Is moving out of the US permanently due to the merciless healthcare system a bad move?
Although, medical bankruptcy isn't a constant fear that resides in the back of my mind, after having stayed here for sometime and digging deep into the healthcare infrastructure and systems across the world, it's become fairly evident to me that the US healthcare system is a one-of-a-kind ticking time bomb that could potentially cost you a ton of your hard earned money if you're unfortunate enough and most people (atleast in my circle) simply don't see it that way. Even with an employer provided insurance, there's a non zero chance that I could get a medical bill that's a few hundred grand to a million assuming I have some sort of a chronic, rare disease or may need to get hospitalized for a few weeks for whatever reason. Is it worth living in the US with this fear or is the fear something that is totally unfounded and irrational? Is it better for someone like me to just move to country with a single payer, "soCiAliZed HeAlthcAre" model? I'm probably someone who is kind of reliant on the system for many reasons but haven't had any negative experiences per se (atleast as far as claim denials are concerned), but there's a non zero probability of that something bad happening, especially to someone who has to interact with the system frequently.
T.C: Definitely not enough to brush off large claim denials
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Rich people, eg SWEs, are the ONE demographic benefitted by the US's current healthcare model. You will get far better healthcare in the US as a rich person than you will in any country with socialized healthcare.
Poor people have it way worse than countries with socialized healthcare. But not us.
You will not get a legitimate large scale claim denied like that. Otherwise people would not buy healthcare, because that is the value proposition for most healthy adults.
Our hospital facilities and staff tend to be much better than hospitals worldwide. We have the best universities in the world, and graduates don't tend to emigrate. You bet your ass I'd rather get treated by Stanford/Harvard/Hopkins MDs and high performing immigrants than some randoms.
Source: Parents are doctors, that have worked in the US and in European countries with socialized healthcare. Both of them had one word to say about socialized healthcare - waitlists.
Oh sweet summer child, you think we don’t pay for healthcare?
In addition to healthcare coming out of our paycheck via taxes, yes we have to pay for even routine, preventative doctor appointments.
And you’re fucked if you have a chronic condition. Get in line and pray because you won’t get seen until it gets way worse.
Everyone I know has private insurance. Even people who are self employed.
Your naïveté gave me a good laugh though.
Healthcare is a choice of what we decide to treat and not treat. European systems deliver great outcomes to the average person in a cost effective way.
If you had a medical disaster (hard to cure, not a good use of resources)… well that’s precisely the kind of thing you would get shafted on. In the US if you have the money then you can get your treatment anyway even though it leads to higher costs for little benefit.
The real problem is the 8-9% of people who are uninsured and get absolutely fucked when they have a medical emergency. Lack of insurance means people defer their healthcare too which can make their health problems even worse and add further strain to the system.
If you’re one of the 90% who have health insurance then you get slightly better healthcare than you would in socialized systems, but you also pay 50% more for it (not a great thing either).
The problem with the current US healthcare system basically boils down to extreme inequality in access and usage of medical resources which means we pay way more for healthcare on average while getting outcomes on average that are comparable to some developing countries.
It opened my eyes to why medical bills are the #1 cause for bankruptcy filings. A serious illness could wipe out those even with substantial savings.
That said, I was able to get in for my procedure within two weeks, something that would never happen under socialized medicine.
My max out of pocket is $13,200 but the insurance company representative explained to me that there is no out of pocket limit (for any policy) due to loopholes.
This was the first time I have had anything other than a yearly exam and it was eye opening.