4 ms·
> Comparisons to other countries that are much much smaller than the US are sort of silly to me. Europe does not have one healthcare system. True, Europe does
by Mordisquitos 3y ago
> Comparisons to other countries that are much much smaller than the US are sort of silly to me. Europe does not have one healthcare system.
True, Europe does not have one healthcare system. And yet, thanks to the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) [0], citizens of the 27 countries in the EU, Switzerland, the UK, and the EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), can use the healthcare systems from any other of the 31/28 [1] participant countries if they need healthcare on a temporary visit under the same conditions as the local resident citizens. The expenses incurred are reimbursed to the system providing the healthcare by the healthcare system of the citizen who is receiving it. This is done transparently to the patient, all they need to do is provide their EHIC card.
This means that each of these 32 different healthcare systems, with their own particularities (e.g. free at the point of use vs. copay), can be considered one single universal healthcare system.
If 32 different countries, with their own legal systems, legislation, languages, and healthcare system design (insurance based or state funded) can cover approximately 500 million citizens, then 50 US states under one single federal government should have no problem doing the same for their 333 million citizens.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Health_Insurance_Card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Health_Insurance_Card
[1] In the case of the UK, the EHIC only reciprocal with EU and Switzerland, not the EEA.
- petre 3y agoWe have a friend that had a ski accident in Switzerland (broken arm, open fracture). The EHIC was next to useless. They had to pay a "few" grand CHF out of pocket for the surgery. I think the private insurance covered some of that after many phonecalls and a few months. Needless to say, I won't be going skiing in Switzerland anytime soon.
- yread 3y agoWas it a private hospital/ward? Operations and stay at public hospital should be covered https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1021&langId=en&intPageId=1760 https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1021&langId=en&in...
- 221qqwe 3y agoAre there public hospitals in Switzerland? Isn't the healthcare system entirely private?
- obruchez 3y ago"Most Swiss hospitals are privately owned, however, some are public or run by a non-profit." https://www.expatica.com/ch/healthcare/healthcare-services/hospitals-in-switzerland-102077/#overview https://www.expatica.com/ch/healthcare/healthcare-services/h...
- dguest 3y agoMeanwhile in France my friend broke her arm skiing and payed with the spare change in her pockets. It wasn't enough to cover the cost of ambulance, cast, etc, but the people at the clinic basically said "whatever" and sent her home a few hours later.
- Gud 3y agoIs she a French resident? Swiss residents don't pay in case they're in an accident, provided they work for more than 8 hours a week.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- obruchez 3y agoI live in Switzerland and had never heard of the EHIC before. Switzerland not being part of the European Union means that some of those international cooperations don't always work as well as they should.
- Gud 3y agoOn the other hand, if you are a Swiss resident and employed for more than 8 hours per week, you're insured from accidents by your employer(=totally free to go to the hospital in case of an accident). If you work less than that, the accident insurance premium is not that high(less than 50 CHF per month).