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1. You can have single payer with the option for private insurance. Many countries do that. From what I can gather, here (Norway) one can get quicker service wi

1. You can have single payer with the option for private insurance. Many countries do that. From what I can gather, here (Norway) one can get quicker service with the private doctors. The national health plan still pays the private doctors the national rate, and you pay the difference.

smt88 10y ago
Ironically, this happens in the US despite the private insurance system. It's the worst of both worlds. If you want to be seen quickly and you're not literally dying, you have to go to an urgent care clinic and pay a much higher fee. And even that is only available for very minor, primary-care issues. I recently took my girlfriend to the emergency room for a very serious illness, and we ended up being there for 12 hours. About 1 hour of that time involved actual treatment or seeing a doctor -- the other 11 hours were just waiting. The bill was $20,000.
- Broken_Hippo 10y ago
  That really isn't the same. Urgent care is useless if you do not have the money to pay for it when you need it, even though insurers provide monetary incentives to go there (my insurance plans generally had a copay of $50-$75 for urgent care, but $100-$150 for the ER). You can still wait hours at these places, just like at the ER. And honestly, in such cases the care is likely similar. You also have absolutely no coverage if you don't have private insurance or are poor enough/old enough for the government-run systems. This system is more akin to visiting a doctor that charges more than the insurance's "customary charges" and expects you to pay the difference. You like the doctor, though, so you happily pay while the insurance still pays the portion they find to be a fair price. It is more akin to finding out the specialists in your networks have a 6 month waiting list, but one outside the network only has a 3 month waiting list. The insurance pays a lower amount and you choose to pay the rest out of pocket for a shorter waiting time. The same thing for surgeries that aren't absolute emergencies (I do hear horror stories, but I heard horror stories in the states as well). Above all, you are unlikely to wind up with such a bill afterwards.
vidarh 10y ago
The UK as well. Here there are fully comprehensive private healthcare plans that basically acts as "top up" over the public healthcare: You go to a NHS doctor first, and if they need to refer you for anything, you ask them to refer you privately. So you pretty much pay to queue jump and get higher quality hospital rooms.

smt88 10y ago

Ironically, this happens in the US despite the private insurance system. It's the worst of both worlds. If you want to be seen quickly and you're not literally dying, you have to go to an urgent care clinic and pay a much higher fee. And even that is only available for very minor, primary-care issues. I recently took my girlfriend to the emergency room for a very serious illness, and we ended up being there for 12 hours. About 1 hour of that time involved actual treatment or seeing a doctor -- the other 11 hours were just waiting. The bill was $20,000.

Broken_Hippo 10y ago
That really isn't the same. Urgent care is useless if you do not have the money to pay for it when you need it, even though insurers provide monetary incentives to go there (my insurance plans generally had a copay of $50-$75 for urgent care, but $100-$150 for the ER). You can still wait hours at these places, just like at the ER. And honestly, in such cases the care is likely similar. You also have absolutely no coverage if you don't have private insurance or are poor enough/old enough for the government-run systems. This system is more akin to visiting a doctor that charges more than the insurance's "customary charges" and expects you to pay the difference. You like the doctor, though, so you happily pay while the insurance still pays the portion they find to be a fair price. It is more akin to finding out the specialists in your networks have a 6 month waiting list, but one outside the network only has a 3 month waiting list. The insurance pays a lower amount and you choose to pay the rest out of pocket for a shorter waiting time. The same thing for surgeries that aren't absolute emergencies (I do hear horror stories, but I heard horror stories in the states as well). Above all, you are unlikely to wind up with such a bill afterwards.

vidarh 10y ago

The UK as well. Here there are fully comprehensive private healthcare plans that basically acts as "top up" over the public healthcare: You go to a NHS doctor first, and if they need to refer you for anything, you ask them to refer you privately. So you pretty much pay to queue jump and get higher quality hospital rooms.