Comment by estimator7292

Comment by estimator7292 2 days ago

8 replies

How come other countries have better healthcare at lower real costs? Basically every developed nation has better healthcare outcomes than the US. All other nations have cheaper healthcare.

America is not special, we've just brainwashed our less-observant citizens into believing that solutions the entire rest of the world uses will never and can never work here. There's nothing special about our population or economy that would prevent accessible healthcare. The only thing standing in our way is healthcare companies who want their 6000% cut of every procedure and politicians who will do literally anything to give billionaires another dollar.

throwaway150 2 days ago

As someone who has lived in several countries, I do not believe every developed nation achieves better healthcare outcomes than the United States. Many European countries, as well as Canada, offer some form of universal coverage with free general treatment but waiting times for appointments and procedures can vary widely. That said, I still think universal healthcare is preferable, as these systems tend to prioritize urgent cases effectively and ensure that emergency treatment is fully covered for free.

I think, it's only the Asian countries who have got cheap, easy, and effective healthcare where you can not only get appointments quickly but you can get treatment for cheap too but their emergency services are not always as streamlined as those in more developed systems. There is no clear overall winner. Some places excel in certain aspects. Others perform better in different areas.

  • IsTom 2 days ago

    > As someone who has lived in several countries, I do not believe every developed nation achieves better healthcare outcomes than the United States.

    Is that true for a median-wage earning person?

  • kingstnap a day ago

    > There is no clear overall winner.

    A lot of countries are likely clear overall losers though.

  • vel0city 2 days ago

    > waiting times for appointments and procedures can vary widely

    Waiting times for appointments and procedures can very widely in the US. Approvals to get needed treatments can also be denied for seemingly flimsy reasons in the US as well.

hypeatei 2 days ago

When I went to Canada, I talked to someone who said the Canadian government will subsidize trips to the US for certain treatments because it's not available at all in Canada or has insane waiting times. It's one data point, I know, but generally I think it's true that quality and availability of care in the US is much better.

  • rimbo789 2 days ago

    I’m a Canadian and I’ve worked in health care.

    This is only done for very specialized treatments where the province (they run the health care delivery) doesn’t have the treatment and/or the American resource is closer than a Canadian treatment location.

    For example Nova Scotia will send some complex paediatric cases to Boston. They could send them to Toronto, but Boston is closer. Same with Manitoba but they use Minneapolis.

    Canada is only 40m people and almost half that is in one province. The smaller provinces simply don’t have the population to justify having every possibly medical bell and whistle.

    Point is when province sends Canadians for US treatment is isn’t actually about better quality as not all provinces have the same in house capacity and often the next largest city with such capacity is an American city.

    • hylaride 2 days ago

      Also, outside of the supremely wealthy Canadians, very few go to the US for private care. There is a medical tourism market to Mexico and other parts of Latin America for elective surgeries and uncovered treatments for some chronic conditions, though.

    • jay_kyburz 2 days ago

      Canada should just join the US. (Joke <- have to be explicit these days. )