alt Hacker NewsWhere healthcare is concerned, America is not what anyone considers "first world". Your healthcare system is more backward than most third world nations. I would rather leave the US than receive medical treatment there. I have never even considered trusting the US healthcare system. When I lived there I would rather fly home and get treated (in a third world country) than lose all my savings getting inadequate care in the US. I know people who have been through large and expensive treatment plans in the global south, who paid less for the complete treatment than Americans pay for the ambulance getting you to the hospital.
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Your healthcare system is more backward than most third world nations. I would rather leave the US than receive medical treatment there.
And yet the wealthiest people in the world, who can have the best healthcare anywhere they want on the planet, even with private doctors, routinely choose to be treated in Rochester, Minnesota; Boston, Massachusetts; Houston, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; and Los Angeles, California.
The U.S. is by no means perfect, but there's a reason that there are entire medical facilities in the U.S. that cater exclusively to people from other countries. Just listen to local radio in Palm Springs and you'll hear commercials along the lines of "Tired of waiting, or simply can't get the medical care you need in Canada? Come to our hospital!"
Meanwhile, if I wanted to have my recent surgery in Canada, I'd have to wait almost a year for a slot to open up. Here I waited all of two weeks. And the newspaper headlines in the UK are full of horror stories of patients dying in hospital hallways while doctors are on strike because everything is so great.
I think its two systems masquerading as one - employed-and-insured and everyone else.
If you're the former, it works great. If you're the latter, it can be mediocre to BRUTAL. Medical debt is our #1 or 2 cause of bankruptcy iirc.
Regardless of which class you are, if you can access the care, our outcomes are the best in the world for most things.