissed because i had to pay 5 Euros for parking at the Hospital...
now that's the french way of thinking 🤣
@@raskzak3313 i am austrian
My father had a heart attack while at the hospital. They were able to save his life and he stayed at that public hospital for about two/three weeks. For free. This is Italy.
It would be the same if he was in Australia and had no cover
I wonder how it will be in the future tho. Politicians managed to destroy the free healthcare little by little, expecially right-wing ones.
@@barbaramacdonald4886 It would be the same if he had cover as well. Even people with health insurance can choose a public hospital and pay nothing.
Spain here: Three stents in the heart after 2 angina pectoris. He was admitted to the cardiology ICU for several days. €0 Detected in tests for hypothyroidism heart problems. I had my thyroid removed using nuclear medicine (radio iodine) and treatment with hormones for life €0.
First they spent 1 and a half years trying to regulate hormone levels through medication but it was not possible. They detected the beginnings of Type 2 Diabetes. €0
During the treatment, dermatological problems appeared, psoriasis, hidradenitis and dermatitis, possibly due to previous thyroid problems. All tests and treatment €0.
I take 13 pills a day for my heart, thyroid and diabetes. I only pay a very small percentage of the medications since I was given disability retirement for the heart problem. Those of us retired due to illness pay less than others for treatments.
Type 1 diabetic in Scotland. I have never paid for appointments, Specialists, Doctors, equipment, hospital stays or drugs. I am also disabled so I am given a car, specialist needs for the home, appointments, drugs, Doctors etc. All free. I'm lucky to be born here.
Oh, I forgot, I was under my Dad's Bupa private insurance for the first 6 years. Zero difference apart from the Doctor's offices were nicer in Bupa! 😂
You live in a country that cares about it's citizens - as do I (England). Meanwhile across the pond it's not about "your health" because frankly they couldn't care less.... it's "all about the dorrrrer"
Actually, no, he doesn't necessarily pay anything if he doesn't work or earn over around £6000 per Year, and even if he does earn over that he still doesn't pay a lot for it. If he is earning £30000 a year, that is around £5500 in tax and NI. Only a fraction of that goes towards healthcare, so he really doesn't pay very much towards healthcare. The reason why it is much cheaper than America is because the country buys the equipment/drugs and gets it all at a large discount and doesn't run the NHS as a profitable business. The amount of actual money the average person pays towards the NHS is vastly less than the cost of insurance for the average American for healthcare.
I earn £55k a year. I lose just over £14k a year in taxes and national insurance, leaving me around £40,500 a year actual take home pay after all deductions.
It's scary to think that a small percentage of that £14,500 goes the NHS, meanwhile in America most of them are paying around $1,000 a month ($12,000) a year for an "insurance policy" that STILL has a deductible and co-pay making them liable for some of the bill AND they may refuse to pay out.
Why would anyone in their right mind think that is a better system?@@daveaglasgow
I worked full time from the Monday after I left school! My disability deteriorated over the years and I had to stop work in my early 40's. I am now in a wheelchair, on massive pain killers, so I did pay taxes for 25 years. Even when I was earning good money in my education job, it was all still free. Funnily enough, we had the chance to live in the US through my Dad's job, he said no, all because of the cost of living with diabetes in the US. Thank God.
I find it interesting that you immediately feel the need to say you love America as soon as you criticize one thing about the politics there. It should be the other way around: If you love your country, it's an expression of that love that you address the things that don't work in it and try to fix them.
That’s because Americans are brainwashed into believing their country is the best. So whenever someone questions that they go into defensive mode 🤷🏼♀️
That's actually a very good observation
He had to say that, because if not, he got bannend from his city or state 😅
Do that in the US and you get called Un-American and you that hate the country.
Indoctrination is hard to shake off.
Denmark here. When my wife gave birth to our daughter, my wife ended up having a C-section after 27 hours. We had a midwife during all that time.
We were admitted for three days, we had our own room, and I had a cot to sleep on.
Soon after going home we all had to come back to the hospital due to complications and we all stayed another week.
The total price ... well I had to pay for my own food (not expensive) since I was technically not admitted, but rather "staying". No other expenses. Even the parking was free...
And that is why we pay taxes.
@@petertuxen4930 Well so does the americans, they just don´t get anything...
That is how the people's money should be spent on the people to enhance quality of life. It seems to be something the Americans can't grasp, I suppose they are saturated from birth with right-wing propaganda it seems they all have a base-line right-wing mindset.
Aussie here! Had a baby 2.5yrs ago and also had an emergency c-section that cost me $0. This was all through the public system and i was in a shared room with one other person. All the drugs, bed, food and formula was provided to me for my 5 night stay. Im also a diabetic and insulin here costs me $43 for 25 pens. All of my needles are free and a subsidise cost to purchase my glucose strips for my reader
Long life the American way of capitalism.. And I thanks god, that I live in Germany..😁😉
funniest part, we are much more capitalist (and free) on the matter in eu
quite often in the us you dont rly get to pick your assurance, it come with the work and such (like i dno work like the army, the vet, the cop and such)
here we can choose whatever asurance company we want, no matter our job, change whenever we want and actually force those to be competitive among each other in most country xD
I love America and the American people but I couldn't live in a country that has such a rip off health care system & with so many guns.
That's because american capitalism is just private monopolism but worry if you don't vote against it, it's gonna catch up in europe aswell just much more slowly but big corps have already secured monopolies in europe they're just waiting for the right moment to keep jacking up prices with arguments made out of thin air @@Namo-xx1sz
Thanks god! Good to you. I wish I born in Germany... Greetings from Hungary. :D Here is the national health care is the absolute worst.
@@ksoma14 ...until u go to muereca then u relise it wasent so bad...
The difference between the US and Europe is that in Europe health care is considered a basic human right so must be affordable for all.
In the US it's seen as a chance to make billions from the population.
I've had many trips to the USA from the UK over the years and always took out comprehensive travel/health insurance. I only required it once - a chest infection. I went to the hospital, they took my details and the Second person I saw was from the Accounts department, checking my insurance status. They called the insurance claim line in the UK (which would have been around 3am there..) received the authorisation, and I then saw a Doc. They said that without the authorisation, they wouldn't have given me any treatment...
@@terencejay8845 A colleague told me that her daughter ended up in hospital on a trip to the US. The nearest hospital happened to be a Catholic hospital (the idea of a religious healthcare facility in the 21st century is baffling in itself), the staff there started to treat her differently when they found out that she was on the pill. She wasn't on the pill for contraceptive reasons and it wasn't even related to why she was there. In my book, they weren't doing their job properly and should have been investigated.
My colleague also said the same thing that they wouldn't start treatment until they had proof of payment - how barbaric is that!? It's astounding the number of hurdles that Americans have to go through just to receive basic medical that could be hampered by the medical staff's beliefs or opinions and then often have to pay extortionate amounts for the privilege, even if they have "good" insurance. I don't understand why some of them are still in favour of such a broken system!
@@hannahk1306bEcauSE aT leASt iT's noT cOmMuNIsm. Not kidding, I've actually heard some Americans unironically say that.
remind me again why the US considers itself a first world country? Also tell me about all the freedoms you guys have that we dont....lmao
because the only thing that america has that is truly top of the line/best in the world.....is its propaganda system. I'm sure even the Germans were/are in awe.@@E.Brambora
Dane here 👋
I'm just thankful that I was born outside the US 👍
I am in Ireland, I have a metabolic disorder (PKU) that I was born with and needs a medical protein formula and a special diet including specialised medical foods. It is extremely expensive (over 1,000 euro a month) and I have never paid for anything to do with my condition.
I have had two children, one VBAC and one C-section and I did not pay anything (I did not have to go to the ER so I did not have to pay the 100 Euro charge) and I have diabetes and I do not pay for check-ups or visits with my dietician. I do not have private healthcare.
looking at these videos I am horrified , i am so glad I live in Europe , I cannot imagine living in USA
Count yourself lucky. America is a 3rd world country in disguise.
You wouldn't live in the USA, you would die there.
