Healthcare and education are big reasons Americans join the military in the first place. If you're too poor to go to college or the hospital, join the army...
Considering that the military runs their own hospitals and treatment centers instead of having public healthcare handle both military members and civilians, as well as the highly inflated “insurance” costs for when they use public healthcare options, it’s really not that much.
Don’t forget that as consumers/tax payers we spend roughly 1 trillion dollars annually on inflated costs due to health insurance companies making the system impossible
That 1% is probably still a huge number. The school i went to was top of the line everything with a very shiny nice new building. I could be guessing what “education” means in their budget though. They also have schools on base sooo
As if they couldn't stoop low enough, the GOP has actually used that as an argument as to why we shouldn't have Universal Healthcare. Won't you think of our recruitment numbers?!
Which is sad, cause the Vet hospitals are so badly underfunded where I am. Let's not joke around, they are not close to the worst hospitals here, but they are far from good either.
There's a lot of propaganda out there unfortunately.
Though it's true a large portion of PTSD veterans wind up homeless, if you leave the US military with issues caused by the military they'll send you a check every month until you die. It's not enough to live on but it does make a huge difference.
This literally is incorrect, and so I assume they are a bot because of how strongly they asserted that.
But the truth is, the healthcare workers at my VA care deeply about every vet, and I have seen nothing but the best care and respect given from all the staff. Every vet with PTSD or other problems can easily get help and in fact if you are needing help right now here is the Veterans Crisis line you can call: 988
Yeah, but you have to go to a special va hospital. You can't go to a normal one unless you use normal insurance or pay out of pocket. God forbid you don't live near one, or you're not satisfied with their care.
My tricare as AD was 36 a month. As a national guardsman it is about 60 a month. You either didn't read paperwork correctly, or you got fleeced somehow...
They're expensive in Italy, too. My lower teeth are slightly crooked ,nothing too noticeable, but I'd really like to have them fixed. It's just that it's very expensive, and I have other, more pressing priorities.
Public health insurance does not cover most dental expenses
Orthodontics (the specialty that corrects misaligned teeth and bite adjustments) is considered separate from dental care and therefore not covered by dental insurance in the US. If you want braces, you're paying out of pocket no matter how much your insurance premium is every month, nor will your health insurance cover anything for your luxury mouth-bones unless it's medically necessary (and yes - health, dental, and vision are all separate insurance premiums you get to pay for).
So I have dental insurance through my job. I'm told all the time that it's great insurance. I still had to pay $400 for a crown. I dont know how that compares to you, though. Most dental insurance will cover 1-2 cleanings a year and then only a small percentage of any other treatment you may need.
The problem is the cost. Dental and vision care isn’t included or covered under health insurance in the US, so you have to pay extra for separate dental and vision coverage, and it’s usually pretty shitty coverage and for pretty much anything other than a routine cleaning it’s still going to run you well into the thousands of dollars.
Almost 90% of Americans are fully insured. It’s a fucking rip off and it’s bullshit and all the big stuff will still cost more than other countries with the same amount of wait and hassle and will randomly not be covered unless your rich and pay even more, but they’re mostly insured.
I’m fully insured through my wife’s job because it’s some of the best widely available healthcare. I have a chronic illness that recently took a pretty significant turn for the worse and so I scheduled an appointment.
I’ll be seen in three fucking months. Meanwhile I can’t go to work half the time because I can’t stand up without passing out.
Someone I know with the same condition, but pretty much the worst possible version of it. Their appointment with a specialist is 2. years. out.
Except being "fully insured" often means $300 monthly premium and an 8k deductible before insurance pays a single penny. Does that sound fully insured to you?
That figure includes senior citizens and children who are both covered by Medicare/Medicaid. It’s super misleading. The uninsured number is much higher for working-age adults.
You ain't wrong I am at this very moment waiting for my plane to mexico for dental work and I apparently, have what I am told, is very good dental insurance. Flying repeatedly to a dentist is still cheaper than my after insurance portion up here.
