Correct, my apologies for not fully articulating. USA is extremely centered on "let the individual bear the burden", not "how can our society rise to the occasion".
Sure, we have a better choice of who we see and when as it comes to doctors, but you're also footing the cost more for that privilege.
I am 100% convinced you can have a choice of doctor and also cheaper healthcare. Things like price transparency in advance would already cheapen a lot. Also, I am not sure I would be able to argue that in Germany you have harder time to choose who to see.
Absolutely. You can walk into any medical clinic without having to check networks or get referrals. Procedures are relatively affordable and there is enough supply of local doctors (which from my observation seem to be a lot of doctors who got tired of the hospital grind and “retired”) where small ailments get looked at quickly and affordably.
The only mind-boggling thing about their system is that hospitals close on the weekends. Like…???????
Yeah healthcare is great in Japan. Almost to the point where it’s not an active concern on trying to obtain it. It exists and you pay for it in the way the fire department exists and you pay for it (via taxes
Well, that's just the thing.. We pay for healthcare already.. There's just this middleman in the way (insurance) taking the money instead of allowing us to pay directly to the government.
The more layers you put in between a patient and a rendered service, the more money you're wasting at each tier. Insurance doesn't make sense for anyone except the people selling it, and they've gotten so rich now that they're entrenched and won't dare let that change.
Sure, we have a better choice of who we see and when as it comes to doctors, but you're also footing the cost more for that privilege.