I think that medical systems in what we usually consider the global north are all suffering from the same illness that presents different symptoms in different

I think that medical systems in what we usually consider the global north are all suffering from the same illness that presents different symptoms in different countries' political, financial and social climates. Disclaimer: this is my lived anecdotal experience as an undergrad engineering student in Slovenia. I am a 20-something yo male, with some chronic illnesses. It's ex-Yugoslav status is somewhat important in considering the social safety nets. We've been part of the EU for most of my life. What I'm describing here is probably not completely true, and lacks some nuance. I think you'll nevertheless find some common points with other healthcare systems and other countries. My English can be a bit confusing at times. In my opinion, we're dealing with a fusion of for-profit and semi-profit insurance companies, private and public practitioners, waiting list manipulation and ever-increasing bureaucracies coming together to create a special sort of hell that you could not imagine creating even if you strove to. PAY: Where I come from, the salaries for medical staff vary wildly. Doctors, especially dentists, surgeons and other specialists, are getting very well off, while a lot of newcomers and nurses are working under extremely strenuous conditions while paid rather poorly. In Europe, this became especially obvious during the past (hopefully) epidemic. This problem rarely improves despite numerous strikes. In most cases, everyone gets somewhat adjusted for inflation, the top dogs get even better salaries, and the pay gap widens somewhat, with the politically underrepresented majority being about as well off as before. PUBLIC vs PRIVATE INSURANCE: Mandatory or basic health insurance is mandated and provided by my state, and is valid for all public health service providers and some private ones under a public-private partnership deal. The system is plagued by long waiting lists and endless optimization by the latter public-private "amphibious" health providers (more on them later). A lot of people I know (including a close family member) have relied on paying a private specialist out of pocket to have some emergent issue looked at in an acceptable time, sometimes paying extra for a private insurance plan that keeps a group of specialists at hand. Public waiting lists seems to be shortening a bit at the moment, but this trend, while welcome, isn't expected to persist. It's also important to notice the ever growing populations of elderly people requiring frequent care and increasingly non-working migrant groups, which both tend to strain our rather thin social safety nets, remaining from our former socialist system where being a NEET was not a state of existence favored by past state institutions, unlike current ones which are rather lenient at providing free services to non-working, non-educating, non-retired persons. A lot of these "amphibious" providers work half-time public waiting lists (very busy) and half-time private practices (not so much), often luring the wealthier of the public lists patients to the private practice hours to earn more. A peculiar phenomenon of space-time continuity apparently permits them to somehow produce wildly different waiting times for the exact same services. Keep in mind that we're far from US pricing here, so both lists are comparably full. The private half just makes them a lot more money. Forcing these practitioners to pick a side has been a considerable talking point of many election campaigns that has always remained unfulfilled because of endless lobbying, strikes and political pressure. EDUCATION: As education is 100% free here, it might be a surprise that no-one from my grammar school enrolled in a medical field. I can imagine that bad future pay security, long study program, and miserable stipends are a prevailing reason for that. SHORTAGE: We could hire from ex-Yugoslav area to relieve our overworked public health centers and hospitals, but most of the admissions get gridlocked by language proficiency requirements (in my opinion an idiotically pedantic edge condition that is killing people as we speak). Unfortunately, a lot of nationalists like to codify their self importance into law, and as a result, some countries suffer a lot more than others. The end result is, that state-sponsored solutions are degrading at a glacial, but non-zero pace, while private practices get consulted more and more, day by day. Bureaucratic management perpetuated by lukewarm money-loving policies are probably the way affordable public healthcare dies for everyone. It really seems to me like healthcare is one of the things you can't fence-sit about; picking a public or private side is necessary to create a stable and affordable system.