As a teenager it was my dream to live in America. Thank you mom, (rip),, for distroying that dream!
the italian guy said 250€ per day for a private room. otherwise it would have been a regular room, where there is somebody else too. and 850€ for a personal midwife. that still doesn't mean that there would be nothing else provided, it could have been 0€, but he wanted privacy and extra care.
Thanks for cleaning that up. I love that one always has an option to buy extra if they want, but even then it's cheaper than the standard in US
Yeah. Dude went premium. He paid that for nice options.
In Germany btw. we had access to a midwife. We paid for two births under 9€ - for parking fees.
@@paulalvarezloblich8363 no €10 per Day hospital quota? ^^
@@paulalvarezloblich8363 parking hospital isn't free ?
@@gelishgard4936 hospital parking when available is paid in many Polish hospitals too. Its a way to supplement hospital budget directly without going through all the necessary bureaucracy related to centralized healthcare. Its not more prevalent because many of our hospitals were established between 1920 and 1980 in high population density areas - cars were not an option for most of people then. No one even thought of parking when planning hospitals. So now finding a parking space within a quater mile of a hospital in a major city is considered miraculous. When parking is available it will run you up to €2.80 an hour in capital city Warsaw in areas where municipal parking costs around €1.50 per hour, and €1.50 per day in hospitals in smaller cities. On the other hand ambulances are free and healthy people can walk so it evens itself out.
I have been ill in the UK with a “mysterious autoimmune disease” since last April. I have had two hospital stays totalling 32 days, numerous blood tests, CT scans, MRI scans, a PET scan, biopsies, spinal tap, a drug from the US that cost thousands of pounds, drugs for weeks when I was in hospital and a smorgasbord of drugs on a daily basis while I’m at home. All of this cost absolutely £0 except for car parking, but I now have a disabled badge so now it’s all free too. I get a PIP payment of £175.00 per week from the government, no car tax on my car, and no congestion charge to drive to London (£10 per year to register). If I lived in the US I’m sure I’d be bankrupt. I visited the US for work about 50 times and had insurance but glad I didn’t get sick when I was there.
@Ryan, I am British, but I now live in Cyprus. There is a reciprocal care agreement between the UK and Cyprus. When we recieved our S1 forms from the UK (to prove we had paid National Insurance and Tax) we were given our medical cards and registered at the General Hospital (we could have gone private) We were given blood tests, where it was found that I was diabetic and my husband had a problem with is kidneys. We were put onto medication for this. 4 years ago a new health care system started here, GESY, and we registered at a private hospital which is covered by GESY. Because of the diabetes, my Dr took me to the cardiologist, who I was able to see 2 days later. Both my husband and I see the cardiologist on a regular basis. At one of my check ups he decided I needed a angiograph, which I had a week later. They found that I needed a triple heart by pass, which I had 3 weeks later, with a one week stay in hospital. The total cost of this was...nothing! (we do pay a percentage of the cost of our prescriptions and a minimum cost for blood tests and x-rays) My husband has a regular check up for his kidney functions as well, once again, apart from blood tests, his check up is free.
In America drugs are a business. In Europe it's healthcare. In a business you can make up your own price and in Europe it's the government that decides how much drugs can cost.
Yes you are right, but drug companys wouldn‘t put billions of dollars into research and Development of new medicine, if they couldn‘t make a profit. Even European drug companys make their money in the US market and drugs for the US market.
The only question is, if the whole World would have universal health care, would the quality of medicine be better or worse.
And for example in germany where private and public health insurance co exist, the private insured patients get all the new innovations first and then the public insurances follow years later. That is just a benefit of private healthsystem, they pay for the medicine and it doesn‘t take decades for approval.
@@chrisr25071good! Let the wealthy be the guinea pigs for long term outcomes! 😂🤣😅
@@chrisr25071 Most of the research is publicly funded university theses, pharma labs only have to industrialise the promising treatments and rake in the dough.
If EU pharma companies couldn't milk the US anymore and that really affected R&D, the EU would provide them with more research grants than they already get, attached with lots of provisions to ensure it doesn't just end up in investor pockets.
@@chrisr25071 most companies would still make profit if the costs were so low in the US like in the EU, think alone about Turings Daraprim. The (for other reasons living in jail by now) CEO those days Martin Shkreli raised the price by 5000%, from 13,50$ per dose to 750$ per dose(!). Not because it costs so much to make this AIDS drug, only because he just could do it.
For comparison the cost per dose of the fucking same drug in other countries around the world (source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrimethamine ):
In India, multiple combinations of generic pyrimethamine are available for a price ranging from US$0.04 to US$0.10 each (3-7 rupees).[44][45][46][47]
In the UK, the same drug is available from GSK at a cost of US$20 (£13) for 30 tablets (about $0.66 each).[48]
In Australia, the drug is available in most pharmacies at a cost of US$9.35 (A$12.99) for 50 tablets (around US$0.18 each).[49]
In Brazil, the drug is available for R$0.07 a pill, or about US$0.02.[50]
In Switzerland, the drug is available for US$9.45 (CHF9.05) for 30 tablets (around US$0.32 a piece)
@@chrisr25071 Pharmaceutical companies do less and less research. They prefere buying a spin-off from a university research group and then make huge profits! The research argument is was true in the 20th century it not the valid anymore!
Insulin is free in most of europe I think
Here in Portugal is free.
Yes, because it is just needed to not frkn die.
It is just hillarious to think the medical staff saying: "Sir, I know, you are dying, but would you please first pull out your credit card so we can charge you 3 lives full of earnings, because else I'm not allowed trying to make you survive?"
But basically this is how "health care" works in the US.
It is in the UK
Nope, in Austria you have to pay Reiceipt Fee. It is 6,80€...before it was around 5 €.
@@silviahannak3213 yeah, but it is still way cheaper than the US variant. And don't you get a cost exemption if you can't afford it?
The Italian segment: it sounds like they went to a private clinic, not to a public hospital. So it's very much not like most people give birth. And it costs a ton more! Regardless of whether the money come out of your pocket or not, if you give birth in a public hospital (hint, if for any reason the birth is really complicate and you are at a private facility they will ship you off to the closest public hospital where they are better equipped for emergencies) the totals will be far smaller (and still paid by the heatlchare system, which is not through an insurance). For instance, in a public hospital the cost of a private room is around 150-200 euro per night (out of pocket or paid through an optional private insurance), but if you are OK with sharing the room with 1-2 other people the room is free. A different issue regards cesarean births. In 2022 in Italy the 31% of births were through c-sections. Except in private structures the c-sections are 65% of all births while in public hospitals they are below the 30%. Why? Because the healthcare system reimburses far more for a surgery (and a c-section is considered a surgery) than for a natural birth, so many hospitals pump their income by having an inordinate number of unnecessary c-sections, especially in private structures. By comparison, in most of Europe cesareans are around the 15% of all births.
Somewhere I read that the prices are not really paid by insurance. That when such bill comes to the insurance company, they just say "no" and it will be cut down by the hospital significantly.
Can we all just appreciate Ryan for his consistant flow of content, constantly reminding us non-americans, that we're not americans, and that things could be much worse? :) Thank you
He remembers us Americans too kkkk I'm from Brazil and I'm very grateful for our SUS when I see things like this
USA maybe should consider regulating the prices of health care, because when someone is paying thousands or even millions for a health condition he's clearly being taken advantage of by the hospital owners/insurance providers.
But thats evil socialism !!! The US believes in "Reaganomics" that says something like : give more to the rich and they will give it back to help the poor.
Seriously, no joke .. they buy that shit 😅🤣
You can't regulate prices in a free market... that would amount to socialism
it will never happen. america is built on profit, brainwash and suppression.
its corrupted to the core.
Between big pharma and insurances iron grip on the medical professionals USA will never have universal health care, altruism and the medical business model can not coexist.
Government regulations?? That's fascist, nazi commi nonsense. Freedom, democracy and capitalism woo!
In Canada, four kids, cancer surgery,all specialist appointments, i left the hospital with no bill.
I live in Finland and just gave birth, I was in hospital from the 31st of January to the 5th of February, my costs as inpatient 327,60eur, plus 218,40eur for 4 days my husband stayed with in a family room after our son was born. In total we”re paying 546eur.
