Comment by Cumpiler69

Comment by Cumpiler69 7 hours ago

3 replies

IT IS a worn out stereotype. I'm also European and here the doctors are also limited by the national health insurance company on what medication and treatments they can prescribe you due to cost reduction pressure. Their hands are also tied except not by a private corporation but by the government.

Often you'll encounter the infamous "these tests or procedures aren't covered by the national insurance anymore so you'll have to pay out of pocket", or they're covered, but the nearest appointment on the national insurance is 15 months away, at which point you'll either get better or you'll be dead.

My boss recently moved from Germany to the US and was pleasantly surprised how much better the diagnostic, treatment and medication options are for his child who suffers from some rare mental disorder that's basically ignored in Germany by comparison. US seems to always be on the cutting edge of medical research and treatment which of course comes at a cost since research is very expressive.

pavlov 4 hours ago

Your boss is presumably a high-value employee at a prosperous company. They will have good health insurance, but that’s not the norm for most people.

When I worked for Facebook in the US, it was conspicuous how doctors would run extra tests on me because the health insurance was paying for everything and anything. That’s not balanced either because less fortunate people pay for that in their insurance premiums.

  • nxm 3 hours ago

    Companies negotiate for all employees without tiers for „high value” employees.

    What do you consider the norm? 90%+ of Americans have some form of health insurance. I don’t have a bad one, but it’s not as great as some public sector employees do. Am I in the norm? If so, that’s ok

    • btylke 3 hours ago

      While companies may negotiate for all employees, the percentage of the cost covered can be tiered, and some employees will pay less for better plans.