Reply to Which country actually has the best healthcare system?

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Reply to "Which country actually has the best healthcare system?"

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[quote=Anonymous]OP I am also interested in this but it’s hard to put together anecdotal data from personal experience and those of family and friends with macro data. I often wonder toward which the truth skews.

Macro data is usually US is the worst - highest cost, worst quality of care, worst outcomes, long wait times (not the worst but not great)

However my personal experience as a normal person isn’t so grim.  I was on university healthcare for many years due to a PhD and paid nothing for primary care, prescriptions, and a somewhat complex pain problem. Wait times were next to nothing.

Now I am just an average white collar office drone with Aetna for insurance. I’ve had to interact with the health system a ton the past couple of years - giving birth, more complex health issues, car accidents. Never had to wait more than a week for care, all the doctors I had were respectful and empathetic, very patient with their time and eager to get me help if they can’t figure out or solve the problem themselves. Sometimes it almost felt like they themselves are aware of the image of the patient conveyor belt and are self-consciously trying to make me feel how much they are not treating me as just a number. I pay a couple hundred in monthly premiums (family plan) and sometimes do get frustrated that NOTHING is free, even with health insurance you are constantly still paying out of pocket. But I also put things in perspective : my son had an overnight  stay due to seizures and were seen by multiple doctors and technicians with years of training, diagnosed /treated with very expensive medical technology, not to mention the many nurses that were involved. I paid 200 out of pocket. The total amount billed was over 20,000. Yes I understand the amount billed in US healthcare can be inflated, but clearly I was able to afford care that would otherwise cost a lot more than 200 dollars, thanks to health insurance. Similar experiences with things like surgery , child birth, etc. none of those were completely free but I felt like I got very good care (including the quality of facility I had to use) for a manageable cost.

My biggest gripe with US healthcare is how confusing insurance and billing can be. It’s maddening.

Almost every American I know in a similar position - ie on some sort of company plan - has the same experience. No one has ever complained about not being able to get an appointment for something truly time sensitive or getting crappy care.

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