In the UK, insulin is free, because it is essential. I don't have insulin, but all my diabetes medications are free.
It's crazy there's a price anywhere for insulin.
insulin is a inetrnational free patent....i would understand to pay for the cost of making it ( with zero profit)but making massive profit out of a free patent.....that s greedy.
If you would like to buy privately, you would be charged, but who would do it?
@avigdonable even then the price you pay wasn't even close to the digits of the price in the US. The US healthcare market is insanely broken (except for the pharmaceutical companies)
Paying for having a baby? Ok, here in Norway we pay taxes on everything...so we are sort of paying for it. I have a child, we never paid for the three days in hospital or for the delivery. I also use medicasion that's about 2500 USD a month, my father have cancer...he have medications about 7500 USD a month. But we don't pay a single dime for it.
Same in Denmark
As Ryan was saying: You pay out in both systems, but only in the US are there healthcare businesses and insurances that want their cut. Our governments/healthcare systems in Europe are not in it for a return on investment, which deflates prices immediately.
@@Ned-Ryerson I mean our taxes are not only going to healthcare, it is going out to the people of any age in terms of free University, subsidized childcare, roads, subsidized bus, trams and train tickets, garbage being taken away in ALL areas, social security wlle there is litterally thousands and thosuands of situations where our tax money is added so that we can have used of it in one way or the other, in all parts of your life. I get constant returns from my taxes and so does everybody else in my country.
We paid nothing too (Netherlands) and we had a nurse 8 hours a day for 10 days in our home to take care of me and the baby. I know you have to pay a small fee for this service now, but when my kids were born it didn’t cost us anything.
In the US, the insurance companies decide if you receive the medications prescribed, or not. People have died, due to lack of medication being agreed to.
I have a chronic disease and go to various public hospitals regularly. I do not have health insurance, never did. I get seen to, I have exams, blood tests, surgeries, ultrasound treatment, etc, etc. I pay ZERO. That's universal healthcare for you. I would NEVER live in the USA for this reason, among others. Greetings from Lisbon, Portugal.
My father was in hospital with covid. 6 weeks coma, 4 weeks hospital, 11 weeks revalidation center, uninsured in the Netherlands. Over 5 months in total. The bill: € 255.000,00.They had to sell a house to pay the bill.
German here. I got my two children in a big bathtub in a hospital, before and after that I had a midwife I could choose, during my labour there were midwives and doctors around me (only midwives are allowed to help you during birth, doctors are only there for an emergency).
I, of course, didn't pay a cent.
When I got my first child, I wanted to stay in the hospital for 3 days, we got a family room, which means we were in there alone - my husband needed to pay around 30 € a day (and night), we just stayed 2 nights, so it cost us 60,- €, but just because my husband stayed with us.
With my second child I was fine to go home 4 hours after giving birth - my midwife was coming that night and every day to look after me and the baby.
Nothing in the world would make me want to move to the US.
And i guess there is none tax deduction from your gross salary as "healthcare support" i suppose? Oh yeah, you pay 14.6% of your gross salary without premium, up to almost 5k euro per month. Sure your birth was free :D Oh wait.
@@Vismajor01, if you had some kind of education, you would know that still we pay waaaaaay less than USAmericans do. Actually pretty much everywhere in the developed world. Because in my country the government works for us, not against us.
Although you pay less taxes, you pay so much more for pretty much everything just to stay alive. And I feel sorry for everyone who gets fooled in the US. It just proves once more what happens when education, especially the higher one, isn’t free..
@@Vismajor01 Thats another difference between Europeans und Amaricans.
We Europeans value our health more then money.
I dont care if I get less money when in exchange I have more free time, dont have to worry about medical bills, dont have to worry about getting sick.
Like, when I become a Father, I will reduce my work week to 4 Days. Yes, this will reduce my income but it will still be enough to have a place of living and paying the bills.
The only emergency fund I need is for my car and potential repairs.
@@Vismajor01It's already been calculated that if taxes were raised to pay for universal healthcare in the US, it'd be less than the healthcare insurance costs for everyone earning less than $250k/yr. So if you're rich you'd pay more.
Now consider who lobbies the elected officials who could change the US healthcare system ... rich people (and the healthcare industry who like making profits).
Polls say that most Americans (66-75% depending poll) want a universal healthcare system. Those who say they don', give reasons like ignorant statements such as "socialism" (stupid considering all other capitalistic countries have universal healthcare) or they believe they'll be rich one day (ie delusion) as only 1.5% of the US population earn more than $250k/yr.
98% of people can wish to be rich one day, but there's close to no chance they will be, and everyone's health suffers (including themselves).
@@Vismajor01 You got that wrong. 5k is the maximum of your salary being considered for the 14.6%. So if you earn 5,175€ or more per month, the amount you pay at most is 755€. Though at that point you can already opt for private insurance instead, which will be something between 300-600€ depending on what you want.
Hi Ryan, I'm going to tell you a little story from a retired American couple I met in my line of work in France. I'm a kicthen designer by profession and did their kitchen for the appartment they bought in Lyon (one of the biggest city in France and not the cheapest one to live in). The hubby as health issues and need special care. They moved to France a couple of years ago, bought an appartment in Lyon (around 350k euros - $380k) and told me that it was cheaper for them to buy the appartment and live over here, pay a private international insurance costing them about 300 euros per months and get the care he needs in french hospitals than staying in US and use the american healthcare system. So cheap in here they can afford to go back once a year in US for a couple of weeks, go on holidays for 2 weeks 3 to 4 times a year visiting european countries and still, despite all these costs (hotels, flight tickets, restaurants, etc) they save money as they spend less than getting the care he needs if they stayed in the US. He has a heart condition which obviously had to be pretty expensive over there and cost them a fraction using the French healthcare system and in their words provide a much better care than in the US. In my opinion, it says a lot about the healthcare system you have in the supposedly so-called land of the free...
They made a good choice in choosing France for healthcare. It is consistently ranked one of the top in the world. I know some older Swedes who moved to France for better healthcare, and Sweden itself has a very good universal healthcare system! I lived there for 8 years.
They are free to die or go bankrupt, how you dare question it? 😂😂😂😂
Fell from 12m / 30ft in standing position broke both legs. One leg didn't need surgery, another did. Had 2 surgeries, 25 days in hospital. Had 2 surgeons, on best clinic in state (even in all neighboring countries) by best surgeon - he now ( 5 years later) operates NBA players and football stars.
One surgery lasted for 6 hrs. Ofc I had everything I could even choose what kind if painkillers I want and on what way I want them taken.
I got platinum rod in my leg.
Everything you could want.
Room had 4 persons, and we had so much fun there.
After that therapies lasted for 2 months, 5 days a week.
After that they sent me to hotel/spa resort for 3 weeks to bath in mineral / volcanic water and do more exercises.
Cost: 0 dollars
I live in Spain. My mother got Pancreatic Cancer, several days in Hospital and 7 hour surgery cost us 0€. My father almost died this last christmas from internal bleeding, two ambulances, emergency surgery plus two weeks in Intensive Care cost us 0€.
Ryan, I recently had a car accident, an ambulance happened to be passing and didn't hesitate to stop and care for me before the ambulance we had called arrived. I was in the acute trauma unit for 3 weeks, I had a doctor escort me when ever I was taken away from the ward incase I had a heart attack and could be resuscitated immediately. I can't even count the number of specialists that helped me, I had numerous xrays and scans. I had free meals given a menu with 10 different options. I had 24 hour nursing care. During this they found out I might have cancer on my kidneys now I am getting cancer specialists to have a look all for free. I wish you could have seen the care each and every one of the patients received on my ward. We all needed bed baths, toileting and feeding. A nurse was allocated to sit next to one patient 24/7 to ensure she didn't die. The care given by the nhs is amazing. Someone like me has used up more money than I have ever paid in taxes, we are a nation that doesn't mind paying for others in their time of need after all it could be you needing it tomorrow.
I feel like everyone in the UK has at least one story of a loved one who's life has been saved or greatly improved thanks to the NHS, all with no questions asked (apart from medically relevant ones) and without a bill to worry about at the end of it. I gladly pay my taxes and national insurance so people in need can receive the care they deserve.