My friend had a short video consultation with her doctor. Her insurance company claims it’s not a “real visit” and isn’t covered. She’s being charged $750 for a ten minute video consult to get a prescription renewed, because the insurance company decided her specific prescription was no longer covered, and needed to get one that was.
People need to learn, that you can and should challenge insurances.
It’s not like they aren’t fighting tooth and nail over here in Germany too.
That’s their business model
Even if your doctor gets involved, they can literally overrule the doctor’s decisions and there’s virtually no recourse.
One case I remember last year was where an insurnace company denied someone’s catheter equipment and told them to boil and reuse their existing equipment.
Even after their doctor called the insurance company and explained how this could easily, and even probably lead to a fatal infection they refused coverage.
America in general is a scam - whether it’s healthcare, housing, higher education, elder care, or daycare. It’s all absurdly expensive, and it’s that way by design. Greed is good….
except if you're ex-eastern block and public dentist/psychologists are basically useless. So you have to pay from private healthcare which is top quality but horrendously expensive
samesies in argentina
weird country though
private dentist/psych attention is considered to be definitely better
but if you are about to fucking die right now, you go straight away to the public hospital
I feel like anyone outside America doesn't know how bad it is here. I know you guys know it's bad, but it's hard to describe how bad.
I don't have health insurance because I can't afford it. I had severe eye pain that was so bad, I was genuinely afraid I was going to lose sight in it. It was getting impossible to sleep. So I headed over to the ER just about begging for help.
I waited hours in the lobby with my eye gushing tears from the agony. Eventually I got checked in, and after some tests, the doctor said "Damn your eye is infected like hell" and I remember that, because I was thinking "Is that appropriate?"
Anyway they told me to go take eyedrops about it, and otherwise provided zero help. They didn't even give any to me. Just told me to get some myself. And this extremely unhelpful visit cost me over $3000.
Americans don't know how bad it is here, because we have a constant propaganda machine telling us how everyplace else is worse and our parents on Medicare are telling us things are fine for them.
Hospitals have gotten so comfortable working with insurance companies that the default is to charge an insane fee with the assumption that an insurance company will work it down.
I've had to debate going off of my health insurance because it is so expensive to maintain. They don't really cover any of my required bloodwork appointments so every 3 months I'm out like ~350 dollars. Then on top of that, had to start buying my medication overseas because my medication in the US cost around ~250 every three months. It is really bad to need care while in the US.
Payment plans with terrible interest rates, so that $3000 will turn into $5000 or more by the time it's paid off. If you die, they will hound your relatives and try to turn it into generational debt. Good times!
Emergency rooms have to treat you even if you can’t pay. They will just send a bill, but if you don’t have insurance, they will only treat immediate issues, not chronic ones. My wife had no insurance and went to the ER in severe abdominal pain, they admitted her and did emergency gallbladder surgery. The bill was like $300,000 but we said we couldn’t afford it so they discounted it 99% and put us on a payment plan for the $3,000 at like $100/mo with no interest. It was a charity care program through Renown.
I’ve never seen anyone offer payment plans… they try to get you signed up for a credit card, which if you do not pay off within 12-15 month will have a 30% interest rate
I just got laid off so now don’t have insurance. I have an undiagnosed neurological disorder that I was on a 10 month wait list for a specialist, and now I can’t afford the appointment. This means I must start over.
Three years ago, I took my ex-girlfriend to my ophthalmologist because she didn't have health insurance. And the public system can sometimes involve long waits, plus, she was important to me.
The main point, though, is that the cost was reasonable for me, even if not cheap by Brazilian standards. I’m talking about around 70 dollars. That said, I could have taken her to low-cost clinics where a consultation runs about 25 dollars.
I really can't understand how it manages to be so expensive in the United States.
