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How much do you pay when you factor in the taxes you also pay into the system? If one gym had a yearly fee of $40 and then cost $1 every time you went, and ano

How much do you pay when you factor in the taxes you also pay into the system? If one gym had a yearly fee of $40 and then cost $1 every time you went, and another gym had a $8 yearly fee and cost $15 everytime you went, it wouldn't make sense to compare them merely on the per-visit costs. Just to short circuit, I'm not trying to defend the American healthcare system. American healthcare is horrible on average compared to the average of other rich nations. Also, a final note, but even if you have cheap out of pocket expenses, you aren't getting good value for your money if you don't visit a doctor for almost a decade. (Yes, I did e-stalk you for 60s to try to see what country to figure out average tax burden for healthvare, and ran across that fact on your intermittent fasting post)

paranoidrobot 4y ago
In general, the US pays more, and has less effective healthcare than countries with universal/single-payer systems[1][2][3]. There's plenty of reasons for that. [1] https://grattan.edu.au/news/more-expensive-but-less-effective-the-us-healthcare-system-explained/ https://grattan.edu.au/news/more-expensive-but-less-effectiv... [2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/universal-health-care-could-have-saved-more-than-330-000-u-s-lives-during-covid/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/universal-health-... [3] https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019 https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2...
- googlryas 4y ago
  I agree, but that doesn't mean OPs overall burden is capped at 1600 eur/year
  - paranoidrobot 4y ago
    These studies are using total spend - inclusive of taxation and direct payments.
dghlsakjg 4y ago
In Canada my income tax rate is about on par with what I would pay in the states. If I lived in California my taxes would be higher. Our sales taxes are a little higher than a lot of the states, though. I’ll take that over the amount of money and time the US healthcare system siphoned off of me when I was healthy.
yurishimo 4y ago
Sorry, coming back to this late, but in the hope that you see it, I haven't visited the doctor _because_ it was expensive. Sure, I'm also young and it probably wasn't really necessary, but there were definitely a couple of instances I can remember from the last decade that I didn't go to the doctor until I thought I had no other choice. I'm willing to pay a little more in the long term to have the peace of mind that I can go to the doctor for something less than an emergency and not face financial hardship. In the US, one doctors visit can easily cost more than 10 years of bills in a European nation, and it doesn't even have to be serious! A broken leg isn't life threatening, but it could break you financially if you aren't ready and able to shell out your high deductible.

paranoidrobot 4y ago

In general, the US pays more, and has less effective healthcare than countries with universal/single-payer systems[1][2][3]. There's plenty of reasons for that. [1] https://grattan.edu.au/news/more-expensive-but-less-effective-the-us-healthcare-system-explained/ https://grattan.edu.au/news/more-expensive-but-less-effectiv... [2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/universal-health-care-could-have-saved-more-than-330-000-u-s-lives-during-covid/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/universal-health-... [3] https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019 https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2...

googlryas 4y ago
I agree, but that doesn't mean OPs overall burden is capped at 1600 eur/year
- paranoidrobot 4y ago
  These studies are using total spend - inclusive of taxation and direct payments.

dghlsakjg 4y ago

In Canada my income tax rate is about on par with what I would pay in the states. If I lived in California my taxes would be higher. Our sales taxes are a little higher than a lot of the states, though. I’ll take that over the amount of money and time the US healthcare system siphoned off of me when I was healthy.

yurishimo 4y ago

Sorry, coming back to this late, but in the hope that you see it, I haven't visited the doctor _because_ it was expensive. Sure, I'm also young and it probably wasn't really necessary, but there were definitely a couple of instances I can remember from the last decade that I didn't go to the doctor until I thought I had no other choice. I'm willing to pay a little more in the long term to have the peace of mind that I can go to the doctor for something less than an emergency and not face financial hardship. In the US, one doctors visit can easily cost more than 10 years of bills in a European nation, and it doesn't even have to be serious! A broken leg isn't life threatening, but it could break you financially if you aren't ready and able to shell out your high deductible.