4 ms·

I have often wondered given the kind of cost involved in good health care in USA, along with college fees, why don't more Americans move to Europe for health ca

I have often wondered given the kind of cost involved in good health care in USA, along with college fees, why don't more Americans move to Europe for health care and education where it is probably free most of the time? P.S.: I am from Pakistan.

twstws 13y ago
I suspect it is because those with the means to move are generally doing well enough to avoid the failings of the US system.
krapp 13y ago
Most Americans for whom healthcare and college costs are an issue probably can't afford to move to Europe either.
drone 13y ago
Don't most of those "free" public health care systems only apply to citizens? I recall a story about a foreigner in Germany having to pay for their care, even if the price was reduced. Non-emergency care in the UK, for example, requires legal residency, which may be hard to come by for someone too poor to afford health care in the US. France requires non-EU citizens to have insurance for care in France to get a visa, as I understand it. So, it's not just as easy as "let's pack up and move to the EU so we can get free healthcare tomorrow." Otherwise, you can imagine that every time a non-insured American got sick, they could compare the cost of getting new insurance to the cost of a plane ticket, and the plane ticket would win, I'm sure. =)
- rdouble 13y ago
  I've been to the doctor in Australia and Germany, and you do have to pay but the price was less than what I had to pay in the USA with insurance.
- WasimBhai 13y ago
  Yes, of course. But then I am talking more about the whole life, not only in the case of emergency etc.. I mean for someone like me, from what I have read about American healthcare and education system, I will choose Europe any day over America. And even though, I really don't have that choice with my passport. But in the case of US citizens, the choice seems realtively easy.
  - Wingman4l7 13y ago
    Being a US citizen doesn't mean that you can just waltz into Europe. Like other commenters said, you usually need to be a citizen or at least some sort of permanent resident to take advantage of European healthcare. Obtaining such status usually takes years and is only possible for the young and highly employable. Packing up and moving is simply not an option for those who cannot afford to pay for healthcare in the US in the first place, and oftentimes logistics like family, employment, and language would prevent that anyway.
mahyarm 13y ago
Health care is good enough, when your employed and relatively healthy.
- jarek 13y ago
  I.e., "Health care is good enough, when you least need it."
Vivtek 13y ago
Mostly because Americans are terrified of foreigners and have absolutely no concept that the rest of the world isn't just a figment of Hollywood's imagination. I'm living in Budapest partly for low tuition - my wife is Hungarian, which makes it less random than it seems. Also, very few people in America can understand that life outside the United States could possibly be fulfilling. Or that tuition in much of Europe is free - I tell friends and family and they just boggle. There is such a strong feeling in the States that we have everything better than anybody else in the world. When we were talking about moving to Budapest last year, I was asked by the plumber, "But is there enough food there?" He honestly believed, apparently, that everyone else in the world is starving except for the well-known massive foreign aid we provide. (That's tongue-in-cheek; most foreign aid is money specifically earmarked for the purchase of American industrial output, so it's really a handout to American industry, not to foreigners - and it's a tiny fraction of our annual budget to start with, but many people in America think that's where a substantial portion of their taxes goes.)
Crake 13y ago
I'd move in a heartbeat if they'd take me, but it's hard when you can't afford education and most countries want you to have a bachelor's at least. So I got to live without either college or health care for five years instead. :( Now I have nervous system problems, so I'm sure they'd want me even less...

twstws 13y ago

I suspect it is because those with the means to move are generally doing well enough to avoid the failings of the US system.

krapp 13y ago

Most Americans for whom healthcare and college costs are an issue probably can't afford to move to Europe either.

drone 13y ago

Don't most of those "free" public health care systems only apply to citizens? I recall a story about a foreigner in Germany having to pay for their care, even if the price was reduced. Non-emergency care in the UK, for example, requires legal residency, which may be hard to come by for someone too poor to afford health care in the US. France requires non-EU citizens to have insurance for care in France to get a visa, as I understand it. So, it's not just as easy as "let's pack up and move to the EU so we can get free healthcare tomorrow." Otherwise, you can imagine that every time a non-insured American got sick, they could compare the cost of getting new insurance to the cost of a plane ticket, and the plane ticket would win, I'm sure. =)

rdouble 13y ago
I've been to the doctor in Australia and Germany, and you do have to pay but the price was less than what I had to pay in the USA with insurance.
WasimBhai 13y ago
Yes, of course. But then I am talking more about the whole life, not only in the case of emergency etc.. I mean for someone like me, from what I have read about American healthcare and education system, I will choose Europe any day over America. And even though, I really don't have that choice with my passport. But in the case of US citizens, the choice seems realtively easy.
- Wingman4l7 13y ago
  Being a US citizen doesn't mean that you can just waltz into Europe. Like other commenters said, you usually need to be a citizen or at least some sort of permanent resident to take advantage of European healthcare. Obtaining such status usually takes years and is only possible for the young and highly employable. Packing up and moving is simply not an option for those who cannot afford to pay for healthcare in the US in the first place, and oftentimes logistics like family, employment, and language would prevent that anyway.

mahyarm 13y ago

Health care is good enough, when your employed and relatively healthy.

jarek 13y ago
I.e., "Health care is good enough, when you least need it."

Vivtek 13y ago

Mostly because Americans are terrified of foreigners and have absolutely no concept that the rest of the world isn't just a figment of Hollywood's imagination. I'm living in Budapest partly for low tuition - my wife is Hungarian, which makes it less random than it seems. Also, very few people in America can understand that life outside the United States could possibly be fulfilling. Or that tuition in much of Europe is free - I tell friends and family and they just boggle. There is such a strong feeling in the States that we have everything better than anybody else in the world. When we were talking about moving to Budapest last year, I was asked by the plumber, "But is there enough food there?" He honestly believed, apparently, that everyone else in the world is starving except for the well-known massive foreign aid we provide. (That's tongue-in-cheek; most foreign aid is money specifically earmarked for the purchase of American industrial output, so it's really a handout to American industry, not to foreigners - and it's a tiny fraction of our annual budget to start with, but many people in America think that's where a substantial portion of their taxes goes.)

Crake 13y ago

I'd move in a heartbeat if they'd take me, but it's hard when you can't afford education and most countries want you to have a bachelor's at least. So I got to live without either college or health care for five years instead. :( Now I have nervous system problems, so I'm sure they'd want me even less...