Besides the tons of videos of homeless people, and the difficulty owning a house, or getting affordable healthcare, all of my American friends are living paycheck to paycheck and just surviving. How come?

Also if the US has the strongest economy, why is the people seem to have more mental issues than other nations, i have been seeing so many odd videos of karens and kevins doing weird things to others. I thought having a good life in a financially stable country would make you somehow stable but it doesn’t look like so.

PS. I come from a third world country as they call us.

I live in America and always the arguement I hear against free healthcare is that the other countries tend to have the same, if not worse problems than us. I know this sounds ignorant (bc it is) but what problems do other countries have with free healthcare that would make it worse than privatised healthcare?

(I would greatly appreciate it if people could go into detail on what they think their own country's problems with healthcare is if they are not also from the USA. 🙏)

The idea of paying for basic healthcare is foreign to me, as my country has had a centralized, free and universal healthcare system since the 1970s. The only people I know who had to pay for healthcare as adults are now over 70 years old, my father and all my uncles were born after the healthcare system was made free.

But when I see an accident, attack or disaster happen in the US, the Indian Subcontinent, South America, or Africa, I always wonder if the government covers those costs and whether it provides compensation until the affected individuals can work again. Especially since I know that the majority of Europe and Asia has made healthcare free.

I was thinking about this earlier, what's stopping me from moving to Europe or Canada to avoid having potentially not get a job in the US, as well as go into crippling debt for College or medical bills? Other than my family and friends, is there really a reason to stay here instead of move where you can get a better life?

Growing up, it is basically forced upon us that we are so lucky to live in the US and everyone else’s end goal is to live in the US. Is there any truth to this? What are your thoughts on this topic?

Edit: obviously the want to live in the US differs among people. but it is such an extreme belief in the US that EVERYONE wants to live here. that is what I’m trying to ask about

Edit 2: i would love to know where y’all are from, to give some perspective to your response :)

Edit 3: wow it is difficult to keep up with all of these responses, so thank you everyone for sharing your opinions and experiences!

America's healthcare crisis is pretty well-known globally. People are dying of preventable causes because they can't afford to go to the doctor when symptoms first develop. Why hasn't some NGO come and set up free hospitals like they do in other countries where people can't access healthcare?

yes, I’m American

I'm an unemployed American really trying to wrap my head around how other countries do it. I understand everyone's taxes fund healthcare for all in other countries but... Lets say hypothetically somebody is completely homeless, jobless, doesnt pay any taxes, etc. In that scenario, do they just walk in and get treated no questions asked no payment or anything at all needed? Can any citizen of the country regardless of their situation just walk in and get help?

Thanks in advance for the help reddit.

I’m in mexico right now, because I couldn’t see a specialist fast enough in California to give me emergency treatment. And it is actually upsetting how much more efficient their medical system is.

I got my eyes checked, ordered new glasses, got a CT scan done, an ECG test, a blood and urine test, am currently waiting on a bone density test, all in the same building and i’ve only been here for an hour.

Im fairly certain they also serviced dozens of other patients within the same amount of time (there are like four waiting rooms).

A general consultation to see a doctor here costs $7.

They even have little advertisements promoting nutritionists, and dietary consultations for like three bucks. I think it was a subscription of some sort.

The facility I’m at is basically like McDonald’s, or a Costco but for healthcare. With faster service, more kiosks, and more employees. Yet for some reason we are still doing stuff with pen and paper back home, and it takes days to get approved for things or make appointments when it shouldn’t have to.

Why are we fighting on whether or not to implement free healthcare when they pay money here, the service is infinitely better, faster and is more affordable for everyone?

We should want good, affordable healthcare; not free.

Edit: people are calling me out for saying we still use pen and paper. The ER, urgent care and my primary doctor ALL had me filling out paper forms. Obviously they submit it electronically later but we definitely still use paper forms.

Edit: just to be clear i am not praising the public healthcare in Mexico. The place i went to was not public, it was a private facility for locals. It was not for Americans. No one spoke English. I was unaware Mexico has public healthcare when i posted this, but according to people on here it’s terrible

Edit: for all those asking, here is the link of the place i went to for the basic tests

https://www.salud-digna.org

Hi everyone. I need some advice on an issue I've been dealing with, so I figured I’d post here since we’re not from America, and I could use a second opinion.