In my own family, there are several people who have long-term conditions and disabilities requiring treatment who can receive treatment without having to worry about the cost or fill out any paperwork. My grandad also had his life saved by the NHS after a stroke and received pioneering treatment that meant that he could carry on living a normal life with very few lasting effects or impairments. The only real change to his life after the stroke was going into retirement (but he was nearly 80 by then anyway).
As part of his treatment he had two ambulances, first to the local hospital then to the specialist hospital; a pioneering procedure to remove the clot; several weeks hospital stay, including rehabilitation and occupational therapy.
He worked for over 60 years paying into the NHS (which didn't exist when he was born) and it was there when he needed it. Equally, it's there for newborn babies who need life saving surgery and people with life long disabilities who are unable to work and anyone else that needs it for any reason.
It's got some issues at the moment that need resolving, but I'm proud of our NHS and the work they do every single day to improve or save lives and to make our society better.
be happy, the Tories working hard to get the NHS broken,
so their donors can charge you real money you need to pay, not them!
Different mentality. Solidarity is a rule here
Its the same in europe but you dont have to sell your kidney to pay them because its free
You do not specify the country or region in which this happened. Or did I read it wrong?
My brother fell off some scaffolding and broke his tib, fib, femur, hip, forearm and several ribs. A paramedic on a motorbike was first on scene and gave him immediate care. Then an ambulance arrived and because of the remote location and the distance to the nearest hospital (30 miles) an air ambulance was called. He ended up having titanium plates and pins inserted to fix some of the breaks and underwent 4 months of physiotherapy. Total bill = £0. This wasn't the first time he'd needed the NHS. He'd also previously fallen through a roof and had a pretty bad car accident, again £0 to pay.
My ex-wife's son was born with an unidentified heart defect. When he was only 2 weeks old, a healthcare visitor identified the problem and immediately called for an ambulance. The hospital he was taken to didn't have the required specialist equipment, so he was flown to another hospital where they essentially pumped his blood out of his body, into an oxygenator, and back into his body. He underwent keyhole surgery to repair his heart and my ex had to pay... you've guessed it, £0.
By contrast, my American wife was recently charged $500 only to be told she had a chest infection. Paying cash at the time gave her 50% off. The NHS is in a bit of a state due to low investment by the government, but it's still free and the staff are dedicated to the service.
Here is the difference between Austria and UK. I had an air ambulance called for after a running race and got a bill of some 2300 Euros (years ago so far more today). I didn't call one and I don't even accept I needed one, maybe I did.
I also had one called for me in Dartmoor(UK) in a running race again , so they came and I didn't get a bill. Austria big bill, UK no bill. Enough said.
Whatever anyone says in many Euro countries ambulance services are payable, in UK they are not.
In Germany, a normal birth costs €2000-3000. A birth by cesarean section costs up to €4,000. The costs are fully covered by the health insurance company. In addition, after the birth, a midwife will come to you 3-5 times to look after the baby.
For context: if youre not insured or your insurance wont pay/gets denied in the US, the hospital will reduce the total by like 90%. Say you get a bill for 50k USD, your insurance gets denied and the hospital knocks the total down to 5k USD. You pay 5 grand, the hospital can mark 45 grand as a loss and use that as a tax write off
Spain in the 2000s. I spent almost 13 days in the hospital when I gave birth to our daughter, by c-section. One week before the surgery bc I was high risk and was not feeling ok.
My husband and my dad had a reclining chair for the days they slept there and there was another bed in the room, most of the time was occupied (they had another of the recliners for the other patient’s partner).
Everything was “free” (taxes). The only thing that we payed for was the food in the cafeteria for whoever was with me.
All the normal pregnancy tests and visits were covered. And only had to pay for some vitamins and antiacids while pregnant. But not while I was in the hospital (those antiacids were free).
I had a hernia operation in November 2014 in Ireland. Total bill to me: €0.00.
Last October, I underwent radiation and chemotherapy for anal cancer. That included a one month kept in hospital due to side issues. Total cost to me: €0.00. While there they did extensive scans. One found what they suspected may have been a mini-stroke many years earlier that had shown no symptoms. They kept me in hospital while doing more scans. The scans, unconnected to the cancer treatment, led to a bill of €0.00.
There are justifiable complaints about problems with the Irish health service but compared to the US one it provides cover for all. Nobody faces poverty or bankruptcy because they simply get ill. The US health system is a disgrace.
100% agree. I was in and out of hospital for three weeks before I had my baby with an emergency Caesarean, baby was in NICU for three weeks... Bill? €0.
I had surgery. The bill : CDN$000. One year of prescription medication, total amount : CDN$0.00.
So grateful that I don't live South of the border.
That $90 in Canada is because she don't live here. If she lived in Québec, that would be prescription medication, that would cost her a whole $0.00 per year. Québec do have universal health care AND prescription medication coverage. The government is the one buying prescription medicine, directly from the manufacturers, generic medication manufacturers. That mean a lot of negotiating power helping getting the lowest price possible.
In the USA, hospitals are for profit companies. Hospitals are pretty much all privately owned. I wouldn't be surprised if many where listed on the stock market. Meaning that they need to please the share holders.
Almost everywhere else in the world, hospitals are government owned or run. Hospitals are not supposed to generate a profit.
8:54 my father, was in the hospital for about four months before he passed away.
Because we are in Canada it didn’t cost anything !
He worked so hard for many years so all the taxes he contributed definitely paid for it.
2.8 million is mind numbing 😱😱
04:31 they wanted to have a private room that's why they payed 750€
Yes it could totally be free if they wanted but they chose the luxury package.
I think is pretty interesting compare how much cost having a baby in a private clinic in Italy. I just found an article said that a "five star" delivery in a private clinic cost around 10k euros, but usually up to 5k. This - I repeat - in private clinics not covered by the public healthcare, 5k euros is 1/7 of 36k.
Strangely, in Poland insulin for diabetics is free.
strangely why?
@ It's strange that in the USA diabetics pay for their medicines.
In Norway you get unlimited access to your doctor, psychologist and medicine prescribed to you for approx 300$ a year. In other words, if you have paid more than 300$ a year for healthcare, the rest is free for the rest of the year. Including medicine (and birth)
Here in Croatia, there is universal health care. Childbirth, like most other health services, is free. However, in order not to be burdened with the purchase of basic means for child care in the first days, the state and the city give you money with which you can buy it. All together a little more than 600 EUR.
Aussie here and several yrs ago on one of my trips to the USA I mis-calculated how much medication I took with me and fell short by a week or two. At the time in Australia I would pay $45 AUD for 200 tablets taken twice a day lasts over 3 months. I was in KY at the time so got my prescription and then when I got it filled it was for $290 USD for only 30 tablets. I am pretty sure the shock was apparent on my face as pharmacist asked what was wrong and I explained the price difference. They managed to find me a RX coupon for it so it still only cost around $90 USD. Now the same medication is actually cheaper than it was then.
In the last 5 yrs my dad who is in late 70's had bladder cancer. He didn't have to pay anything for consults, chemo or radiation treatment that he had. Last year he had heart bypass surgery and again he didn't have to pay anything.
I have no idea how the American people let the insurance and pharma companies ip them off so much. When people refuse to go see dr or don't buy medicine that will make them better because they can't afford it then the entire system is broken. The system isn't free in Australia, every working person pays a percentage based on income. A lot of people, myself included also take out private insurance to cover things that Medicare doesn't cover. It isn't required and the govt subsides that by either paying reduced monthly fees or you can claim the rebate when you file your tax return. It isn't perfect but compared to USA current medical system I will take it.
Frenchie here, 3 time cancer survivor, vertebral graft and total right hip replacement, among other things. Quite the track record at 42...
The last onr was a full blown acute lymphoblastic leukemia of a rare type (a handful of cases in France per year) that colonized the brain and column. A pure delight.... but hey, I'm still here!
I need a tote bag just to go to the pharmacy and the only time I have to pay a few euros is if I refuse "generic swapping" and actively demand a brand name instead of a generic.
If the generic is unavailable at the instant, I get the brand name without any charge.
That's because I'm automatically at 100% coverage, so I don't even need complementary insurance for most things.
