British Reacts to American Medical Bills!! 

I had a friend who literally went to another country for a relatively routine surgery because it was less expensive to do that than to have it done in America. That's insane.

Healthcare in the US is straight up legalized extortion. And I mean the dictionary definition of extortion. In fact, in most countries it probably meets the legal definition for extortion as well. It is absolutely disgusting. And it's even more disgusting that there are people who are either brainwashed or selfish enough to defend it.

I'm surprised they didn't mention being charged to hold your baby after birth. Charging for skin to skin contact is probably the most ridiculous thing ever.

I had breast cancer and chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, medications, follow up medical exams every six months, etc., all were completely free. Not only that, I was absent from work for a year and a half but I kept my job and I always received my salary on time without any kind of reduction. And when I got back to work I was entitled to three extra days off every month for three years! I'm from Italy.

I live in one of EU countries and I had abdominal operation this year, it was with full anesthesia and two surgeons were present because it was quite complicated, I was in the hospital for 5 days and was given strong drugs after the operation and lighter drugs other days and every day check ups, and nurses were always asking if I need something and how I was feeling. Also they did blood tests. It cost me NOTHING! The actual hospital bill was 71 EUR (31 EUR - operation, 40 EUR - hospital), but my work insurance covered that, but even if it didn't it was nothing. Also after that I went to the hospital 3 times for examination and surgeon did it for free as a mandatory check up after surgery. I can't understand how Americans live with such horrific medical bills. P.S. sorry for any mistakes, English isn't my native language

I'm a GP and Neurology resident at Mexico, and a lot of US patients come to the country to have medical attention. Here an appointment is about $10 to $60 USD and LET ME TELL YOU: the medical attention being a lot more expensive on the US doesn't mean it's better. I've had patients from the US who sought after second and third opinions because after months they haven't had a diagnosis being made and spent thousands of dollars in unnecessary tests, and here only with physical examination and a few tests and a fair priced treatment we resolved their problems. Even patients here in Mexico with expensive treatments (like medication for Multiple Sclerosis which costs about $100k USD for a year) are given for free to the patients. Having universal social security is a blessing.

The whole discussion with how many people in the U.S. dont want an ambulance to pick them up is so crazy true. My great aunt was literally having a heart attack and decided to just drive herself to the hospital rather than calling 911. The people at the hospital told her to call an ambulance next time, but she was so against having to pay so much for just a ride to the hospital that is maybe a mile away. Depressing, really.

It was really interesting talking with Hannah, Lauren and Callie about the prices of medical bills in the US and UK. It's still really shocking how expensive it is in the states 😅 Hope you guys enjoyed! -Christina 🇺🇸

The US healthcare costs is disgusting!

Uk girls 🇬🇧: "Free" Us girls 🇺🇲: "How is that possible ?"

Medical bills in the US are crazy. My husband's spinal fusion cost was just under $500,000. Honestly if it wasn't for disability we never could have afforded it.

Lauren and Hannah should've also told em that in UK, after giving birth, the NHS give the mother like £800 after their first child

Nice to see the team black shirt British accent 🇬🇧( Hanah and Lauren ) and the team white shirt 🇺🇲 ( Christina and Callie )

I feel like despite having some issues, having the NHS is so helpful. My grandpa and my dad both have diabetes and they get free prescription medicines, check ups etc. My dad was in hospital for about a month and everything was free for him. I'm not saying it's perfect but they're trying their best and it's a lot better than if we had to rely on private institutions for everything. Maybe some people will be able to afford the cost, but I know a lot of families, including ours, who can't.

"Everything cost money in the US 🇺🇲" oh Christina 😂

I would love to see other countries telling us about their hospitals and medicine 🇩🇪🇪🇦🇳🇿🇨🇦🇭🇲

Finland here. I went to the hospital to get my fallopian tubes tied. I went there maybe at 7 am, and had full anesthesia while they did the operation. When I woke up, the nurse brought me a sandwich and some pudding and juice, and it was around 5 pm when I was finally in the state to go home. I had no insurance. This cost me around 58 EUR.

