5 ms·
As much as Europeans love to crap on USA health care I have a polar opposite accedcdote. Last time I was at my general doctor, I was in the room for an hour wi
by SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
As much as Europeans love to crap on USA health care I have a polar opposite accedcdote.
Last time I was at my general doctor, I was in the room for an hour with Doc and nurse. Talking about how I’m eating, how I feel after running long distance, if this blemish has changed shape, how I’ve been sleeping, etc etc.
It took 10 days to make an appointment which is annoying, but I have never once felt rushed or that staff was rushed.
Like I said. Annecdote, but polar opposite.
- neuronic 8y agoUsually specialists are more like this, but not general practitioners. Also if you are privately insured you get premium service because the physician earns multiple times as much as from national health insurance. He now has time for you without jeopardizing his ability to pay off his office location. Not too long ago, I still had my general physician who could sit down and talk it all through. He retired... and another one in another city did as well. Younger ones seem under much higher economic stress. Maybe also stress from peers? It seems more of an emergent problem to be honest.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoYeah, I'm first to crap on US health care, but there are days I sort of understand why things in the States are the way they are. Almost everyone I know here (in Poland) tries to go for private care whenever they have spare cash, because public health care is pretty unpleasant and makes you waste a lot of time (+ you usually get scheduled for a visit many months in the future). This can actually be more expensive than private care if you count opportunity costs. Recently my wife & I were forced to use the public service, and after 3 days of traveling back & forth, day after day, to another city, being told to visit another ward next day, and come back the day later, I was begging for someone to throw money at to make our problem go away. And I'm not really blaming the staff; they're all severely overworked, underequipped and underpaid. There's a huge problem with public health care here, kind of an opposite to the US problems. Poor or rich, you will get medical attention, just possibly months after when it's needed.
- avgDev 8y agoI was born in Poland. Yes the system sucks but US is on another level. Imagine visiting a hospital for an emergency, and receiving 10 bills from different doctors totaling to few thousand dollars then fighting with insurance to pay for it. Universal healthcare brings OVERALL cost down. It makes private treatment cheaper. A crown and root canal costs about $2k in the US. Plus, it is nearly impossible to find cost of a procedure prior to it. It is fking weird.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoUh ok. Thanks for the perspective. I guess we are better off, because private healthcare here is straightforward and not that expensive for the basics. For a root canal here I paid maybe 200 USD in total.
- LeftTurnSignal 8y ago> For a root canal here I paid maybe 200 USD in total. For comparison, with insurance in the US my root canal cost about $250 out of pocket.