One of my best friends has a bad case of endometriosis, she had a couple surgeries and she was "harvested" for her eggs to be frozen and kept, it's a free service of course.
The only limitation is, for now, that she can't collect her frozen eggs to go abroad. She must use them in France according to the current rules.
But it will probably change soon with the possibility of using them anywhere in EU at least.
In France, anyone with an illness considered serious and-or of "long duration", ie chronical, is switched to 100% coverage. Like diabetes, cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, etc. The list is long as there's about 12 million people in France under the 100% coverage, out of nearly 70.
Supposedly the 100% coverage only covers drugs and acts that are linked to the illness(es) that triggered the "ALD" (the 100%), but most doctors put everything or almost everything under the 100% umbrella.
That's why you have "bizone" prescriptions, with a zone for the 100% at the top and one for the normal coverage at the bottom.
I haven't seen anything written in the normal coverage zone in ages...
There has been some turmoil these days in France because there was a 1 euro increase on what's left to pay for patients.
If I recall correctly, non-100% patients now have to pay 2 euros instead of 1 after insurances for consultations, and 1 euro instead of 50 cents per box of drugs with a yearly cap of 50 euros.
Low income and serious or lengthy illness patients are excluded from this cost hike and still pay nothing.
I imagine it seems utterly lunar for Americans that some people are complaining about having to pay 1 more euro... 😂
The thing for most countries in Europe is they use collective bargaining strategies to lower the prices. They study each drug, their true cost of production, of research, etc. And then they set a price they consider fair for the labs.
Sometimes they agree on a price hike as long as the labs engage themselves on continuing certain unprofitable drugs, etc.
Or to produce "last intention drugs", like long abandoned antibiotics in small quantities to fill a strategic stock at the European or specific country equivalent of CDC. Drugs that can useful for extremely rare cases where nothing "current" works.
Even with heavy bargaining, labs are profitable with EU sales. So the decades old argument that Americans pay more to compensate the loss created by Europeans is wrong.
European prices are enough to cover for production AND research, with additional profit.
US prices are just a joke, it's gouging everywhere.
Labs know they should not mess with EU's medical agencies and EU countries local agencies, as they can retaliate pretty harshly if a lab tries to take advantage.
Labs can ask for a re-evaluation, IF it's justified, and many are granted every year, provided that they have sufficient justification.
Small countries tend to regroup with larger ones when it's not an EU wide bargain.
Recently the EU and several countries have started to show some teeth and threatening to bite as there were successive shortages happening on certain drugs (though far less than in UK).
So most labs prioritized EU countries and EU dependent countries before UK to avoid being slapped by EU med agency's mighty wrath. 😂
They were ordered to ramp up production and stock continent wide, including for the UK.
One thing to also note is that most countries prohibit advertising prescription drugs, and severely control advertising non prescription ones.
You won't see any ads for Prozac or Truvada on French or German TV. At best you'll have some cold medicines...
So people don't ask for this or that that seems fancy, even if it's just a much more expensive and barely different version of a long established existing drug that has the same effect or worse, less effect.
While in the US : If memory serves, only Medicare and Medicaid are allowed "some" bargaining (possibly the VA also?). All others are at the labs' mercy concerning prices.
And even pharmacies are stuck inside networks that block them from buying cheap insulin and other important drugs from different sources outside their network.
The labs have WAY too much power in the US.
And hospitals are treated either as profit machine, or are public and non-profit then are left with the uninsured and poorest.
It's terrible...
In the US the labs have all the power and pretty much dictate everything, save from a few high profile case about certain drugs sold like candy.
In Europe, the med agencies have the power and keep labs in line.
Every attempt at creating a real bargaining power against the labs in the US has been shut down by lobbyists.
Plus, American professional and malpractice insurances are crazy, with every ambulance chaser suing everyone and anyone even for a broken nail... All this drives costs through the roof, as if they weren't already crazy high.
For certain things, you'd better take a plane to Canada or Europe to be treated, I've heard some insurance plans in the US cover that to reduce costs.
The North of France is already hip replacement's HQ as many Brits cross the Channel to avoid the NHS waiting lists.
Though I don't know if it's still happening since Brexit was effective in 2020.
There's some medical tourism from Western EU but it's mostly for specific things like dental in Eastern EU.
Spain and Belgium are quite specialized in everything reproductive, like "no questions asked in-vitro", Danmark is the spermbank of EU...
Morocco is the tummy tuck and liposuction factory of Europe, Turkey mostly for some other elective aesthetic stuff like hair transplants, or dental facets...
Though recently there was also a trend of people getting plastic surgery in Dubai too.
But for medically motivated plastic surgery, like implants after mastectomy (breast cancer), and every reconstructive surgeries, they are covered in Europe under national healthcare systems.
I hope you are well soon Frenchie. Xx 🇬🇧
@@erikadavis2264 Thanks a lot!
Let's say that the damage was extensive and comparable to a full year of almost daily Dresden-like carpet bombing chemo, including brain infusions.
So I went from a speed skiing, bicycle riding, weight lifting, party touring, 87kg lean beefy jock to an almost bedridden and twitching stickman with a crutch and a toddler's gait.
We're getting there, I've recovered a more human-like figure but given the speed of things I won't be back on the slopes before 2084, maybe later. 🤣
And my next bicycle will be an electrically assisted tricycle.
I guess that I alone am responsible for at least a couple percents of the French health-care deficit since 2017.
Anyway, mission accomplished as I'm still here and grateful for the universal / single payer health-care.
I hope the drugs shortage problems in the UK were mostly resolved, as I recall a couple friends from across the Channel were recently panicking about their treatments and having to tour half of London's pharmacies to find what they needed.
Apparently the EU growled angrily at the labs and demanded that they stop robbing Peter to pay Paul and finally just produce and stock enough of everything for everyone.
Greetings from Paris.
It's pretty complex. It's not free in Europe because it's paid for with taxes, but at the same time the unnecessary cost drifts from being the US problem of 'inflating prices to collect more from the insurance policy' to 'incompetently-managed government funding'. America being so profit-first is not helping either, which is in turn connected to many factors making the public unhealthy in the first place.
I am German and gave birth to my daughter 24 years ago. After my daughter arrived we unfortunately had to stay another six weeks in hospital, me and my husband as well!!! Respectively he was allowed to stay as well, we even had a single room for us two/three. Later on we had to pay 10 Euros per night, but I was unemployed at the time, so it turned out we had to pay NOTHING for six weeks care of our child, room, food for everyone, beverages etc. Nothing. Even I thought that this was ...WOW!!!!
Poland: about 10x 1h courses in hospital before birth (training with midwife, explaining what to pack to hospital, how to take care child after birth, etc.), childbirth (from 6am to 3pm), 2 additional days in hostpital (its standard, vaccinations, etc.), during first 2 months about 3-4 (dont remember) visits of midwife in our home to check how infant is growing, and for answering our questions about anything connected to infant. Cost of everything: 0 PLN. Actually after filling papers we've got some money from goverment for giving the birth (not much but better something than nothing)
Very much the same in Croatia
and then until child study every month 800 PLN from goverment for You
Same in Lithuania
Same in Ukraine
Yep same in UK
well because healthcare is business in the USA and not a right!
Im Irish. My baby girl just turned 10, her Birth cost us £0.00. Plus by the time she was actually delivered alongside our appointed midwife we had an additional midwife and 2 doctors who had just all finished their shifts at 2am, they just wanted to be there to experience our special moment with us.
Last year I had surgery for a hernia in my belly button. The operation was carried out at St.Thomas in London (in front of Big Ben). I entered the hospital at 8 am and at midday I was walking out of the hospital. The surgeon told me that nowadays these types of operations are a simple and routine thing that lasts about 20 minutes. I didn't have to pay anything for the operation.
I just had cataract surgery on both eyes, one in February, the other in March. Total cost: 92€ for an optional, additional laser eye exam to make sure I can throw out my glasses after the surgery by providing more exact measurements of my eyes to the lense provider, and 11.10€ train fare to get to the surgery center.