I think the craziest thing about all this - is that the US government's public healthcare expenditure **per person** (i.e. spending via people's taxes) is higher than the UK. When you consider that the UK generally has better health outcomes than the US, you unfortunately realise that the US has a system that is more expensive, not universal, and objectively worse (for the population)

I live in the UK and have private medical cover through work. If I need a hospital stay and choose to go NHS, the insurer actually pays me per night for staying NHS instead of private as it cheaper for them than paying for a private hospital stay. This is no joke.

Medical care is ridiculously expensive in the US, especially if you have bad (or no) insurance. A lot of people would just rather learn to do field medicine on themselves or die than go to the hospital. My mother and grandmother were both taken to the veterinarian as children (under the table) because doctors were just too expensive. Both have some serious doctor-related trauma because of it

One thing they didn’t talk about is getting braces. I’m pretty sure it costs thousands for it in the US, while in the UK braces are free for people under 18. My dentist referred me to an orthodontist and the process was really easy. And because it’s free almost every one in my friend group at school had braces at one point :)

I live in NY and the bill to deliver my son was around $35,000. Completely basic pregnancy, fairly quick delivery we stayed in the hospital for a total of 3 days. My insurance covered that but I still had to pay a $200 copay. Plus a $40 copay at each obgny appt leading up to giving birth and $50 for prints of the sonograms and that was a monthly occurrence.

I'm so glad health care is free in the UK. I'm gonna be moving to London next month and this was a huge concern for me.

Living in the US (when I was much younger, so let's say 15 years ago) and making less than $20k a year meant that when my ex got pneumonia we qualified to go to a "charity" hospital. We had to wait in the waiting room for 8 hours to see the doctor, another 3 hours to get an xray and even though it was a charity hospital, we still ended up having to pay $2,000.

I broke my back when I was 20 years of age. I was treated for two years - I won't bore you with the details - and a back specialist from America was consulted, somewhere along the line. For all the hospital time; medication; the operation; walking aids, spinal corsets; physio, blah, blah, blah it cost £0. I am 56 and have never had a problem since. I'm backpacking along The Coast to Coast next month. God bless the NHS!

$1500 per night? You're kidding girl.😂 In Malaysia,accessibility to government hospital is high. Staying in hospital for a night would cost you $2.3 maybe (rm10 and lower). Last time my mom admitted to hospital for 4/5 days and did a minor surgery to remove a tumor, it costs only RM40? ($9.50) As a developing country, our healthcare is quite integrated and accessible to public though

Christina, it’s not just based on state - even residents of Mass will pay different rates based on the plans the employer chooses to offer from the agent the employer chooses to utilize.

Went to the ER for a kidney stone once. Got a couple tests to verify it was what I already knew it was, got some pain meds, and was sent home early the next morning. The bill was over $12,000. Fortunately, I had just gotten insurance the month before thanks to the ACA (Obamacare) because my job didn't offer insurance and I had pre-existing conditions that allowed insurance companies to turn me down before the ACA went into effect.

I'm shocked. Ican't imagine having to pay so much money just to go to the hospital. In my country you can get anything health related for free, even things like medicine, surgery and therapy. Of course, there's also the option of going to a private hospital, but even private health care is not that expansive in my country. Also, our medical files are registered in the public healthcare database, so even if we go to another doctor in another state the doctor will have access to all of our medical files, reports etc.

We don’t pay the hospital bills basically. we fill out a bunch of forms to help lower costs because our incomes not high enough etc. and then we ignore the debt collectors phone calls. Although if you don’t have insurance many hospitals won’t even see you or will make you wait for hours even if you have a serious issue. I went with a work injury where I had my forearm and wrist sliced open by glass shattering on the line in front of me due to faulty equipment. Not only did my job try to not allow me to have workers compensation the hospital even with my insurance had me sit for 2 hours before seeing me. I had to hold my arm above my head for like an hour and a towel I had wrapped around it at work. And I was just like “eh this is normal.” My grandmother was always sick in and out every year pretty sure her bills hit over 10 million so she just claimed bankruptcy and defaulted on the payments.

