I literally use the horror-stories about the US health care system to counter the bullcrap peddled by the white supremacist, pro-neocolonialism and pro-privatisation crowd here in South Africa.

Of course, it's a pretty moot point, really - our entire political establishment seems dead-set on dismantling and sabotaging what little remains of our tattered public infrastructure anyway to facilitate their corrupt dealings with foreign creditors. They only seem to differ on whether to do it slow or fast.

We feel lucky we're not there.

I remember an other US post of a guy who had done everything he was supposed to. Had insurance, had savings, had a well paid job.

Nonetheless, his whole family was in financial ruins when his wife got cancer. They had to move from the house and everything!

The fact that you don't think a $2-5k bil is a lot, just proves that this system does not work, especially because some people would not even be able to pay that back for years!

To me, this is hopeless. I'd much rather pay half of my salary in taxes and be sure that if something happens, it will be the only thing that happens and that I'll be taken good care of (and even my family will be offered help to cope). And in topnof that I get free education, 5 weeks free with pay, over 20 weeks paid maternity leave and pension. To me that sounds like a much better deal. The fact that others get the same by paying less does IMO not make it a worse deal.

The fact that you feel like the

You know what I just fucking love?

People in the U.S. who say that it's fine if poor people don't have insurance because they can just go to the emergency room.

Not just because of stories like this, but because you can't go to the ER for chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, I have supposedly good insurance and have well over $10,000 in medical debt. I'm going to the Mayo Clinic in March, so that's going to soar.

Please invade us, Canada. Or Mexico. I'm easy.

I can just explain the mindset, and then you can draw your conclusions: When people get sick, they evaluate whether it is bad/concerning enough as to be worth the hassle of making time to go to the doctor. If during work hours, in most office work spaces, you simply say "I'm going to the doctor. I'm back in a couple of hours", and you go.

Now the situation is getting increasingly worse every year, because the public health system is underfunded, and every year more so, so that private alternatives look much better... So that rich people and/or private health interests, can use their wealth to "argue" (paid propaganda, e.g funding political opposition) that the public healthcare is not adequate, and should be further defunded... Doctors literally chose between sticking to morals/principles or having non-insane working hours and a higher pay. So, we're headed in the same direction, for sure. The US just serves as the example of: take that path to its conclusion, and that's how fucked up it can get. Hopefully, when our public health service simply collapses within the next 10 years, we manage to draw the correct conclusions as to why that happened, and not double down on the same stupidity (just look at UK for inspiration). I'm sure think tanks are aware of this, and can suggest how to sow the seeds for a political zeitgeist where we go full retard.

But, people still selfishly vote for their own interests, or dumb enough to be convinced regardless. Humans sucks. Fingers crossed.

The most frustrating part of getting older and wiser, is clearly understanding the correct solutions and approaches. Perhaps not the answer to everything, but at least identifying what makes the problems worse. Then, observing that those in charge have private interests at heart, and that the new generation is too malleable to know any better.

The emotional reaction I get to these stories is hard to put into words. It's a mix of deep sadness and incandescent rage. I just can't imagine being in that position and not wanting to firebomb a politician's house.

My little girl had a very high fever the other night and we were really worried about her, so we called the nurse on call hotline who advised us to wait and go to the urgent care centre in the morning unless she got suddenly worse overnight, then to head to emergency. It was all stressful enough just worrying about how sick she was. I can't imagine how much worse it would be having to worry about paying for any of those services on top of that.

One thing that's different out that there is no such thing as not being able to pay for health insurance. You are required by law to be insured. This also means the government mostly covers it for you if you can't.

You may have to pay out of pocket for the first few hundred euros when something happens, but insurance covers the rest. There's no way a person's life savings would disappear overnight because of a medical issue. I'd rather die than pay what I sacrificed 30+ years to save up for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYCRwcz2aV8 is really crazy, that americans seem to think, that you need to be able to get out of everything by yourself. In the line of: If something bad happens to you and you are not able to get out by yourself, then it is your own fault and nobody should help you. Though this is already often talked about.

