[estaseuropano]

We are currently hosting Ukrainian refugees and one of them was suddenly struggling to breathe. We brought her to the hospital two days ago and they made her sign a single sheet that says "you can request the social services on my behalf". Since then she's been transferred to another hospital, has been CT scanned and they did at least a dozen different tests on heart, lungs, etc. all it took was a few hours of waiting and the power of Google translate to make her be understood. We expect that she will not have to pay a single Euro.

Honestly I don't even need to tell you which country that is as that's what I would expect in any western or northern European country (except maybe Switzerland, which is its own capitalist hellscape).

The US is still the richest country in the world. That you are suffering is not needed. It is not a necessary feature of the system. It's a policy choice.

[simfree]

If your poor and in certain US states, Medicaid is pretty comprehensive.

Medication including PrEP, Metformin (for diabetics), sleeping meds and such are free, and you won't pay a single dollar for going to the emergency room or going to see your doctor. Dental coverage even exists too!

That being said it is a fragmentary system where those that do not qualify for Medicaid in states with good coverage essentially only have more expensive and varying quality options available. The quality of said options can be difficult to evaluate as an outsider to the medical industry as well.

[tsupiroti]

I think Switzerland is not bad in this respect. There are several health insurance companies, but the basic plan's coverage and price is set by the government and it's quite comprehensive. Those who can't afford it get it through social services.

[ratsforhorses]

Switzerland locks you into obligatory health insurance, starting at around 200$ a month but with 2k franchise which you pay before you get covered or more like 400$ a month and then you're still liable for 10%of the bill...it's a capitalistic hellscape allright...sure you can get government subsidies...not sure what each cantons requirements are... the irony imo is that under the guise of competition people pay multiple management organizations of different health care companies a good cut ... they tried 7? times to vote by referendum to amalgamate them all but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯... Also I've been through their "Urgences" triage in Lausanne with a menisque problem and they were incredibly inefficient and then had the gall to charge me 100chf and bill me for painkillers I didn't want...