5 years ago I fell off a ladder, broke my arm and dislocated my elbow. I went to hospital had x-rays then had to be sedated to have my elbow put back in place. The next morning I was first in theatre at 9am, I had 9 screws and metal plate put in my arm. The next day I was allowed to go home. Didn't cost me a penny at the point of service, I wonder how much it was have cost me if I was in the US. Thank you NHS

It's definitely not "just per night" here in the U.S. it depends on your treatments. For example IV meds & depending on which ones, van be thousands by itself ON TOP of your stay. We lost our home to medical debt. Literally just ONE of our bills was over $38,000. In a short amount of time with heavy medical problems, we accumulated almost $400,000 of medical debt. It was really bad & took us a while to get back on our feet but we definitely lost our home. Specialty doctor visits cost more so without insurance can cost up to $900 for us. Thankfully we have insurance but the sad thing is, why are we paying for insurance when it's not all the same & they won't even cover everything?... even our co-pays add up, the deductibles & out of pocket max are ridiculous, & the whole thing is just ridiculous. I was literally just in the hospital this week & for a few days, it's like $60,000 but thankfully I have insurance but still. I'm a high risk pregnancy & had major issues so I was in (again) for that. I know too much about all this medical stuff having bad health we can't control unless someone comes up with cures tomorrow. 😭 my best friend married a guy from the UK & had her baby. Easy. No fuss. Everything taken care of. Meanwhile I'm pregnant & getting bills up the butt. It just never stops. America is called corporate America for a reason. Our lives have been turned into a business & that's the truth. We don't mean anything, just our lives mean something in terms of making money off of it. Insurance is 1 prime example. There are people turned away for their health because they can't afford it or "don't meet certain credentials". If you want care, you pay. Oh you're dying? Well do you have money for treatment? No? Oh well, I guess bye then! There are SOME assistance programs but many don't all work the same & they're not 100%. They still make you pay for something unless you're already at rock bottom Poverty level & HAVE to get rid of your bills.

The British health service, unemployment benefits, child benefits and pension is all funded by a tax called national insurance. Income tax is a different tax. 😉

In Brazil we also have a free system, just as it seems to be in the UK. We call it "SUS", the unified health system, which is also universal, that is, no matter who or where you are from, Brazilian or not, you will be attended for free

The only time I got sick in the U.S., which was in the '80s, was probably the flu because it came on so fast. I was in the emergency room of a hospital and it didn't cost anything at first, but at some point a bill for 50 dollars came to Europe. That was actually fair, but as a European, I had travel health insurance, of course, and so that paid for it.

That “marry a man from the UK” bit absolutely got me. Legitimately replied out loud: “Find me one, they’re rare here!” 🤣 Dang it!

I don't live in the US but I do live in a country where healthcare also isn't free, called Ireland. So I can relate to not having free healthcare. My parents once had a hospital bill for me that costed them €180 after I had fractured my foot, had an x-ray done and received a cast. I also know a girl who went to the same secondary school as me who had surgery done on her leg due to an injury that she picked up from playing sports. The surgery bill costed more than €10,000. Edit: Although to be fair, pregnancy is actually free in Ireland whilst it's crazy expensive in the US. What a win for Ireland.

For me, a few months ago, i had a doctor visit because i was having serious pain in my lower right abdomen and i made a doctor visit to rule out appendicitis. The visit and the total checkup time was like 15-20 minutes but i waited 45 minutes to get in. I ended up paying like around $200 dollars for the doctor to push around my abdomen, take my vitals, and ask a few questions. For me, i would rather have health insurance taken out of taxes based on income and tax brackets then have to find outside health insurance or rely on you employer. The coverage could vary so much and trying to find a place that takes your insurance. i would rather have the health coverage system the uk has here in the us.

My father ended up in the ER and he had to pay 25k for a one night stay because of a hernia in his stomach. It pisses me off because we pay for insurance on a monthly basis. Then we have a copay before we are seen. Then we have to pay a certain percentage on certain test like x-rays may only be covered at 60%. Not to mention meds. Then to add insult to injury, they don’t tell you how much your meds are until you are at the window.

Funny watching this October 2023 i remember watching a uk documentary on their medical system. And the medics were saying this system is failing

Here in Brazil, it's free for us to go to the hospital because the money we would pay to the hospital we pay into the taxes. But when COVID appeared some places of my state which is São Paulo (southwest of Brazil) people were asking R$100,00 to test if we were or not infected. But at the Basic Health Unity it's for free.