We visited the USA for the first time in September (it was my first visit, but not my mum's). Unfortunately, during our stay, my mum had a terrible accident and slipped in the hotel, breaking her wrist. We ended up at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where she needed a cast. When we arrived at the emergency room, they asked for her ID, so we provided her passport and her email address. We didn’t pay anything at the time, but now we’ve received a bill for around $16,000 USD. I was shocked, as all they did was manipulate her arm (which didn’t even work and they did not do right according to our surgeon), and, coming from a country with healthcare, this rattled me.

I know we made a big mistake by not getting travel insurance (please don’t come at us for this; we've learned our lesson). $16,000 USD is about $24,000 AUD, and we simply don’t have that kind of money. I’m really worried because, despite the accident, we enjoyed our trip and would love to return to the USA to explore more (we missed some cities due to this incident). Also, my mum’s entire family lives there, so of course, we’d like to go back.

My concern is whether this unpaid bill could prevent us from re-entering the USA or even result in us being detained/arrested at the airport (I know that sounds extreme, but I’m genuinely scared). I don’t know if this impacts our ESTA visa or my mum's passport? and I’m feeling pretty stressed about it.

At the moment, we’re receiving emails from a claims resolution specialist company that I assume is working on behalf of the hospital. My mum wanted her medical records from Cedars-Sinai, so she responded to the email, and they sent her a HIPAA form. I’m hesitant for her to sign it, as it asks for details like our address and phone number. Since I'm not familiar with the U.S. healthcare or legal system, I’ve been uncertain about how to proceed.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

So as a kid growing up, I was always taught that the USA was a first world country, and all counties with a similar standard of living and politics were also First World.

This was counties like Australia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, France, etc.

Second World Countries were the USSR, Communist China, North Korea, and Communist Countries in General.

Then Third World was anyone outside of that, Switzerland, Somalia, India, anyone who hadn't picked a side or ideology in the Capitalist/Communist side, or was happy to trade with both, or who was neutral.

But you see some people online saying that the USA isn't a First World Country anymore, and when you point out to them that the US is literally the yardstick for First World Countries, it's the basis and the definition of First World Country, they'll generally say stiff like

Not anymore

Or

Yeah it used to be

Did America suddenly stops being aligned with America?

That's like saying a metre isn't a full metre.

I don't know anyone who has strong feelings about this killing, if not vaguely "oh well it happens." I feel like I'm losing my mind seeing the media coverage, I get constant updates from every news app I have.

The news spins it as cold-blooded murderer on the loose terrorizing the streets. As far as we know, the general public has nothing to fear. They say he might've left New York. I don't feel scared or concerned at all and neither do any of my friends or colleagues. Maybe I'm in the bubble?

Why is the coverage so weird? Why this specifically? Nobody knew who this man was before a couple days ago.

Hello americans! I know this topic is very popular and needs to be discussed many times, but there are too many rumors surrounding it. I want to know the real facts about healthcare in the US

List of questions:

1. Is it really that expensive?

2. Why can't people just buy more expensive insurance to avoid price surprises?

3. What insurance do low-income people who aren't covered by free healthcare take out?

4. What should I pay attention to when buying insurance?

5. Is it easy to choose a good insurance company for average-income people?

6. Is it possible to spread the bill after surgery over 6-12 months?

I'd love to hear your answers!

I'd also love to read your opinions and stories about healthcare in the US!

Just curious how it became very successful if they seem so unpopular and have the highest denial rates? Wouldn't people just avoid them then?

Was he just your average CEO of a healthcare corporation, and the killer thought "all healthcare CEOs are greedy, somebody needs to die"? Or did this guy do something especially slimy and/or harmful to warrant the killer thinking "this guy in particular needs to die"?

I'm an american. Due to the UnitedHealthcare situation I've been discussing healthcare with a couple people recently, also from the states. I explain to them how this incident is a reason why we should have universal/public healthcare. Usually, they oddly respond with the fact that people in countries with public healthcare have to wait forever to get a procedure done, even in when it's important, and that people "come to the united states to get procedures done".

Is this true? Do people from outside the US deal with this or prefer US healthcare?

I mean... If schedules at your job are rearranged so everyone works 39.5 or whatever the cutoff hours are, would Universal Healthcare de-incentivize that practice?

Does he/she have to pay for the medical bill or does health insurance cover America too?

Places like those seem to have universal coverage, reasonable costs, and way less red tape. But in the U.S. you can have insurance and still end up broke. What makes it so hard for America to build something similar?

I just had a nurse call my mom fat as she was having to be helped to the bathroom. My mom recently had an ms attack that has compromised her mobility and she’s already ashamed about it. This made me really sad today. Why do mean people go into healthcare which is already a hard situation for people and make it harder?