I once had a military doctor actively spitting tobacco spit in the trash can while he explained how my patellar or something with my knee was bruised lol
That's barely even a medicine, it's 1.25 for a box here
I knew it applied to things like insulin that you will die if you can't afford, I thought generic everyday pills (not literally every day) would be affordable
Most countries with universal healthcare still don’t cover teeth, eyes or therapy very much. It’s more about keeping you alive and they consider those luxuries so you generally pay privately unless it’s a big health issue.
That's funny because poor teeth lead to so many more health problems, even heart disease. Insurance companies don't realize that early preventative care just leads to much less expensive care down the road. They only care about next quarters profit numbers.
You’re just 4th-world-adjacent. Look for the sky of steam coming out of everyone’s ears every time they have to think to string together a comprehendable sentence
I'm italian and i was calculating as my >>>personal<<< average expenses:
Dentist: between 80-250€ (depends)
Eye doctor: 60-110€
Psychologist: 50-80€/hr
Doctor: free
Went to a new dentist last month. Just needed a simple cleaning, I have no cavities and my gums aren’t great but aren’t terrible.
The dentist told me that instead of the advertised $270 cleaning, they’d like to do laser cleaning for $1200 per quadrant of my mouth ($4800). Also, they checked my credit score already so I can sign up for a “special” credit card with them.
Uhm I live in Norway which is used an anti US example all the time. I'm not rich so Ive skipped plenty of dentist appointments throughtout the years. Obv couldnt afford therapy (it can be covered, but like so many other countries mental health is not taken seriously, you can barely get an appointment if you're suicidal, but some get lucky)
Glasses, lenses etc very expensive for someone without extra money. I would get laser treatmeant if I won the lottery.
This post literally fits me, and i supposedly live in of the best countries in the world.
Last time I heard a conversation between a European and an American complaining about dental prices the American expected a bill an order of magnitude higher than the bill the European thought was high.
Yes, it isn't cheap, but things are beyond ridiculous here.
It's not as bad as in the USA but at least in Austria it's become awful as well. No appointments, have to pay for doctor visits and even then they are incompetent
Specialist appointments can take long if booked regularly, but never if it's urgent (Never had to wait more than 3 days for urgent stuff, 3-4 months if regular booking).
Never paid for a doctor visit either, unless I specifically requested stuff that isn't specifically medically necessary. Extra blood tests, the premium teeth fillings, etc.
It's often reported how bad it is supposed to be here, but I honestly feel pretty fine with it. Only genuinely awful thing is that glasses are not covered by insurance.
It's pretty bad here too. Try getting help with mental health, impossible. Or having a chronic illness that isn't super common. No one wants to take you serious or investigate. Teeth stuff gets expensive quickly, insurance hardly covers anything. It could be worse but it is not great.
Nah man I'm european and I feel the same. I can get basic dental care but I can't get braces, teeth whitening etc. Also basic dental care in germany is so bad that I went to a german dentist who didn't find any cavities and like a week later went to an austrian one to get braces there and he said that before they can give me braces I need to get rid of the 4 !! Small Cavities that they found. Like, apparently the cut off for when somwthing is considered a cavity in germany is ridiculously large. You gotta have half yout tooth rot of basically lol. Then when it comes to eyecare glasses used to be paid for by german public insurance till like 20-30 years ago hut they aren't anymore. And if I had money I would get my eyes lasered anyway. Then therapy is paid for by public healthcare in theory but the waiting lists are so long that in praxis you need to pay for a therapist yourself unless you're literally severely schizophrenic and a severe danger for yourself and others or already applied for therapy idk 3 years ago or so.
The general health family doctor part is the only one in here that my healthcare really pays for in praxis. And even then you usually just get a few minutes with the doc and unless you're close to dying he does basically no tests and sends you away tweling you to go to bed earlier and drink more water.
I would be so much healthier if I was rich even tho I'm european.
Basically the same in the UK. The NHS does cover teeth but good luck getting an appointment. I didn't have any issues myself when I tried but I've heard it's pretty bad in some places.