This is the biggest reason for me why I'll not (basically never at this point) consider moving to the US. While many people in my country have this stereotype that achieving the 'American Dream' is easy, they just don't know how much the system works against new immigrants, POCs and minorities. Where I live in (not my home country) has a system that works really similarly to the NHS, and we do have the option for private practicing doctors too, except that each hospital visits are about 12 USD per day and waiting hours are hell but anything better than going to debt for caring about my health.

I got billed $700, in full - without the insurance pay, because I agreed to talk with a doctor who never even showed up. On top of that there are so many other costs and I was there for maybe 3 hours and they really do add unnecessary things, like once they have a blood or urine sample, they can run so many tests that are unrelated to what you’re there for and you can’t do anything about it.

My dad was in the hospital for 5 months in Italy (had a massive surgery) and it was free

Hello everyone~ Hannah here! 🇬🇧 I had a really interesting time talking with everyone about the difference in medical bills! ☺ It made me very proud of our NHS hehe Hope everyone is staying happy and healthy! Take care 😘

The ongoing cost for conditions like diabetes and asthma must be frightening. I have heard stories of people rationing their insulin...actually risking their lives because of the cost. Is this true? In New Zealand I pay a $5 prescription fee and that covers that medication entirely for 3 months. My son had childhood leukemia and all medication, tests, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and hospital aways were completely free. Blessed to live in a country with funded medical care

Clinics in Israel are covered by national insurance that you pay a certain amount every month, and consultations are either free or about the equivalent of $10. Private hospitals are between $300 and $5000 approximately (depending on the procedure).

It's hard for anyone living outside the US, to fathom how a person could become medically bankrupt simply through a misfortune that they had no control over. I think paying extra tax or a small levy on you income to ensure that you are covered medically, is well worth the peace of mind. It's hard to see this happening in the US because there whole way of living, is ALL about the 'individual' .. a me, me, me attitude. They have little concern with their fellow members of society.

I had to get my appendix out here in the US and insurance covered it but the bill before insurance came to $40,000 for the tests for diagnosis, 1 night in the hospital, the surgery itself, and the anesthesia.

I have read that a doctor worked out what a particular operation including diagnosing and stay in hospital would cost about £3500 (about $5000) and the equivalent procedure in US is about $10000 (about £7000)

The overall American attitude to social healthcare is simply beyond belief. How the hell do Americans put up with this?

Here’s the other crazy part for US Healthcare costs - often times, not always - they don’t actually expect you to pay the total costs. They write off costs all the time. They have a whole process of accounting for this.

The average overnight stay in the US is actually $10,000

As a UK resident with a serious medical condition the NHS is absolutely brilliant and I have never had an issue with my care, I have an Incomplete C4 to T2 Spinal Injury and am Type 2 Diabetic.

Here in Italy, going to the hospital for a visit, or simply if you suddenly feel ill, is free and you don't have to pay for like the stay if it's night. But it is almost always difficult to make a reservation for a medical appointment, even for something serious, such as if you have an illness. Not so much because of making the appointment itself, but because of the waiting time which often goes beyond months or even years.

“Everything has a cost here. Everything adds up.” That’s everywhere! The main difference is that hospitals and healthcare providers anywhere else on earth won’t charge $300-$500 for a bag of freaking saline, that costs about $1 to make! When I go get an X-ray in The Netherlands, it costs €45 (about $47), which is covered by insurance. In the US that same X-ray costs between $200-$400. And it’s the exact same X-ray, same machine, same time to take it. There is absolutely no difference at all. Don’t forget that in the US it costs $40 to hold your child after giving birth. They charge it under “skin to skin contact.”

last year i was feeling ill for about 3 days and eventually my daughter said enough i am phoning for an ambulance. This arrived and the paramedics checked me out and said you have a high temperature, and all your signs are not good we are taking you to the hospital i was admitted and was immediately assessed and given a scan this revealed i had a blood clot on my left kidney. As i said i wasn't feeling very well. I then spent the next 4 days in hospital getting expert treatment and drugs for this condition. including 3 meals a day. After 4 days i had another scan was given the all clear and went home. How much did all this cost me? ZERO ZILCH NADA thank God for the NHS and i don't live in the USA i would be 76 and bankrupt

Bonus comment: I've been having pains near my heart, liver, and spleen for months now. Random chest tightness, fingertips and toes go icy from poor circulation, and memory issues, and I'm only 22. I have insurance thru my work, (which is WITH healthcare btw!) and I don't dare step into a hospital due to the prices. I've been better about diet and exercise, but it's not improved much over the past year. Going to the UK for university next year, and I'm so thankful I can pay about 3 grand for a visa and healthcare over 3 years for the treatments I need.

