[cbhl]

Having used the ER twice in fifth grade in Canada, it seemed fine? Like, yes, sure you have to wait 12 hours to see a doctor if you're not bleeding out the chest. But also, I didn't have to face the prospect of paying $300 for a 15 minute consult, or going to jail to receive treatment.

If you have a cold, you find a PCP or a "health clinic" and make an appointment for same-day or later-that-week. And sure it's hard to find that PCP, but with my PCP in the US I have to book appointments three weeks in advance!

I'd argue "75%ile time waiting in the ER" is not a great metric. That neither tells you how easy it is you are to get preventative or routine treatment, nor how well your ER is able to handle a mass-shooting type catastrophe.

[citilife]

_Without insurance_ you can see a doctor in the U.S. for relatively cheap. I'm talking, $100 for a clinic visit. I've done it plenty of times for less.

The healthcare in the U.S. seems nuts because you are _billed_ for hundreds of dollars, but that's because they have to subsidize medicare patients AND insurance companies have negotiated rates based on percentages. So, they may only pay 40% of what is billed, but you are shown much more.

It's a scam everyone is involved in, which is why we need open pricing and open "how much insurance actually paid".

[cbhl]

Without insurance, a 15-minute consult in Canada is, like, $40 CAD. That's like $20 USD. Factor of 5x or 10x savings.