French here. For making babies, the hospital cost would be fully covered by the public health care, and the additional health insurance (provided by the job or subscribed individually if you're retired) would fully cover the costs of extras like single room, husband staying the night, midwife, ... And to add the cherry on top of the cake, many of these additional health insurances (that we call "mutuelles") also gives you a big bonus for the birth of your baby, which can range from a few hundreds up to a few thousands for the best ones. It's there to cover the other costs than the medical ones that you'll have to pay for having a baby.
Hospitals in France charge between 2800 and 5600 Euros, 3900 to 10000 for a C-section, depending on the complications. Totally covered by public healthcare. Ambulance to maternity hospital costs around 97 euros, 65% covered by social security insurance.
& don’t tell em about the childsupport you will then receive, per each child, till they turn adult 😅
In Sweden you pay an administrative fee of $25 when you start being treated, but there's an annual cap of $250 on those charges. Prescription medicines have the same charge: once you've paid $250 in a 12-month period, all your medicines are free of charge for the rest of year. When my wife had our second child in a hospital here, the only payment we needed to make was $8 per day for her food. She stayed in hospital for about 3 days in order for her and the baby to be checked out and for her breast-feeding to get started. In my town they have a little 'extra' for new mothers. As they are transferred to the ward after giving birth in the delivery room, they're invited to press a button on the wall which starts a sound and light show in the fountain in the main square to announce to the town that another baby has been born!
I checked how much a friend of mine in Missouri paid per month for his healthcare premiums (for his whole family): it was more or less the same as my total tax bill … and you get a lot more for your tax krona than just excellent healthcare (things like free tuition at university for your children and the chance to live in a well-organised, well-run society.
the sound and light show is the cutest thing I've ever read !!!!!!!!
Montenegro has insurance for everyone. It doesn't matter whether you are employed or not, every citizen has health insurance. For an ambulance to come for you - free of charge. Operation - free of charge. Hospital stay + food - free. There are prescription drugs - which are not charged (sometimes a co-payment of 0.30 cents is paid) Insulin - free, minors receive 200 strips and lancets per month plus a measuring device, while adults receive about 100 strips and lancets per month plus a measuring device measurement. Of course, sometimes not all medicines are available in state-owned pharmacies, and people have to buy them in private pharmacies, but I'm sure they're cheaper than in America.
I'm Italian. The couple in the video must have gove to some kind of private or semi-private clinic where they could pay for a private room. In public hospitals you can't choose the room, but you pay zero euros no matter how long you have to stay or if you have to undergo surgery or not. We never pay when we are hospitalized in public hospitals, it doesn't matter what you have to do.
3 years ago I was in hospital for almost a month, I paid nothing and when they discharged me they gave me a bag full of medicines so that I was covered for a month or something.
Report fron Norway: My father has been in and out of hospitals for ten years, fighting different cancer issues. He has spent months at hospitals and rehabilitation centres. Major, very serious health problems, but NO financial worries at all. Surgeries, almost all medication, and even transport covered by the National Health Service. At 81, he is fragile, but stills lives with my mother in their own home, and drives his car for shopping. We have two sons, now 19 and 30. I think, combined expenses for the births and follow-ups were around USD 250. Mainly car parking, some fees and extra payment for my wife to spend one extra night at the "hospital hotel" next door to the maternity clinic.
At the downside of living in a very cold country...
Sorry, Norway is one of those countries where the weather really turns a happy person sad.
@@dontlaughtoomuch11I´d rather have a bit of cold weather than being bankrupt. Btw I´m Norwegian, and I´m not unhappy in winter.
@@mimosa7070 So every country that isn't cold is poor? Got ya! rolls eyes...
For appendix surgery, I paid like 150 euros for 5 days in the "recovery" room. The statement that the US pays only 2 or 3 times more is just cute.
as a Russian, i paid $0 for the same surgery and 10 days in the hospital
I live in Belgium, and I pay currently 62 Euro's per year for my insurance that covers every thing related to accidents and hospital costs.
My ex husband emigrated to the States about 16 years ago and he has recently had a major operation and thankfully, he survived it; but now he’s really wishing that he had stayed here because he’s on the hook for more money than he’s ever seen, to the point of possible homelessness and bankruptcy. It’s disgusting to have to pay so much to stay alive. Long live our NHS! It’s by no means a perfect system but I wouldn’t want to be without it in place
The NHs is third world garbage. Why didn’t he have insurance? What an irresponsible bum!
Just fyi:
I looked it up and the average birth in Germany costs 2-3k €. Add a thousand if it's a C-section.
That's the cost to the hospital/paid by the insurance. We obviously don't pay directly ourselves.
But to think that a German having to pick up the entire bill (which would never happen) is still "a good deal" in the US...
There are some extra services and special treatments that you have to pay for yourself if you want them but they're not essential things. E.g. you don't pay for the room but you can pay for a room upgrade (like having a room to yourself).
10:10 I think the sentiment of liking the people when meeting them but either disliking them as a group or disliking the country (as an institution) is widely shared when it comes to the US. Sure, the idiots that get memed on exist but usually, Americans are some of the most lovely people to meet.
It's no different (although less extreme) from people's perceptions of e.g. Russia, China, Hungary and Russians, Chinese and Hungarians, respectively. You can think a country is fucked and still like the people and parts of the culture.
15:45 Yeah, it really is the lack of a price cap on medical expenses for the sake of a "free market". Some regulation here would benefit everyone but with the polarised and emotionally charged US media, good luck trying to tell people this isn't communism.
most of that youll get back
@@user-nr4oi7di2d Isn't that what OP already said? "The cost paid by the insurance" so you actually won't pay that amount at all, your insurance does
@@sergiufurdui7542 You don't pay for your entire life, you pay once you start to work until you stop working. And I don't think that most people who pay taxes just forget about that, but I'm not goint go argue with you now 😂
@@sergiufurdui7542 STILL WAY L;ESS THEN IN THE USA
I'm in the UK (South Yorkshire to be more precise) and when my Wife's gave birth she was admitted to the "Baby Ward" a couple of hours before everything was fully ready to go where they checked that everything was coming along nicely. When things were ready to go we were admitted to a private room with shower etc that looked very similar to the one in the 1st video and my Children were born. Not surprisingly my head is not fully full of the details, but I know that there was the doctor and at least one nurse. I can't remember how much or what pain medication my wife was on, or if she just took it all out on my hand! I know that she needed a small "cut" to help make more room and that my children were directly placed on my wife's breast (skin to skin I think that it's called) as soon as they were born (maybe a very quick wipe down) and I got to cut the umbilical cord. The Doctors tidied everything up whilst we had cuddles and then we were left in peace in the room with someone periodically checking in. Once everything was "sorted" our family (including our other children) were able to come in to the hospital and birthing room (despite it being about midnight!) Sometime in the very early morning I left with my children to go back home and my wife was moved on to a public baby ward (I think there were 6 or 8 beds in the ward) One time, my wife wound up staying there for a good week, since at 1st she was suffing a little and then by the time she was ok the baby had a touch of Jaundice and they wanted to keep him in. All in all we were incredibly well looked after (even me as the dad!)... The cost of this, £8 in a taxi ride to the hospital.
Bloody love the NHS ♥️
@@Mugtree as a rule I do too, but for non critical procedures they can take the mick. i.e. my son needed some dental work done 3 days before his operation we were contacted by the hospital because the operation was postponed. The reason.. My son's surgeon went to some country in Asia to do some surgery over there for a while, so my son had to be re-scheduled in! (He has had it now and everything is fine, but it still takes the mick, worrying about surgery, then delay, then the worry all over again) I also have a friend who has cateracts and is loosing her eyesight and will most likely not be able to use a phone or computer (which she needs for work) within 6 months... Estimated wait time for her surgery 2 + years... So she'll go from being a "contributing member of society with a job etc" to a drain on social care and probably loose her job because she can't get the operation, whilst she is able to see well enough to work.
@@BenMossWoodward Don't vote Conservative!
They are deliberately ruining the NHS so that they can mop up the profits when it's privatised
It's all a game to them - and they'll use your anger towards the system as a reason to dismantle it and enrich themselves.
I had a friend who unfortunately had a major heart attack while in LA. He was rushed to hospital and told he needed a heart transplant asap. Long story short he had the op and got a bill for $500k... Needless to say that killed him on the spot.