It feels like people on the US have set the difficulty to the max, on the other hand, people on the UK just having a nice tutorials they could enjoy

SO healthcare costs in Denmark: visiting your GP:0$, visiting the ER:0$, getting medicine:cost of the medicine (and you can request the cheapest one) once you hit a certain limit you get chronic deduction which reduces the cost of medicine... i had to pay 140$ for the first starting dosis of a drug called ozempic (type2 diabetic medicine) which lasts about a month... next time i have to buy the coming months dosis it will cost me around 70$ until eventually it will be nearly free. All this isnt 100% free mind you... i pay around 40% tax (state tax, municipality tax and church tax combined). The only real cost of GP visits is when you need a bill stating you have been sick (for when you have had to have sick leave), but since its usually requested by the employer they have to foot the bill (which is around 40$ or so)

From time to time I think that the people in the "land of the free" don't even notice how unfree they are sometimes. But hey, they're pretty happy with their guns, so everyone has their priorities... Greetings from Germany, where I have had three major surgeries in my life so far, which didn't cost me a single cent...😁

I'm on disability and thankfully have good insurance. Just today had a blood test. (apparently extremely rare one. Phlebotemist said in 15 years, he's never even needed the tube used for it.) It required pre-authorization from the insurance, or else it was $500.... for 1 tube of blood. In 2007 in Arizona, had an abdominal surgery using the da Vinci robot. Life-saving, but planned (non-emergency) surgery. Hospital billed $21k for operating room, $600 for anesthesia meds plus $6k for anesthesiologist, $8K surgeon. No idea what they billed for 6 hours in recovery, then 14 hours (overnight) in a room plus morphine drip. Thankfully my insurance covered everything except a $100 copay. The insurance only paid about $12k total, but if I didn't have insurance, I'd have been billed the huge prices, and they just don't care.

By the time we got to the end of this, I was really feeling for the American girls. Sometimes, the US can be a tough gig.

UK 🇬🇧

Lucky that we are one of the commonwealth countries so we follow everything what UK does. Income tax covered everything, not happy with how much they took my money away but i feel grateful after watching this video.

In south africa every thing is free but you can also choose to go to private hospital but you pay in private hospital

Most of the UK private health care is done with nhs equipment and staff. the main difference is the wait time... and perhaps the food (although I have never had to complain).

This just makes me want to move to the UK!

This is such a problem🤯 like I wouldn’t feel safe without healthcare. Our politics is not the best but healthcare system is something we should be proud of. Unfortunately ppl don’t notice it and complain because they don’t know anything else.

This is funny to watch them talk about money! I was born in America and lived 2 years as a kid in Canada. I was a really sick child in and out of the hospital and on and off of medicine. Sometimes I was sick every other week. And in 1987 in Canada my parents both worked and to have half decent health insurance from both of their jobs for me their insurance cost them over $800.00 a month. Now in America right now I pay less then $20.00 a month for my health insurance. Four days ago I went to an urgent care walk in office for a bug bite and my co-pay was $15.00. Then when I went to the pharmacy to buy and pick up my creme prescription it only cost $11.00. It was really reasonably priced. But I prefer usually to take and to go to the natural market stores to buy vitamins and natural supplements. But the last few times I have gone to the doctors offices in the USA it has been really reasonably priced.

The US medical industry such as health insurance, hospitalizations, prescriptions & doctor's appointments have become very commercialized to where the working/ lower class people can't afford paying for any type of healthcare. And the politicians advocate more for the high interest medical groups thus them receiving some type of perks/ kickback money for supporting them & their lobbyist. It's gotten to the point where a person would have to eventually have to file for "bankruptcy" to pay for outstanding medical bills now days.