Another scary thing is how little you like your government (being it of the State or federal). It seems Americans don't want the government to do much, not seeing at as a tool to handle modern problems. Back when I was at Reddit I read a thread about why americans opposed state run free healthcare for all. One user wrote something like "Don't see, why we should solve the price issue by letting the state (so taypayer) pay". The user just ignored the immense power, that a government of a big and wealthy nation has. It can easily press pharma companies to set prices low enough, without stiffling research and innovation. But that would be against freedom, I guess? Really difficult to understand.

Though changing the american system is a big task. Months ago I've seen a good video on youtube on that topic by TypeAston. I think its this one Would Universal Healthcare Really Work in the U.S.?

Scary. That's what I think of the US healthcare.

The other side of the spectrum is that in the US, anything goes. If you got the money any and all treatment is possible.

Overhere that's not the case. Some medicine and/or treatments are deemed way to expensive or unproven and are unavailable.

I'm not sure. I get the impression that the American culture contains the promise that you will succeed if you try, so perhaps people think that if they can't afford private healthcare insurance or pay their medical bills then it's their own fault. Coming from the UK I would be completely outraged if I had to pay and I think most other people here would be too. I don't think you can have both private healthcare and a stable state in an unequal economy because if enough of your minions & customers and get sick or die you lose the big leather armchair.

Most of the time we don't think about it, because anything medical often comes with its own stress, so just thinking about that is front of mind.

It's only after the dust settles and we're all back home and safe that we might say something like "whew glad that's over! Can you imagine if we had to worry about money on top of that?"

Truly once you're used to single payer, the American alternative seems like lunacy. I cannot imagine the stress of combining some if life's biggest medical decisions with financial considerations

I'd go on but my socials timer is about to go

Thoughts and prayers!

I think I'm fucking glad I emigrated to Canada.

I know it's not something everyone can do, but if you can afford it GTFO.

If you are sufficiently wealthy in the US, you can afford what we have as routine in Europe, which is healthcare. In the US, there are many who cannot afford insurance, and even with insurance, the policy is unlikely to cover your needs, especially for anything other than acute care.

In some ways America is a third world country. Healthcare is a fundamental human right, full stop.

Well, in my country you have the option to pay for medcare or use a private plan. However you have full access to public, free and universal healthcare which you don't have to pay anything for it.

We don't have to convince anyone here. If you need attention, you'll get attention. For free.

I think that USA healthcare is a joke. A bad taste joke.

Sounds like a joke.

Here: you hurt you go hospital. You wait to get fix

what do you think when you read stories like these

Honestly they are so fucking sad I try to avoid reading them. Another example is this one: She Was Denied an Abortion After Roe Fell. This Is a Year in Her Family’s Life.

The monsters have been trying to do the same things in Europe though, UK has underfunded the NHS and healthcare in Germany is in deliberate decline too.

Sadly I feel like it's always the same thing when hearing about america's problems: people will make a great fuss about it, lots of tweets, TV interviews and such, but nothing will came out of it. Repeat every x months. That's what I have observed about the gun handling situation, the 6 January insurrection, the opioid crisis, the rise in poverty, housing crisis, and the healthcare system. Seems like the whole world is staring at the US like WTF is happening, and america is just like "yeah, I'll be angry today and do something about it tomorrow" Anyway, just my 2 cents, send thoughts and prayers

I grew up in the US healthcare system and have paid it multiple tens of thousands of dollars. I spent around a decade also working in Healthcare IT. I now live in a country with a much more sane system (Japan). Not perfect, but not the shitshow that is the greedy US system.

Everytime, I read a horror story about US healthcare, I am like can't be the norm, it should be a made up clickbait article based on an exception

Please US friends, tell me you have a decent coverage.

Moreover, everytime I read about before insurance prices it doesn't compute. How can an US doctor charge like 10 times the prices on our side of the pond ?

My wife needed her gall bladder out last year the most expensive part of the whole week-long ordeal was paying for parking at the hospital. She has private medical insurance through her work, but needing to deal with the paperwork and all that from the hospital wasn't worth the effort.

The fact that people have to choose between bankruptcy or dying of preventable illness is kinda like school shootings: the fact that you tolerate this at all - let alone having a major party campaign on "these things are actually good and you should be happy about them" - is pretty much proof that all of you are completely insane.

I think "That's the US health care system for you" or "Yep, that checks out".