Thankfully most other developed country’s healthcare system doesn’t penalise individuals quite so significantly as the broken system you Americans keep voting for.
I’m not saying the UK or other European counties have the perfect healthcare systems either but at least we aren’t tied to a job we don’t like because losing our company’s health scheme is too scary to consider.
If you're not paying for it with your money, then you have to pay with your time: public healthcare systems, like those in Europe are known for the long wait times for patients requiring surgery, or other costly procedures.
Also, traveling to the US for treatment is still a thing, because new, advanced treatments are developed and first implemented in the US, so all that money spent give you something in return.
Unless you're rich and regularly wipe your ass with $xx,xxx bills, you end up spending your time in the US system too: getting your insurance and care provider to agree with what is covered, what isn't, and how much you have to pay.
Sometimes it takes almost a year to resolve.
BTW, even basic surgeries in the US can have a price tag of close to $100k. I've had to fight off more than one ridiculous bill like this in the last 5 years. If you're talking about medical tourism coming into the US, I can't imagine you're talking about anything but very well off people.
> Also, traveling to the US for treatment is still a thing, because new, advanced treatments are developed and first implemented in the US, so all that money spent give you something in return.
It sounds like you’re saying America is the only country in the world developing new and advanced treatments and the only country people travel to for such surgery. Clearly that’s not even remotely true (and even if it were, which it isn’t, it still doesn’t justify just how badly broken your healthcare system is for domestic users).
Whatever time I spend in the waiting room in Canada waiting for treatment, which is honestly less time than I wait for the cable company to show up to fix things, more than makes up for the fact that I spent literally zero time dealing with hospital bills.
Considering US hospital bills can easily be tens of thousands, a couple of hours wait at even $1000/hr. billable lost opportunity is still cheaper than the US alternative.
In the US, you generally need to pay with both your money and your time. I've waited three months for an appointment with a specialist, had them only tell me to go to another specialist, and paid for the privilege.
From the moment my GP refers me to a hospital for whatever reason they need to look at me, they have 8 days to respond, and must have a diagnosis within 30 days. Treatment is usually not long after and almost always proportional to the situation.
If a potential life threatening disease is suspected diagnosis and treatment must have begone after no more than 2 weeks. Most of the time it's a matter of days. If the public hospitals cannot do that I'm free to go to private hospitals without paying anything.
You don't lose it on a whim. In the US, you can file for COBRA to extend your benefits, at which point that alots you plenty of time to apply for medicaid if the circumstances were extraordinary (why do I get this weird feeling most people on this forum just never have been poor or in this situation?).
That plus your emergency savings funds, should more than account to hold you over 6 months to find your next role. 5 years ago. I'll save my survivorship bias story for how I coped with this exact situation 5 years ago because I know everyone's situation is unique, but the lessons of growing up with 2 unemployed parents and living month to month not knowing if the bank was going to repossess our house have stayed with me I guess.