Gosh it's times like this am proud to be British. Thank God for NHS ❤️. Am currently pregnant with my second child and am well looked after by our midwifes and doctors. I've never spent a penny on maternity care but in US you'll spend alot even before your baby is born.

Ragazzi, ma ci rendiamo conto che il mondo considera questo stato (USA) un modello da seguire!? Il suo sistema giudiziario si basa praticamente sul giudizio popolare, esiste la pena di morte (cosa assolutamente barbara), il sistema scolastico fa pena ed è estremamente costoso. Per capirsi io sono una ragazza italiana e frequento un'università italiana PRIVATA che annualmente costa 5500€; mio padre fa il muratore e non siamo ricchi ma nonostante questo non si è indebitato per la mia istruzione. Per non parlare dell'argomento "sanità". Se te sei una persona non ricca ed hai una malattia grave sei praticamente condannato a morte.

I am an RN and work in a hospital. 3 yrs ago, I had to go to the ER 2 days in a row (was not admitted) to rule out an emergent issue. I received 3 separate bills for each day. 1 for the hospital and the imaging they did. 1 for the radiologist who read my imaging (medical group contracted by the hospital). And, lastly, 1 for the ER doctors who saw me (medical group contracted by the hospital). Overall, I had to pay $2,000 out of pocket. It took me months to pay it off. And I worked at that hospital!!! The costs are absolutely outrageous.

It’s crazy listening to this, especially the birthing part towards the end, we had all of our 3 children at the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge, the facilities are world class, even private rooms for water births, with music and mood lights. We spent more than two weeks at the main unit with our third child because of complications. The total cost for the hospital was £0, but the parking charges were atrocious. With UHC It’s a case of get a bill, or never get a bill. It’s not evil government communism guys, it’s common sense, you don’t go bankrupt and get treated like a human being, instead of a cash machine, and You get the luxury of complaining about parking lot fees, instead of losing your house.

I have insurance, but went to a non network ER for a Covid test. The bill was $4600.00. Insurance paid $600.00 and my husband’s FSA paid $4, 000. The cleaned out our FSA!

I would add 2 things here. First, it is NOT free. In Spain, we have the same situation, we pay it by the taxes. So, I would say it is included. But that also means that taxes are high. For example, an employer would pay close to twice what the employee receives. Second, insurances. Because they do business with insurances, the prices are usually inflated. That also happens with car insurances, for example. I saw examples in US where the bills are reduced by a lot when the patient says that doesn't have insurance.

My friend works in a company who arrange visit for medical check up in mexico because it's way cheaper to do that rather than doing it in UNited state. It's still a middle size company, but the boss wants all of his employee to have access to healthcare. So mexico it is!

In American drama's, you never hear about this. No-one ever denies the ambulance.

This is 13 minutes and 30 seconds of how messed up America’s health system is.

Everyone in the comments is so ignorant about American Healthcare it's unreal. Most countries in Europe make people pay over 60% of their income in taxes. 60% of your money for mediocre Healthcare. Totally free guys. But don't worry, similar to the US, if you don't like your Healthcare, you do have the option to go with private companies. However, unlike the US, you still have to pay 60% of your income in taxes, even if you don't use the mediocre government Healthcare, AND you have to pay for that private Healthcare on top of that. So cheap! I also love how people are talking about folks going to Europe or Canada for routine surgeries or care. Why wouldn't you? You can use up their care, but leave their citizens saddled with the tax bill, because you aren't paying that. What everyone is conveniently ignoring, however, is that no one EVER goes to Europe or Canada for LIFE SAVING care. Because that's when they're told that a surgery they need tomorrow, they'll have to wait 8 months for. I've heard countless stories from Europeans and Canadians who required life saving surgery, who were told they would have to wait 6-8 months. That left them with two options: come to the US for care, or die. What a compassionate system! They came to the US, and got that surgery within a week.