I had my tonsils removed when I was five. Surgery and six days in a private room at a children's hospital with my mum. Zero cost.
Had my appendix removed when I was twelve. Surgery, three days in hospital and special care because I had problems with my circulation and fainted several times. Zero cost.
Went to hospital twice for delivery. Had nice doctors, nice midwifes, an epidural and stayed three days each time. Zero cost.
Thank the universe that I live in Germany.
The thing with France is that the governement is directly negotiating the prices with the medical industry and insurance companies, which prevent these two to set artificial prices between themselves.
And that is without counting the "securité sociale" which is the public insurance owned by the governement which take care of most costs.
in fact, that's case case almost everywhere but in the US... the really big diff is that the US in addition don't "share the costs" and that's why it hurt. (In Switzerland, it's the closest to the US system with private insurrance, but at least the prices are not solely fixed by the healthcare providers and drugs manufacturers)
Needed a hearing test so my doctor made me an appointment with the audiologist. Went to my appointment which was at 9.39 am, had a thorough test and walked out at 11.30 with 2 brand new digital in canal hearing aids all free courtesy of the NHS. Even my replacement batteries are free. 🇬🇧
My wife have given birth to 2 kids in Sweden. Including epidural, wireless heart rate monitor for the kid before it is born and then food and your own room after for 2-3 nights we paid 0 SEK
Sure it is paid with taxes over time but still nice to not get a huge bill.
I stayed with my wife for those days so I had to pay about 700 SEK( ~€63 or ~68$ per day for the room. Was half during Covid) (after you are released from the hospital to recovery) which includes all the meals and as much coffee, sandwich etc I wanted/needed.
During those 2 or 3 days you stay if everything goes OK, they check the baby run tests and give you a schedule for upcoming things you need to do/check etc.
In Denmark, we had a baby, food, 3 days stay at the hospital in a private room. We payed 0,- dollars/kroner.
I had my knee replaced 2 years ago. 0,- dollars and they even gave me painkillers for free. Pure titanium robocop now.
I´ve had sepsis where I had to have surgery, and go through a lot of medicine with 4 days in the hospital. 0,- dollars
What I´m trying to say is EVERYTHING IS FREE in our public healthcare.
Note: Dentist we have to pay for, and we do have private hospitals, but most jobs have a health insurance which costs less than 20 dollars a month.
The American couple only stayed one night, whereas the other couple had three nights and opted for a private room.
Well family room actually.
I remember when we had our daughter. My partner's labour pains were manageable, so we walked to the hospital, which was 10 minutes away. She was given a bed immediately and offered painkillers and nitrous oxide, the delivery was quick, our daughter had inhaled some meconium so was transferred to a neo-natal care unit, my partner was given a private recovery room so she could stay and nurse our daughter while she was there in maximum comfort. She was given three meals a day and could often get extra stuff other people didn't want, go to the cafeteria and pay for extra or have me bring in outside food, she had access to nurses, doctors, a midwife and a post-natal care advisor, who visited regularly after we took our daughter home, we got a baby box, vouchers for fruit and milk, all of it, all of the care pre- and post-natal, the medication, the midwife, the care advisor, the room, most of the food, everything was free. They even gave her a contraceptive implant free. I know taxes paid for it,
About 4.5% of your income here goes to the NHS, or about 18% of your taxes, if you have no taxable income, you don't pay. But that is a lot less than you pay for insurance, most likely, and with the added benefit that any extra you pay beyond the cost of any care you use is helping others who are less well off or more in need of care, instead of being squandered on a yacht for some billionaire or something!
My now ex wife was from the States - We had our son in hospital here in the UK - The NHS staff were not actually surprised to see an American in the maternity ward, apparently quite a lot of Americans and Australians come to UK to use our Hospitals and get free care during delivery of babies. My ex had legally came here and was living here. She said she felt ashamed that her country-men were sponging off another country. She also said she understood it though and thought the US should be better at providing health rather than making money of sick people.
I live in Slovenia, where I had shoulder ligament surgery. My insurance, which I pay $50 a month, covered the entire cost of the surgery. I also pay personal insurance of 70 dollars a month, which brought me 3500 dollars in compensation for 3 months of sick leave. Oh, and the company also paid me 70% of my salary for 1 month + the state for 2 months of 70% of my salary.
I only started to watch the video, but I already have a comment. I delivered my baby last summer. The labour was induced, but it didn't lead anywhere so in the end I had to have a c-section. I was in the hospital for almost 8 days, and I had all kinds of drugs. I got 4 meals every day, and my partner also stayed for one night. The total cost was under 500 euros (no insurance). This was in Finland.
So sorry you had to be induced ❤
We actually have a company here in my tiny little region of FInland (roughly 30k inhabitants) that makes a bunch of different products for the healthcare industry, and they expot ALOT to the US and they've been growing like crazy in recent years
As a diabetic in Sweden i pay absolutely nothing for the insulin and everything els that i need. The only thing i pay is about 35USD a year for a doctors visit for tests and checkups.
All paid by your crippling taxes.
@@fatherson5907 True we got high taxes but if you actually start digging a little deeper and compare with forexample US we pay a lot less every year in taxes then people in US pay in taxes, insurance, school, medical and so on...
This video is excellent and so important. As a French, I will show it to those of my fellow countrymen who criticise the cost of our "Assurance Maladie". As an observer of the USA, I have the feeling that there is a nasty business behind the scenes of the health care "industry" (I daren't write "system").
Health care in the USA is a business that has share holder value in focus. So hospitals, pharma, and insurance are maximizing their profit. Also, doctors and nurses have to pay a lot for their education and again, colleges and financial institutions are making a profit from this as well. So doctors and nurse have to earn a lot to pay off their debts. Finally, a small but not negligible factor contributing to high health care cost in the USA are medical professional liability insurance premiums. There are a lot of puppet masters in the USA. Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) their wealth is not "trickling down" to the average US citizen .
Still without a free market health system, pharma wouldn‘t develop new drugs and make medicine better. For example in germany it takes years to approve new drugs. do you think any company would put billions in research, when the approval process takes decades and then the public insurances and Institutions want to regulate the prices?
Pharma only develop drugs for the US market and even european pharma corporations sell their drugs first in the US, because in Europe it would take decades to even cover the costs.
@@chrisr25071 You have a point here, that R&D in health care (this includes not only pharma but also medical devices) is expensive and needs to be financed. However, the big difference between the USA and the approach of the nearly all of the other highly developed countries (according to the HDI rating) is the negotiation power. In the latter, the government or some other centralized agency bundles the negotiation power of all insured people for the whole country. In the USA, big pharma and other large health care corporation have be far the upper hand. That makes it very attractive even for European companies to prioritize the US market. European companies still invest considerable in R&D and there also public funded activities. However, the USA is spending more money. I would counter that the American approach is needed for medical progress. Take for instance COVID19 vaccine research and approval: The first on the market was Pfizer-BioNTech with Comirnaty. The resarch was done by a German company that has performed a lot of public funded research. Market readiness and subsequent marketing was done by Pfizer. A bit later AstraZeneca (UK/Sweden company) brought the vaccine of research at the University of Oxford to the market as well. It shows, that medical progress is also working in a non-USA setting.
I think, there are more ways than only a US-style free market economy to create progress. Europe is still showing that this can be done. The same is true for other highly-developed countries (South Korea, Japan, Taiwan,...) and even China.
I had 2 babies:
Italy 2015: wonderful birth, after birth support for mom and child: paid nothing
Switzerland 2023: wonderful birth in private hospital, midwife that came to my house twice a week for a month after birth: paid nothing.
I did share a room with another mom in both cases and could have paid extra for a single room, but all the pre and post natal procedures are free.
The main difference is: We have insurance (it's not free, but highly regulated by law) and when we get ill, the insurance COVERS it totally. In America one has insurance, and when one gets ill the insurance covers it NOT. That's why sometimes some regulations are quite good and can protect you from greedy corporations.
Tried to have a home birth, with midwife in attendance daily, didn't happen went overdue, so had a hospital C-section. Second child was hospital birth, that turned into an emergency c-section. The total cost of both births combined was £5 pound ($6.30) for parking. My National Insurance contributions per year is £168 ($211.76 USD).
