I’ll start with the German system. Here you are either automatically insured in one of the public insurances (there are many), which marginally differ in their cost (think single digit euro differences) and have to cover basically the same procedures. If one reaches a certain income level, being privately insured is possible.

If you are publicly insured, you wont see most costs, as these are directly handled between your insurer and the doctor/hospital. For some medications and procedures there are co-pays that are flat fees (5 Eur for Medications, …).

Access to specialists mostly need a referral from your family doctor.

In private insurance, often you yourself will be billed and you will need to hand this to your insurance company.

The good side is that in most common situations I have never needed to worry about cost in public insurance, wait times for referrals can be very long and understanding what you need to get certain care can be very difficult. Private insurance often has better payment schemes for providers and less artificial limits on number of patients or which doctor is able to provide services, so access to most care is faster and more widely available.

Sweden: Healthcare is mostly tax-funded. There is a small fee (for adults between 20-85 ) for each appointment. This fee lies between 150-330 SEK (~15-33 €), depending on which region you’re in. Emergency care is usually about 10 € more (40€), and an ambulance trip double (so ~60€). If you’re admitted to a hospital the fee is 120 SEK/day (in my region). Total fees paid for appointments during a year is capped at 1300 SEK (130 €), after that they’re cost-free.

The above is regarding “necessary” care, so things like cosmetic surgery, vasectomies, etc. you’ll have to pay more.

Access to specialist doctors varies, some you can contact directly (usually private practice), and others you’ll have to first make an appointment with a general practitioner at a health center, then get a referall if they deem it necessary. In my region there’s quite a long wait time for many specialists (I had to wait 6 months for a head MRI), and sometimes you’ll have to travel quite far because the care is only offered in one hospital in the region (My wife had to drive 200 km for a surgery).

UK here. Everything is free at point of use (paid via taxes) except prescriptions. It’s around £10 per item. But they are free if you have certain long term health conditions, are pregnant etc.

To see a specialist your doctor writes a letter and they contact you.

Australia here.

For most medical services, the govt will reimburse you a set rate. The GP or specialist can charge you whatever, sometimes the same as the govt reimbursement, sometimes quite a lot extra. You don’t pay anything at public hospitals (which are nice).

I recently had some great problems, I stayed overnight in hospital twice, for a total of 3 nights in private rooms, had an internal scaffold inserted in my artery. i also had numerous consults with specialists and drs.

The whole thing cost me about $500, a few days work on average wage.

deleted by creator

USA. Others have covered cost but I’d like to add how long it takes to see a doctor.

I have an established primary care physician that I’ve seen for years. Now though if I want an appointment I have to wait at least two months. So I have a membership with an urgent care near me that puts a $180 cap on visits to their chain of urgent cares. There is obviously no on going care with them but most of the time that’s okay.

A friend of mine doesn’t have an established PCP and to get one he must wait at least a calendar year….

Romania you pay taxes from your salary or if you are a student then you are automatically covered. To access specialists you need a piece of paper from your designated doctor that confirms from him/her that you need a specialist.

The reality tho is that the state of the medical system is bad. Understaffed and equipment older then 40+ years.

I walk into the emergency ward, take a number, give my id to a clerk, sit down and browse reddit Lemmy for a couple hours, see a doc, get some treatment if needed, and leave with a prescription, maybe a referral, and probably a parking ticket.

Canada, eh?

I open Google, search “am I gonna die”, and if it says probably not, then I ignore whatever it is and hope it goes away. And if it says I am, then I wait for the end to come.

I have a card that gets scanned at the doctor’s office. It contains most of my data plus history iirc. That’s it.

National Health Service, currently struggling with lack of personnel, but in general I have a family doctor I visit, on average, twice a year, for general check-up and follow-up. I can be recommended to a specialist if deemed necessary, with varying degrees of waitimg time.

For emergencies, I can either call a line, speak with someone and either have an ambulance sent directly to wherever I am or get directed to the nearest hospital, where they will already be expecting me.

No payments, even if I need an ambulance ride, a surgery and a few days in the hospital.

A good portion of people - mainly in large population centers - resort to private care, through health insurances, some out of pure need (pediatrics, cardiology, ob/gyn, psychology and psychiatry are specialities where long waiting lists exist) but the professionals working at the hospital are usually the same working private, due to a lack of effort from the state to make doctors exclusive to the NHS.

Private healthcare is usually faster to access and feels more luxurious but when things go very wrong you always get sent to the public hospitals. Cancer and other expensive care illnesses are sent to the NHS, which is usually the first to invest in expensive treatments to get a situation solved as quicky as possible and save time and money and free up space for the next in need.

Is it perfect? Hardly but it works. Nobody really knows or even understands how but it truly works.

It’s Private (need insurance) but regulated by the government to ensure prices are fair and there is a fallback for people with low income.

Late but USA, wanted to share a personal experience. While at work I collapsed and had to take an ambulance to the hospital. I got sent the bills for everything. Including the ambulance ride. I stayed in the hospital overnight for observation. They couldn’t figure out what happened and I didn’t have symptoms anymore so I was discharged. Whole event cost maybe $500.

Here’s the kicker, I work(ed) as a paramedic for the ambulance company that transported me. I had insurance that was not from the company so prices were reasonable relative to what one would expect in the country. Had I been insured through work, well, the insurance provided by the company doesn’t cover transport by that company’s ambulance.

America. Ideally you have insurance through work. Going to your PCP may be ~$50, same for specialists. Urgent care and ER will be higher, then there will be additional bills depending on what needs to be done and your insurance. Then there’s “in-network” and “out-of-network”. In-network will be covered more by insurance than out-of-network. It’s tricky for hospital stays. In my area there are doctors who are out-of-network working at in-network hospitals. So you will get 2 separate bills - one from the hospital and one from the doctor.

Honestly it’s terrifying having an emergency because you really don’t know how much it could cost. Most insurance plans have a max out of pocket. One number for the individual, one for the family. The lowest I’ve seen is $2k/$6k while the highest was ~$16k/30k. I’m in a LCOL city though. Max or of pocket is the maximum you should ever have to pay for a single year. You will almost definitely hit this if you have a baby or need more than a couple days in a hospital.

For people with low income there are sometimes assistance programs at hospitals. One common outcome is you go into a payment plan and maybe years later your remaining debt is forgiven. The payment plans can be very cheap. I’ve heard of $25/mo. Still it’s probably for a bill that’s in the thousands if not 5 or 6 digits.

If you don’t have insurance through work you can buy your own insurance but many people just wing it. Most hospitals will charge less when there is no insurance to bill. Maybe 1/3 what they would charge insurance. This will still be in the 4-6 digit range. So you go into a payment plan, or maybe there’s additional financial assistance from the hospital, or you just ignore the bill and take the credit hit when it goes to collections.

There are programs through the government, Medicare and Medicaid. They cover quite a lot but if you’re under 65 then I believe you have to be disabled to qualify.

The quality of care is generally high though, so that’s cool.

In Mexico the government has their own health care system, if you are a Mexican citizen you have access to it for free (if you are a student or you work legally), it’s sustained by taxes that employers pay to the government, there are two health care systems IMSS and ISSSTE, depending on if you work for the government you get one or another.

These institutions will give you the treatment that you need and surgerys as well, except cosmetic stuff. Since these institutions aren’t optimal (usually takes a long time to get attention) you might prefer to use a private health care, and you just pay a private company for what you need or pay monthly for an insurance plan, which will cover certain hospitals and specific diseases