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Comment by hardware2win | Hacker News Reader

I do live in country with universal healthcare - Poland, and

On one hand when my mom had eye problem that required spending 2 weeks in hospital and surgery, she didnt have to pay for it except for some simple things that were cheap

On the other hand im paying not small amount from my every salary for health care and due to wait time or quality I still often go to private med (except for basic sickness where doc can give me a week or two "sick leave")

Also Ive been pissed off when I had serious surgery (at private med) and my insurance didnt cover it (but ok, thats insurance not univ. health care)

All of that makes me feeling like im paying a lot for mandatory health care and things like insurance

And at the end of the day I must go and pay for private health care. At least my mom didnt have to pay.

I feel like im getting scammed. I'd rather manage my own money and how I want use it

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I don’t understand how anyone manages their money and how they want to use it when medical expenses are concerned.

Your “how I want to use it” is completely out of your control and based on when you fall sick, get injured, need advice, etc. Nonenof which are choices you make. So even an extremely efficient entirely private system doesn’t allow you to either manage your money nor allow you to choose how you want to use it.

You could take insurance, but again, you’re neither managing your money nor choosing how to use it.

Medical expenses are not like buying a toaster that you can decide to put off or buy whenever you want or never if that’s what you prefer.

Also, in any modern decent society, if you choose never to eat toast no one is concerned. However, if you’re dying on the street because you aren’t paying for medical care society will step in. So there’s also a burden you’re imposing on society based on your choices that are not involved in most non medical situations.

>Medical expenses are not like buying a toaster that you can decide to put off or buy whenever you want or never if that’s what you prefer.

Some.

Not all medical cases need instant contact. Proof? Months or years long wait times.

Also for me 99% of the medical expenses are around 10-20% of what I pay every month. Meanwhile those medical expenses arent regular.

>Your “how I want to use it” is completely out of your control and based on when you fall sick, get injured, need advice, etc. Nonenof which are choices you make.

So how people do it with cars?

Cars break often, especially when poorer people must use used cars

They often rely on them to get to work, so they not always can delay fix endlessly

You just have backup of just in case money.

>. However, if you’re dying on the street because you aren’t paying for medical care society will step in. So there’s also a burden you’re imposing on society based on your choices that are not involved in most non medical situations.

Thats the reason.

The system you describe is common for Europe and it is not perfect, but you would still pay more if the American model of healthcare would be in place. European system can be fixed by some country-specific tweaks, American system can only be replaced.

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