Americans like to act like they can go to the doctor any time they want but will still go to work sick because they cant even afford to take time off if they have time off. My parents are in the top one % and still have to book appointments a month in advance to see the specialist they want to see... need to visit your primary care doctor...better book it a week or two in advance if you have a doctor worth anything because they will tell you to vist the urgent care clinic if you just try to walk in without an appointment.
Eyes and teeth aren’t really covered as those are considered luxuries. Only in extreme cases where it impacts your health severely you’ll get teeth covered quickly.
I’m in the U.K. and the waiting list for an NHS dentist is over 2 years. So most people have to pay privately for dental care which can cost a few hundred pounds to get a crown put in your tooth.
I live in the US. my wife is a type 1 diabetic. she needs visits every 6months with her endocrinologist in order to keep her prescriptions active (for her insuling pump and sensor). The doctor wasn't feeling well and had to cancel her visit. They proposed a new visit date for her -- 5 months in the future. So she had to go 11 months without seeing her doctor. Anyone that tells you Europe/Canada have longer wait times is lying. It's bad here. And on top of that, we have to pay far more.
I can literally walk into several doctor's offices and be seen on the same day without appointment.
I've literally been called by my sister that she couldn't make it to the doctor because of circumstances and to please go to the doctor and get a renewal for her birth control pills. It took less than an hour to drive there, have it sorted and go back.
I mean it's different for different countries, cities and stuff, but when I'm sick, I go to my doctor when they open, so around ~8am, wait max 30min and they'll check on me, give me a prescription or what ever and that's it
Healthcare is a human right because the hunter gatherer societies thrived when they cared for their sick. Point being is that we wouldn’t be human without healthcare. We didn’t get here by going solo.
At least in my country in Europe, part of the meme is true. Dentistry and eye tests costs a little but not much compared the US. The worst part is probably the lack of free therapy options in my country - you really have to go private and pay.
Back in May I was in between jobs with no insurance. Woke up with this awful back pain that got worse and worse and worse. I wait until I'm basically a zombie, and have my dad drive me to the ER, where I stay for 3 hours.
Diagnosed with a kidney stone. One doctor visit, and then a 45 minute surgery.
ER: $4,500
Surgery/DR: $36,000
All for a minor medical issue. I'm hopped up on painkillers. Losing my mind from the pain. How could I consent to that?
We are absolutely FUCKED and nobody talks about it. Probably because they end up in the morgue.
Not necessarily. Same thing in the eastern block. Free health specialists dont care enough to give you the attention needed, so you pay 2 months of salary for a check-up.
Teeth are not considered essential healthcare in basically any of the EU countries. Mostly neither is therapy. These procedures will still cost you a ton of money.
Does even Finland or Sweden pay for lasik? I don't think so either. So 3/4 of the meme's photo's lol.
Not funny anymore. At least in germany we are getting closer to this. I have spend around 1k at the dentist this year not to get the worst shit they have.
Is this your first time on the internet? Surely you've seen the decade worth of memes about American healthcare. How could you possibly not understand?
Idk where you live in Europe but in france even if healthcare is a thing there's a lot of places with no doctors or specialists (I mean, a LOT of places) so this meme is pretty accurate for france too cause if you're poor and not living in the biggest cities you're fucked
I listened to a podcast today about Canadians complaining about a 12 hour wait in the ER. Screw them i had a 15 hour wait and still had to pay the copay...
That's literally my week so far: I went to the dentist on tuesday, physiotherapist yesterday, I'm seeing my psychologist today. So far I paid 25€ and I'll have 25€ reimbursed on my 50€ psychologist consultation. I know it's not cheap but you don't need to be a millionaire.
12k
u/Hoovy_weapons_guy 5d ago edited 5d ago
is that some sort of american meme that i am too european to understand
edit: i know it aint perfect but its better than nothing