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In European countries I visited, primarily Scandinavian ones, they take such pride in their social system. If some European countries is any example, publicly

In European countries I visited, primarily Scandinavian ones, they take such pride in their social system. If some European countries is any example, publicly run healthcare can incentivize innovation in private health insurances. Apparently EU citizens (and visa holders?) get a healthcare card that's portable across EU. Is this true? Any Europeans healthcare users have opinions on the healthcare system there? Any wisdom to impart?

Ididntdothis 7y ago
"Apparently EU citizens (and visa holders?) get a healthcare card that's portable across EU. Is this true? " I don't think so. The systems are very different. But if you get sick in another country they won't rip you off like they doing in the US. My sister from Germany was charged $1200 when her daughter had a fever in NYC. She talked to a doctor for 5 minutes and got an antibiotic.
- downrightmike 7y ago
  Fevers shouldn't get antibiotics...
  - effingwewt 7y ago
    Not exactly. Many infections can cause quite dangerous fevers, and infections are treated with antibiotics.
- robjan 7y ago
  It is true for emergency care during temporary visits. It's called a European Health Insurance Card (pronounced e-HIC) https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for-a-free-ehic-european-health-insurance-card/ https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for...
jbob2000 7y ago
There is no wisdom to impart. There are 2 countries in the world who do not have public healthcare: the US and Liberia. The US does not have public healthcare because of a lack of wisdom, it’s because of greed. Literally anything other than what you’re doing now is better. Roll the fucking dice on public health policy and it will be better than what you have now. It’s not a lack of wisdom, you aren’t even listening to the wisdom that surrounds you, it’s a complete lack of empathy for the sake of greed!
- no_opinions 7y ago
  > There is no wisdom to impart. There are 2 countries in the world who do not have public healthcare: the US and Liberia. Where is this from? There has to be example of countries without public healthcare. Off topic: I was just reading about Liberia yesterday because they have a similar style/structure of government to USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia#Politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia#Politics.
  - jbob2000 7y ago
    Admittedly, I’m having a hard time finding the source for my claim. I read it a few years ago and can’t find the source. But I did go looking for it! And what I found was that there are many people trying to muddy the definition of public healthcare. Sorry I mean universal healthcare. Actually, I mean single payer healthcare systems. No wait, I mean private-public! Fuck it, “the healthcare system that doesn’t fuck over it’s patients”. That one. There’s only two countries who’s healthcare system still fucks over it’s patients. If Syria, a barely functioning war-torn country, can run a public health system, so can the US.
elliotec 7y ago
Correct, and they share data across countries and offices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Health_Insurance_Card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Health_Insurance_Card
AstralStorm 7y ago
You can get a cheap (like $10) EU-wide health insurance with wide coverage, or get a refund from your country after getting healthcare in another member country but it's quite the bureaucracy. (That's where the insurance company helps.) Now even if paying from out of pocket, the cost is unlikely to bankrupt you. The expensive things are experimental biological therapies (e.g. new antibodies) and some cancer treatments. As for quality, it depends, e.g. Poland has the healthcare starved for money and qualified people. That's because it's way too small bit of GDP. (I think around 5%.) That mostly makes specialist care much slower, not the general care, and hospital workers overloaded. Cost cutting is visible everywhere. (Only Romania and Bulgaria are more starved.) It's still much better than US situation. As a number, it is around 700 Euro per year per capita. And the money is supposed to increase to some 6% gradually.

Ididntdothis 7y ago

"Apparently EU citizens (and visa holders?) get a healthcare card that's portable across EU. Is this true? " I don't think so. The systems are very different. But if you get sick in another country they won't rip you off like they doing in the US. My sister from Germany was charged $1200 when her daughter had a fever in NYC. She talked to a doctor for 5 minutes and got an antibiotic.

downrightmike 7y ago
Fevers shouldn't get antibiotics...
- effingwewt 7y ago
  Not exactly. Many infections can cause quite dangerous fevers, and infections are treated with antibiotics.
robjan 7y ago
It is true for emergency care during temporary visits. It's called a European Health Insurance Card (pronounced e-HIC) https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for-a-free-ehic-european-health-insurance-card/ https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for...

jbob2000 7y ago

There is no wisdom to impart. There are 2 countries in the world who do not have public healthcare: the US and Liberia. The US does not have public healthcare because of a lack of wisdom, it’s because of greed. Literally anything other than what you’re doing now is better. Roll the fucking dice on public health policy and it will be better than what you have now. It’s not a lack of wisdom, you aren’t even listening to the wisdom that surrounds you, it’s a complete lack of empathy for the sake of greed!

no_opinions 7y ago
> There is no wisdom to impart. There are 2 countries in the world who do not have public healthcare: the US and Liberia. Where is this from? There has to be example of countries without public healthcare. Off topic: I was just reading about Liberia yesterday because they have a similar style/structure of government to USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia#Politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia#Politics.
- jbob2000 7y ago
  Admittedly, I’m having a hard time finding the source for my claim. I read it a few years ago and can’t find the source. But I did go looking for it! And what I found was that there are many people trying to muddy the definition of public healthcare. Sorry I mean universal healthcare. Actually, I mean single payer healthcare systems. No wait, I mean private-public! Fuck it, “the healthcare system that doesn’t fuck over it’s patients”. That one. There’s only two countries who’s healthcare system still fucks over it’s patients. If Syria, a barely functioning war-torn country, can run a public health system, so can the US.

elliotec 7y ago

Correct, and they share data across countries and offices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Health_Insurance_Card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Health_Insurance_Card

AstralStorm 7y ago

You can get a cheap (like $10) EU-wide health insurance with wide coverage, or get a refund from your country after getting healthcare in another member country but it's quite the bureaucracy. (That's where the insurance company helps.) Now even if paying from out of pocket, the cost is unlikely to bankrupt you. The expensive things are experimental biological therapies (e.g. new antibodies) and some cancer treatments. As for quality, it depends, e.g. Poland has the healthcare starved for money and qualified people. That's because it's way too small bit of GDP. (I think around 5%.) That mostly makes specialist care much slower, not the general care, and hospital workers overloaded. Cost cutting is visible everywhere. (Only Romania and Bulgaria are more starved.) It's still much better than US situation. As a number, it is around 700 Euro per year per capita. And the money is supposed to increase to some 6% gradually.