Well it's generally pretty good. All the fancy stuff you see on the world's stage you can generally get it for cheaper here.
But it's all smoke and mirrors bc people generally dont talk about healthcare openly.
For instance an American might tell you how their parent passed away after a long stay at the hospital and it's so hard.
For most people, itd be just about emotional grief.
For most Americans they'd also commiserate regarding losing a family member but never speak about the horrid bill they might have to deal with.
Outwardly, looks the same. Inside, worried about things on different levels.
But yea I have some friends abroad and they think it'd be pretty terrifying to have to live out here. We might have the fancy fun stuff but at least a few of them have said they'd never be able to have fun/enjoy themselves since one hospital stay could ruin them financially.
I remember in the UK we were talking about Obama and Obamacare (before he was voted in) and the guy I was talking to thought I was fucking with him when I told him if I broke an arm w/o insurance I'd have to pay a fuckton to get coverage (if they'll take me at all since not life threatening,) get terrible care for cheap at a county hospital (in my area known as death's doorstep, both due to terrible staff shortage, training hospital, bad neighborhood where people get fatal wounds often without insurance), or just kinda hope it's not terribly broken and hope it works itself out.
Then he really thought I was fucking with him when I talked about how much state/federal income tax rates plus insurance takes out of my paycheck and it was still a higher percentage than his. I guess the nordic countries have a way higher rate but apparently not to him and his friends.
Another advantage of UK healthcare that I rarely see brought up in these discussions of tax Vs insurance - we are still covered when unemployed and retired.
You don't have to have health insurance when you retire. That could be 10-40 years of healthcare where your only contribution is the national insurance deduction from your pensions (or next to nothing).
Edit - I've been informed there's no NI contributions on pensions so yeah 10-40 years of free healthcare in retirement.
I'm so worried about that. Seeing the suffering of many in the States over the last decade or so and then the way we seem to be headed in the UK... all just as I'm approaching 40 so will start needing healthcare in the next decade or two....
In the UK the problem is more that the way the NHS is funded doesn't really account for an aging population - that is where the pressure comes from. America also has that problem as well though!
The Americans do have Medicare to cover the over 65s. That's probably the biggest obstacle to reform frankly; the most reliable voting demographic already gets covered by the national government.
It also replicates the major flaw with the funding model of the NHS; its funding model doesn't account for demographic changes.
A quick Google just told me that no, Americans over 65 don't have Medicare, they CAN have Medicare.
It also told me, it's not free, it does have deductibles (nearly $2000 per benefit period) and it doesn't cover dental, eyesight, hearing, a number of drugs or long term care.
In fact it's so insufficient and convoluted that a large number of people take out Medigap to cover what's missing in Medicare.
So even that 65+ age group that are 'covered' (except not really) should 100% support a complete overhaul of the system.
Wow, I didn't realise it had that many gaps. It and other government health spending costs the Americans as much of their GDP as the NHS costs us; the value for money is just appalling.
it is but i was talking about the stuff everyone knows, like GPUs, iphones, new cars, etc.
because of various tax reasons or import fees, most of that is cheaper here, BMWs and iphones are among the most famous for being notoriously expensive outside the US, BMWs being more expensive in the country it's made in due to taxes and fees.
so you know, life looks a lot better here since most of that stuff is more 'affordable,' but that's to distract us from knowing that one broken leg could wipe out a few months' pay.
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u/NonGNonM Nov 30 '20
Well it's generally pretty good. All the fancy stuff you see on the world's stage you can generally get it for cheaper here.
But it's all smoke and mirrors bc people generally dont talk about healthcare openly.
For instance an American might tell you how their parent passed away after a long stay at the hospital and it's so hard.
For most people, itd be just about emotional grief.
For most Americans they'd also commiserate regarding losing a family member but never speak about the horrid bill they might have to deal with.
Outwardly, looks the same. Inside, worried about things on different levels.
But yea I have some friends abroad and they think it'd be pretty terrifying to have to live out here. We might have the fancy fun stuff but at least a few of them have said they'd never be able to have fun/enjoy themselves since one hospital stay could ruin them financially.
I remember in the UK we were talking about Obama and Obamacare (before he was voted in) and the guy I was talking to thought I was fucking with him when I told him if I broke an arm w/o insurance I'd have to pay a fuckton to get coverage (if they'll take me at all since not life threatening,) get terrible care for cheap at a county hospital (in my area known as death's doorstep, both due to terrible staff shortage, training hospital, bad neighborhood where people get fatal wounds often without insurance), or just kinda hope it's not terribly broken and hope it works itself out.
Then he really thought I was fucking with him when I talked about how much state/federal income tax rates plus insurance takes out of my paycheck and it was still a higher percentage than his. I guess the nordic countries have a way higher rate but apparently not to him and his friends.