As an American I’m curious what it’s like if you need to go to the doctor and how much you pay from say a broken arm to general checkup. Also list what country please

  • cynar@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    UK.

    There were complications when my wife gave birth. 2 weeks in hospital, some surgery, and nurses and midwives on call 24/7. The biggest cost was me stress buying snacks for my wife (until she told me to stop!). Even parking was reduced to £11/week, since she was in for multiple nights.

    Another occasion. I had a benign lump in an annoying place. It took 14 months to get through to get it removed. It’s only when I went in I realised it was not a 5 minute snip. Around an hour for a plastic surgeon to properly remove and stitch it up.

    The NHS has its problems. Mostly caused by previous governments trying to starve it (to let their mates sell us for profit healthcare). The system and staff are absolutely awesome.

    If I’m asked to point out what makes me proud to be British, the NHS is the prize jewel in that particular crown.

    Cost wise, we pay national insurance, a fixed percentage of income. (“Payment by ability, treatment by requirement.”) Prescriptions are £9.90 each, or £120/year. They also wave the fee for a lot of groups who might have problems with it. It’s massively more cost effective than the American system.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      we pay national insurance, a fixed percentage of income

      With no limits? One of the many problems with the us system is we don’t do this.

      • cynar@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        There are some limits to it, and ways around it for the rich (as per usual ☹️).

        The cost still mostly scales with your income, rather than how much care you need.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          I don’t understand why so many of my fellow citizens wouldn’t want this

          I guess we sort of have some, in that if you’re on Medicaid or on one of the exchanges, you get subsidized coverage based on your income

          But higher income people don’t pay more, plus I imagine that at some point you have enough income that you wouldn’t need health insurance…… and people wonder why our system is so expensive