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Having lived in Europe 10 years (I am from south America), it is crazy that the rest of the world doesn't follow Europe's health coverage: everybody is covered,

Having lived in Europe 10 years (I am from south America), it is crazy that the rest of the world doesn't follow Europe's health coverage: everybody is covered, all the time, you can be covered either by public insurance (was my case) or private. There are no preconditions. Kids get covered for almost everything up until they are 18 or 21 (don't remember), drugs for adults is only 5 euro each. No matter the cost. And it just works. By the way, Private is cheaper when you are younger, gets more expensive when you are older. So if you choose private, under very phew circumstances you can switch to Public. In the other side, you have the US health care which is probably one of the worst in the world. Crazy.

throwawayffffas 1y ago
European healthcare in my experience has capacity issues. Typically hospitals are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of patients. Waiting times for procedures are incredibly long. Where the system kind of shines is emergency care and long term illnesses, you go in and they save your life for free. For any other kind of treatment you are generally better off turning to the private sector in Europe. You are going to have to pay depending on the country the cost might be outrageous but typically you will get access to procedures in days vs months.
- ivolimmen 1y ago
  Capacity issues are dependent on country. In my country (Netherlands) is it not that bad and you can easily switch Hospitals if there are queues for certain operations (that are not urgent).
  - throwawayffffas 1y ago
    Fair everywhere I have lived the system was spread thin by personell shortages, mostly driven by long hours, bad working conditions, and austerity driven budget cuts.
lifestyleguru 1y ago
> Having lived in Europe 10 years (I am from south America), it is crazy that the rest of the world doesn't follow Europe's health coverage: everybody is covered, all the time, Stop lying. It's trivial in Europe to end up without any health insurance even as a citizen, e.g. in Poland without employment and without unemployed status (the offices make it very difficult to register and keep the unemployed status).
NotGMan 1y ago
This depends heavily on which EU country you are: some EU countries have great and cheap healthcare, others have shit and cheap healthcare with 6+ months of waiting time and you can't find even a personal doctor in the public system (which you are forced to pay anyway for).
- lifestyleguru 1y ago
  I would say that maybe half dozen of countries across entire Europe have this stereotypical good quality public universal healthcare. Even Germany starts experiencing bottlenecks. God have mercy on you if you need help from doctors in Poland, Romania, or Hungary. You will wait, you will be humiliated, and you will pay a lot of money multiple times. Basically you need an assistance of healthy and capable person to guide you through the corrupted system.
jobs_throwaway 1y ago
> US health care which is probably one of the worst in the world Not really. If you have money, the US system is one of the best. It just really, really sucks if you don't have money.
- kwanbix 1y ago
  Well, everything is great if you have money. I was talking about the health care as a system.
  - jobs_throwaway 1y ago
    If, as someone with money, you look across systems, the US is one of the best. That's the point I'm making. There's plenty of places where all the money in the world won't buy you the quality of care you can get in the US. Quality of care available to wealthy people is an important factor in evaluating a system. In the US, there are many millions of wealthy people who the system is great for.
- bboozzoo 1y ago
  Isn't it universally true that if you're rich your life can be much easier? With enough wealth the actual health care system does not matter much. Neither does the country in which health care services are rendered. You just pay and get things done, and maybe even take some vacation while at it. However, given that not every one of us is rich, the point is to optimize the whole thing such that the little folk can still survive and get their health issues addressed.
  - jobs_throwaway 1y ago
    No that isn't universally true. There's plenty of countries (eg Cuba) with entirely state-run healthcare systems where more money won't get you better care.
- xtracto 1y ago
  What % of the US population would you think have to pay to get that "best" care? Would a household making $250,000 have enough to pay for that best care? That would mean 2% [1] of US household. Other comment in the thread mentioned earning "6 figures" and not being able to pay. A health system that is affordable to 2% of the population is definitely not working. [1] https://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/americans-making-more-than-250000/ https://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/americans-making-more-than...

throwawayffffas 1y ago

European healthcare in my experience has capacity issues. Typically hospitals are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of patients. Waiting times for procedures are incredibly long. Where the system kind of shines is emergency care and long term illnesses, you go in and they save your life for free. For any other kind of treatment you are generally better off turning to the private sector in Europe. You are going to have to pay depending on the country the cost might be outrageous but typically you will get access to procedures in days vs months.

ivolimmen 1y ago
Capacity issues are dependent on country. In my country (Netherlands) is it not that bad and you can easily switch Hospitals if there are queues for certain operations (that are not urgent).
- throwawayffffas 1y ago
  Fair everywhere I have lived the system was spread thin by personell shortages, mostly driven by long hours, bad working conditions, and austerity driven budget cuts.

lifestyleguru 1y ago

> Having lived in Europe 10 years (I am from south America), it is crazy that the rest of the world doesn't follow Europe's health coverage: everybody is covered, all the time, Stop lying. It's trivial in Europe to end up without any health insurance even as a citizen, e.g. in Poland without employment and without unemployed status (the offices make it very difficult to register and keep the unemployed status).

NotGMan 1y ago

This depends heavily on which EU country you are: some EU countries have great and cheap healthcare, others have shit and cheap healthcare with 6+ months of waiting time and you can't find even a personal doctor in the public system (which you are forced to pay anyway for).

lifestyleguru 1y ago
I would say that maybe half dozen of countries across entire Europe have this stereotypical good quality public universal healthcare. Even Germany starts experiencing bottlenecks. God have mercy on you if you need help from doctors in Poland, Romania, or Hungary. You will wait, you will be humiliated, and you will pay a lot of money multiple times. Basically you need an assistance of healthy and capable person to guide you through the corrupted system.

jobs_throwaway 1y ago

> US health care which is probably one of the worst in the world Not really. If you have money, the US system is one of the best. It just really, really sucks if you don't have money.

kwanbix 1y ago
Well, everything is great if you have money. I was talking about the health care as a system.
- jobs_throwaway 1y ago
  If, as someone with money, you look across systems, the US is one of the best. That's the point I'm making. There's plenty of places where all the money in the world won't buy you the quality of care you can get in the US. Quality of care available to wealthy people is an important factor in evaluating a system. In the US, there are many millions of wealthy people who the system is great for.
bboozzoo 1y ago
Isn't it universally true that if you're rich your life can be much easier? With enough wealth the actual health care system does not matter much. Neither does the country in which health care services are rendered. You just pay and get things done, and maybe even take some vacation while at it. However, given that not every one of us is rich, the point is to optimize the whole thing such that the little folk can still survive and get their health issues addressed.
- jobs_throwaway 1y ago
  No that isn't universally true. There's plenty of countries (eg Cuba) with entirely state-run healthcare systems where more money won't get you better care.
xtracto 1y ago
What % of the US population would you think have to pay to get that "best" care? Would a household making $250,000 have enough to pay for that best care? That would mean 2% [1] of US household. Other comment in the thread mentioned earning "6 figures" and not being able to pay. A health system that is affordable to 2% of the population is definitely not working. [1] https://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/americans-making-more-than-250000/ https://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/americans-making-more-than...