[gamblor956]

Universal Healthcare is generally only a thing in Canada and the EU. It's great if you need to wait a few months to see a doctor, but I know plenty of Canadians and Europeans who come to the US for medical care so they don't have to wait.

[jwr]

Not Europeans — while you might have to wait for non-emergency things (depending on the country), emergencies are treated immediately. And I've never heard of anyone from the EU going to the US for medical care, that actually sounds rather amusing :-)

[criddell]

> And I've never heard of anyone from the EU going to the US for medical care

It definitely happens, especially for things like plastic and reconstructive surgery.

[epitrochoidal]

I don't know how it is in Europe, but those sorts of things are not typically covered by insurance in the US, except in cases where the reconstruction is related to a medical condition or accident (I got a nicer nose after breaking the original in a bicycling accident; the reconstruction was covered by health insurance). I assume those coming from EU to US for treatment would be self-pay for the treatment, yes?

[criddell]

I have no idea how payment would be arranged. It's possible that if a country's national plan covers something but no providers are in-country, they would cover the cost.

Some hospitals in the US are free for everybody (some research hospitals and hospitals for sick kids) and I assume that would extend to Europeans.

[PhasmaFelis]

It may not be perfect, but if I had to choose between having to wait weeks or months for non-emergency care, and risking financial ruin and unnecessary death if I come down with a drastic disease, the choice seems clear.

[stordoff]

If you need emergency care, you don't have to wait (UK). My grandfather had a fall recently where he hit his head, and had a brain CT within two hours (he fell about 1am; he was admitted, assessed, treated, and discharged by 6am). A family member had an urgent referral for a mammogram last Thursday, and was assessed and given the results today.

Routine GPs appointments can generally be gotten within a week, and emergency[1] appointments (where we wait until the GP is done at the end of the surgery, and are then seen) if the triage nurse determines you need to be seen sooner can be gotten on the day. You also have the option of speaking to your local pharmacist, many of whom can prescribe medication for certain conditions if appropriate, or otherwise point you at suitable over-the-counter primary care.

A number of places also have walk-in centres for minor ailments where you don't need an appointment, and they generally have long opening hours (8am-10pm, 365 days a year for my local one). Urgent dental care is also available 24/7 in many places.

You may have to wait longer for non-emergency / non-priority / time-insensitive treatments - my routine MRIs have a lead time of about 8 weeks, and a specialist referral can be something in the region of 6-12 weeks (sometimes longer) - but I think that's a fair trade off. You do of course also have the option of paying for private care as well if you don't want to wait (often NHS doctors / semi-retired doctors working evenings in my limited experience).

[1] bit of a misnomer really - urgent but not critical is more accurate

[gambiting]

If you have a condition now you will be seen the same day even if it's not an emergency. I had a high fever for a couple of weeks and finally decided to see a GP - got an appointment in 2 hours of the call to the surgery, GP told me to go to the ambulatory care department at the nearest hospital(nothing to do with emergency care there) and I was admitted and seen pretty much within an hour of arriving. Spent several days over the next month in and out of the hospital, had some treatments done = no bill was ever produced.

Also when my wife had to get an MRI done going private wasn't that much quicker than NHS - you still had to wait a couple weeks through her private health insurance at work.

[gamblor956]

My wait for a routine MRI is about 2 hours....

My wait for a specialist referral is 2-3 days and any delay is usually on my end.

There are just some things the US healthcare system accidentally does much better than Europe.

[gambiting]

So you want to tell me that from the point when you ring your healtcare provider saying "I want to get an MRI done", to you lying down on the table being scanned the time is around 2 hours?

[TotempaaltJ]

I'm Dutch, and I've never had to wait for more than a week to see my GP. Never more than a month for a procedure.

Additionally, when I lived in the US, we got a special Dutch health insurance plan for temporary expats. They sent us a letter that if one of us ever had to go to the hospital, they'd fly them over to the Netherlands unless the situation required immediate attention.

[pnutjam]

I live in the midwest and it takes me about a month to get an appt with my GP. If I want to see an NP, and block out about 4 hours to sit in the office, I can be seen that week, usually.

[arisAlexis]

not really, in most EU countries you don't wait for emergency problems

[gamblor956]

That doesn't describe the experiences of any of my former EU co-workers. (They're still in the EU, just not coworkers any more.)