In the US, you'll empty your bank account and still get terrible service - you've spent money but received terrible care. Maybe things change if you can afford your own full-time doctor for 500k / year. Canada ranks above the US in every healthcare measure.
How/where? Is this actually a 'solid insurance is hard to get problem'? Neither myself or family (extended included) have experienced problems and we certainly don't have private doctors.
The whole 'american healthcare bad/unaffordable' argument is something that I hear quite a bit on the internet, but pretty much never do in real life.
> The whole 'american healthcare bad/unaffordable' argument is something that I hear quite a bit on the internet, but pretty much never do in real life.
What bubble are you in? For some of us, we make enough money that paying 400/month for insurance while our employer does the same isn't a big deal. For us software engineers, it's no big deal. For the 50% of people making under 60k a year, that's a large chunk of their income.
I hear it constantly from friends nationwide (I have a very large extended circle for a few reasons), media, and my wife, who is a healthcare worker and deals with insurance constantly (as does anyone in healthcare in the US) or my mother (also in healthcare). And of course, we have lots of friends who are in healthcare. And I hear it from my parents, who, as aging people, have more healthcare needs. Your insurance company gets to delay or prevent access to prescriptions, surgeries, or physical therapy as long as they desire.
I'm in Philadelphia, which is one of the biggest cities in the US and where healthcare makes up a much larger than usual portion of our local economy [0]. You can find numerous other sources to support this, Philly is a huge biomedical / healthcare hub. It's almost like being in LA for film or SF for tech.
Where insurance really starts to suck is if you and your healthcare providers think you need care, but the insurance company says no. My wife experiences rejections from her patient's insurance companies daily. Happens with Medicare too.
> How/where? Is this actually a 'solid insurance is hard to get problem'?
Insurance can be contingent on different things:
> Where can I receive care?
> If a provider is not in a plan’s network, the insurance company may not pay for the service(s) provided or may pay a smaller portion than it would for in-network care. This means the enrollee who goes outside of the network for care may be required to pay a much higher share of the cost. This is an important concept to understand, especially if you are not originally from the local Stanford area.
Well thankfully in my case, cancer treatment in Canada has been both free and quite competent. But for lesser things, you might linger for an intolerable amount of time waiting for care.
I recall getting good, quick care when I worked in the US and had a good HMO.
