> My girlfriend uses Obama Care and pays $21 for basic insurance.

I used Obamacare for the month of January. My plan cost $507, I received the card on the 30th of the month (so the plan was unusable before then), and they (Blue Shield) were impossible to reach. They have a very understaffed phone line for Obamacare users, separate from their "regular" service for group plans.

She also paid $600 for January on a nonObama plan and was just issued a refund of $500 once she switched to an Obama plan. Sounds like you choose the wrong plan and network.

Even with healthcare coverage however, it's just a lot more complicated.

I'm from the UK, and if something is wrong, your biggest challenge is making appointments with the right people.

Some of my colleagues from the UK who have had to go and see someone in the US report that it's a minefield of: a) Checking which doctors take your kind of coverage b) Co-pays c) Ensuring you know what you are/aren't covered for d) Random bills that may appear after you visit someone, depending on whether their interaction with the insurance company

Here's how paying for a hospital visit works in the USA if you have insurance: You go in, and before they treat you, the deal from the hospital is:

1. You'll get a number of bills. We don't know how many you'll get.

2. Each bill will be for some amount of money. We don't know how much, not even an order of magnitude.

3. Your insurance may pay anywhere from 0 to 100% of your bill. We don't know what they will do.

4. Whatever your insurance doesn't pay, you are responsible for. We don't know how much that will end up being, but you need to agree now to pay it later.

It's total insanity.

For 4. lets not forget to add the disclaimer: "But it will most likely be in the 4, 5 or maybe even 6 digits."

But in the UK, oh the queues to get in to see you GP... And postcode lottery if particular drugs you need are approved or not.

totally, I call my GP for a non-emergency and I may have to wait until the next day to get seen.

Nothing like the states, where, in a similar part of the country (city/rural wise) I needed to make non-emergency appointments 4 months in advance.

4 months in advance you are seeing the wrong GP! I could easily switch to a new GP if I tried to make an appointment and they were booked that far in advance.

Can you choose you GP in the UK or are they assigned?

You can choose.

It does depend on whether they have space on their books of course. But by and large, people choose a GP close to where they live, and pick the first one they like the name of on the list at one of the closest surgeries.

The way the system works here is if anything is life threatening, you just go to Accident & Emergency at the nearest hospital.

Otherwise you go to your GP for pretty much everything. You'll have an appointment within a couple of days if it's non-urgent, or told to go in immediately. They perform a basic diagnosis, and either take care of you then and there (minor first aid, basic procedures, prescriptions), or you get referred to a specialist. If you are getting referred, you can say which one you want to be referred to.

And from all of that, you never ever get a bill or see anything relating to accounts. You just get your treatment and care.