12:30 "Depressing" This would be a good segue into the cost of mental health treatment in the US. With nearly a quarter of US students considering suicide, according to the CDC, and less than 20% of US therapist accepting insurance (requiring full cost, out of pocket payments regardless of insurance coverage). Healthcare costs are escalating the mental health crisis in the US

“Book a week in advance” in the USA, it can be MONTHS

England is the best England is the best 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

9:49 Lauren: Find a British man to marry. LOL.. 😅😆😂

I had a bad ankle fracture requiring surgery. The surgery alone, no anesthesia, no ER visit, no ambulance, no over night stay factored in, just the surgery was $40k

One of the wrongs is that unlike a bottle of soda pop the price of which is pretty standard country wide, there is no set price for ANY treatment and even medications, xrays and hospital supplies like bandages. And the hospital supply markups are somewhere around tenfold, as I was charged $2 a pill for asprin pills and $15 for bandaids that would have cost me 5 cents and 25 cents respectively at the local drug stores or Walmart or supermarket. Add to the inflations that some of the for profit facilities add in when they submit the bill to the insurers, there's alot that gets the $ to go up.

Very sad that US health care is so poor or outrageously expensive.

I was recently (within the last two years) hospitalized. It was almost 50,000 but luckily I have Insurance. Though my insurance is about 360 a month. It's basically boils down to greed. A lot of Americans have the mentality where "screw the other citizens why should I pay for them". It's really sad.

I have a friend from France that once she was feeling very ill in México and her friends took her to the state hospital she was kept for a night and given medication to take with her and she was shocked when they said it was nothing to pay

I've had surgery on my shoulder. I had great service. During Covid, my husband had a cancerous kidney removed. We've both had follow-up checkups, and I have had physiotherapy. I also have sleep apnea and asthma because I am a pensioner. I do not have to pay for my inhaler, but if I did have pay, it would be £10.

when it comes to treating people humanely, the US is among the worst , you also had to ask about work and how many days of vacation, illness or maternity / paternity leave they have 🤣 , last year I had a venous thrombosis, between medicines, visits, surgery and the period in hospital that I did, I only paid 10 € for a cream for a minor side effect due to the therapy, one of the medicines I was taking was syringes that I had to inject myself into my stomach would have cost more than € 100 per box, but being unemployed I didn't pay anything ( I live in Italy), I am still going to have checkups, and I am not paying anything, I only paid for a special stocking that serves for the problem I had, about 60 €

Now do “American reacts to British taxes!!” 😂

In Sweden its the same with pay tages and that goes to hospitals etc so thats why we dont see the outcomr of stuff

I’m American (from Texas), now living on a spousal visa in Scotland since 2021. I have a medical condition which has caused me more than 30 hospital stays and several ambulance rides over the last 10 years. The costs of those stays became so overwhelming, I just quit opening the medical bills. I do, however, recall one statement for a 4-day hospital stay (in 2011) being nearly $50k. The average cost of an ambulance ride is $3k-$4k. It’s also customary in the US for patients without medical insurance to be visited by a financial advisor before being released from the hospital. Just recently, I had to be hospitalised in Scotland. Let me just say, the experience was mind blowing, and I mean that in a good way! I couldn’t believe there was absolutely no out-of-pocket expense, and the care I got was really great! I hope I never have to live in the US again!

Americans pay more than double per capita what the next highest country pays for health care. And that's with millions of people not even covered.

Something that Europeans often forget when criticizing the US is that the US makes the great majority of all medical advancements, funding all the medical research and production isn't cheap. Europeans then just copy the same medicine without doing the hard work, therefore medicine can cost less in their countries. So basically Europeans get to have cheap medicine because Americans supply the research an development of advancing medicine. Also Americans have the best medicine and hospitals in the world, its just not affordable for a lot of Americans. Furthermore, Europeans often forget that the US is basically their older brother who protects them from bad guys. Europeans get to have free healthcare because their budgets aren't being spent on military power, for example Britain is protected by the US and the US is Britain's most important ally because of this. So again, most of these European countries get to have free healthcare because Americans are paying for European allies' safety. In conclusion, it seems as if Europeans get to have nice ways of living because Americans pay for it in some way. So as a European don't judge to harshly because America can choose to let Russia and China take you over. Lmao

I am an American. Let’s not forget how much we can pay per month just to have our insurance. Right now i pay 700$ a month for two adults and one child.. to still have to meet deductibles and pay co pays.. insane.

There is several reasons why it seems so expensive also it isn't $0 in the UK because it it paid for by high taxes sooo... not free

Health insurance should be a right not a privilege.