£5 for parking? That’s really expensive!
Just joking, we had to pay something similar.
The reason why you pay more is probably that you are privately insured by many insurance company, instead of having the government doing the work of the insurance companies for every citizen. When everyone is covered by the government, the government is one strong negotiator who isn't focusing on maximizing profits, but reducing costs and there is less intensive for exploiting the system.
There's also this mentality in USA when people say they don't trust a doctor who would do surgery or any other medical procedure for free, saying it's either a scam or that the doctor doesn't have a real "medical license".
My work colleague has epilepsy so has a medical that allows him totally free prescriptions, dental and opticians. He had an upper hernia. Had 2 stems inserted and then later operation to sort it out. Paid zero! My wife and I had our son in London 2010. She had scans and checks every month leading up to the birth as has a hole in her heart, on birthing day had a nurse, midwife and doctor with us the whole time. Had gas and air and then when time for epidural, had that and gave birth. The whole day my wife had food and I was allowed 1 meal too. Had room to ourselves and was told had to stay in room until baby fed and pooped. When due to leave (been there 3 days) received no bill. Nothing, zip, zero!
Don't forget that in the UK, while the NHS is free at the point of delivery, you can still "go private" if you want to - normally to avoid waiting lists. Its not cheap but even private treatment in the UK costs a fraction of the same private healthcare in the US.
I should say "if you can afford to" rather than want to!
Same in Italy, but for example having a baby in a private clinic cost usually up to 5k euros or 10k euros for a luxury treatment. A lot less than in California. And I never seen a woman leaving the hospital just after 1 night.
The average hospital stay in Italy is 3.4 days for natural births and 4.6 days for caesarean sections. Without complications. More if there are problems.
The misunderstanding about the NHS is that it is FREE. What nobody tells you is that you Pay a sum from wages when employed and the Employer also pays more than the worker. The Government contributes but they don't have any money so you still pay through your Taxes. The advantage is that all citizens, and for that matter "Visitors" are treated regardless of whether they worked or not. You can also pay for Private Health Care. Elderly do not pay for prescription Drugs and I believe those with serious Health Problems don't pay either.
@@malcolmhouston7932 No-one thinks the NHS is "Free" as in paid for by the magic money tree. Of course it is paid for through taxes. But it costs UK citizens, per head in tax, about half what the US Healthcare industry costs the average American (through insurance premiums, direct payments, and yes taxes for Medicare too). Twice as much for a health "system" that is half as good (and which doesn't cover millions of citizens at all). Because "Freedom!" I guess. Bonkers.
I've been blessed with fairly good health and personally I have very rarely used NHS services, though it has saved the life of some loved ones I have no doubt. I have seen my family doctor once in the last 6 years, have spent one night in hospital since infancy, and been to A&E (US: The Emergency Room) I think 3 times in 40 years. I had the covid jabs etc of course and volunteered, providing administrative and logistic support when the vaccine first rolled out. But I'm very happy that my taxes pay for other people to get healthcare when they need it, and I'd be happy to pay a bit more in taxes to properly fund the NHS.
@@malcolmhouston7932 All correct. Ditto in most other western countries. It's an insurance scheme, so not free. It works well with a supportive government. Unfortunately, that's not the Tories.
The Italian couple used a mix of private health care and their national health care that is why they had charges but it does show how much private healthcare cost in comparison to the U.S.
I live in Norway, and last year i gave birth to a beatiful baby girl. I had to stay 10 days at the hospital because i had Preeclampsia, so i stayed 3 days before the birth and got induced, and they needed to monitor that my blood pressure went down for a week after the birth.
My partner did not stay over nights, but was there more or less all day, everyday. When i was finally discharged, i just walked out the hospital, and no invoice is sent my way. It is completely free.
Everything in regard to giving birth is free in Norway, all the appointments with your doctor, all the ultrasounds, everything
All funded by oil 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I'm doctor and always stay speechless when I see the bills or drug prices in the US. Specially when read our health insurance fee rate and learn how much is my job underrated 😉 When I watch vids ladies in birth pain rushing to hospital by car or from someone collecting money for some simple stupid surgery (specially something what should be done 15 years ago and the health status is corresponding today), it turns me into rage.
In the past people wanted to come to america for the promise, nowdays most people come to america only for vacation, or stay for loved ones, but not for the culture or country itself...
So right. I have regularly visited America from the UK for almost 40 years. In the early days America seemed like a wonderful vision, everything seemed cheaper but better. I could even picture myself living there. That feeling has worn off over time, and now I think much about the American way of life is disagreeable if not downright harmful. Too many unnecessary chemicals in the food, Too many adverts on TV. Too many crazy and dangerous politicians. Too many school shootings. A good place for a holiday perhaps but certainly not suitable as somewhere to live.
Just been quoted £842.67 for a month's medical insurance as a Brit if I was to visit the USA
The same insurance for a trip to Europe costs under £40
My second baby (Sweden): hospital delivery, abt 4h in the delivery room, stayed for 3 nights in a private family room at the hospital “hotel” (fully staffed with nurses), private bathroom, regular checkups, help (guidance) with breastfeeding, husband AND first child welcome to stay, excellent food in restaurant. Total cost: $10 per night for me and $30 per night for my husband. For room and board, basically. Plus parking.
Here in Ireland all life diabetic medications are free, because they're literally life saving drugs people need. I don't understand how a price tag can be attached to something that people need to... not die?? it's incomprehensible to me how that is allowed to exist in a hugely wealthy country like the US.
it legitimately blows my mind that you have to pay to give birth, when my wife had our daughter we went to hospital she was in labour for 2 days, stayed in hospital for 3 days after that and then we went home and that was that. They even gave us a little "baby" box filled with bits and pieces and some vouchers for local kids and babies shops.
Here in Sweden, the insulin would be free, they would only pay for the doctor's visit and that is only until you come up to a certain amount then you would get a high-cost protection card so the visits will be for free a year from the first bill.
In Spain, if you go to the hospital, you don't pay anything, though if you want a home birth, it'll cost you around €4000. I don't know how much the hospital birth actually costs, but in England, they provide free home births, because it costs less than a hospital birth.
I am a mother of three. My third baby was born in Portugal and I paid no money at all for the birth. Three nights at the hospital and no fee. My other two were born in Finland and I paid less the 100 euros per birth. My husband stayed with me and we had wonderful conditions and privacy.
Im in the uk. I had a cystectomy recently for bladder cancer, had tests before and pain medication. Was in hospital for near two weeks after the pocedure. I need medical supplies ongoing for the rest of my life. I'll have numerous medical appointments ongoing to deal with any future issues. I'm comforted greatly that I've not and will not have to pay anything for this except for the taxes i would normally pay as a working resident of Britain.
In Italy, if you are diagnosed with diabetes, you don't pay for the drugs and insulin as long as you are given an exemption number after the diagnosis, for example I have Multiple Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis and I don't pay for all the therapies, because I have 2 exemption codes, 1 for each diagnosed pathology! 10 hours of physiotherapy per month are also free!
Some years ago my aunt died, after suffering from cancer. It took one and a half year of care at home and some weeks in a hospital and the final time at a hospiz. The only thing we as a family had to pay for had been the charge for the death certificat. Everything else was covered by health insurance. And we as a family could mourne in peace, without the burden to worry about money.
I am very thankfull to live here in Germany.
The hernia thing really blew my mind because it's the only thing I have a comparison for... I had the beginning of a hernia a couple of years ago and didn't even know, a doctor noticed during a different examination. He said we would have to get that done (so he basically did not even ask whether I wanted or not but rather informed me that it should really get done) so I made an appointment. I had to fill out some information forms (e.g. allergies and my weight, for anastesia) and some weeks later, I had the procedure. It took maybe 10 minutes of prep talk + 30 minutes of procedure + 15 minutes in the wake up room. Then, my parents got me (because I was not supposed to go unsupervised for the next hour or so). I never paid a single cent for it and never even considered not doing it because of monetary reasons... having to pay 85k for what pretty much is a necessary procedure is just unbelievable... This was in Germany btw