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Comment by claydavisss | Hacker News Reader

Why? In the US, if you can pay, you get better care than anywhere in the world. The question is, can you pay?

In the US, if you can pay, you pay more for the same or poorer care. You don't get the best anymore. It is shown elsewhere, not in this article.

Obamacare killed the US as a medical mega-power. Economics 101: if you force the same prices for a much larger demand, then either the product sells out, or the service is watered down.

Obamacare didn’t put in price controls for health services, Medicare did.

It still costs less than my European healthcare tax, and the standard is still higher. It's cheap only for people with the lowest income.

The US system is only "cheap" if you don't have any major medical issues. Once you get sick there is a good chance that copays, out of network bills and other charges will bankrupt you.

From my own research, this is not true - the US system is a little bit cheaper for an average software engineer, with much higher quality. We have to co-pay things in Europe as well; only basic ("medically necessary") care is free and of course you have to wait, sometimes years, and I'm not even speaking about the quality. E.g. my braces were more expensive than in the USA, in absolute money, not relative! And don't forget that a public system carries zero accountability of anyone ("you know, that's just how it is" is a perfectly acceptable argument here - even if you're paying out of pocket, even if someone died).

Deal with health care in the US and you will quickly learn that "you know, that's just how it is" too. There is a huge wall of inscrutable bureaucracy that's pretty much impenetrable.

My only experience in Europe is Germany and I much prefer that system over the US. I don't know how it is in other countries.

German system is doing exceptionally well. The rest of Europe has it worse - especially the eastern part.

What country?

Germany has its own set of problems but it's still better than the US for most people. The US should compare itself against the best.

From my own experience coming from the French system to dealing with the Romanian one, it was for sure a hassle. Just getting them to fill paperwork in order to get my sick leave for work was pain and asking for a paper so my insurance could refund me was akin to setting the whole building on fire ( which wouldn't be bad ).

The problems is that the US system is unnecessarily expensive and inefficient. That means that more people could afford it if it were cheaper. Right now the system is only good for very well off people. Others are in danger of either not being able to afford it or going bankrupt if they actually get sick.

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