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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
by 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 agoI'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 agoYes, 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 agoBeing 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.