I experienced the American health care system for the majority of my life (and been treated there for a major, life-threatening illness) and two different European health care systems for more than 20% of my life (including surgeries major enough to require general anaesthesia). In Europe, I have even experienced both public and private insurance coverage; while the private coverage had higher payment limits, I had to pay everything out of pocket and get reimbursed later, so I have an inkling of what it would be like to get health care in Europe without any insurance whatsoever. My mother had the same surgery as me in the US. Her insurance company was billed $8000, of which she had to pay something like $500. I paid €800, all of which was reimbursed by my insurance company.
I’m back on public health insurance and dent it makes in my paycheck is not trivial. Even so, the American health care system is one of the major reasons I’m not even considering returning to the US at the moment. I rather enjoy living in a place where nearly everybody thinks health care is a basic human right.
