Would you move to another Country for cheap health care?

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hollydolly said:
Well we get our health care FREE so there is nowhere cheaper..
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Good! But you do pay taxes don't you? An Australian poster in another retirement forum got it for free too, and hated it. Didn't like the quality of "free", so he wanted to supplement out of his own pocket, but then he had to pay 100%, and that really annoyed him. It's also "free" in Canada, but they have an issue of wait times. A famous Canadian politician flew down to California for breast cancer surgery which caused a big stink. Last I heard, France seemed to have a good system. You Brits (and the rest of the world) have a big advantage over us -- Loser Pays, AKA the English Rule. Here if you are a doctor and are sued but win, you still have to pay your own attorney's fees -- which can be enormous. Thus US doctors all must have very expensive medical malpractice insurance. In the UK and elsewhere, if you sue someone and lose, you pay their attorneys fees. The result of the English Rule -- think twice, maybe thrice, before suing someone!

"The AMA report shows that obstetricians can expect to pay around $150,000 in annual premiums for malpractice insurance. If your specialty requires fewer actual procedures, you can likely get by in the neighborhood of $30,000 to $50,000. Some low-risk specialties in low-risk areas of the country will pay less than $10,000 a year for coverage."
https://www.leveragerx.com/blog/medical-malpractice-insurance-cost/.

Needless to say doctors don't pay those premiums -- their patients do. Another result is that the US has the greatest number of lawyers per capita in the world. Grrrrr.
 

Short of a zombie apocalypse limited to the US or a civil war, I can't imagine moving to another country at this stage of my life, especially since my children and friends are all here. Canada isn't likely to be accepting senior citizen immigrants these days and Mexico doesn't interest me.

While I don't know anyone who's moved for medical care, I do know plenty of people who've gone to Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama for a few days to get dental care - MUCH less expensive than the US.
 
No. It wouldn't be worth it to leave my family and friends and go and be among a bunch of strangers just to get cheaper health care. No thanks.
 
[Poor Holly, it will never end.]

Everyone who says they will never move just to get cheaper health care are forgetting that some people will die if they don't get their medicine and they wouldn't be able to get it at all if they had to pay uninsured U.S. prices.

Look at all the homeless, mentally ill people we have. Living on the streets in varying states of paranoia and psychosis. Their medication, if they even had prescription, costs thousands a month.

In 1989, working as a bank teller, I had to pay $10,000 out of pocket for dental care. When the doctor told me how much, I said "That's my annual salary!" He said, "Well you can pay half now and rest next month." Fortunately I had been saving for my son's college and had it in savings, I was just praying I would live to earn it back.

Go ahead raise my taxes! No one should have to die because they can't afford decent care. I've paid taxes that go toward wars I'm against and many other things less important.
 
Pinky said:
The American engineers that came over to work here in Toronto and other Canadian cities, were always very pleased with the health care they received through our system. Some even migrated.
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it's odd isn't it..when it comes to Americans' who get irritated by social care, they always..ALWAYS attack the NHS.. I never see the same attack on the Canadian social care system.. :unsure:
 
hollydolly said:
it's odd isn't it..when it comes to Americans' who get irritated by social care, they always..ALWAYS attack the NHS.. I never see the same attack on the Canadian social care system.. :unsure:
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Pinky said:
Yet, it's run on similar principles. Oh, I've seen some opposition to our health care system, Hols.
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I've heard plenty of Americans attack the Canadian health care system. However, those attacks are often rebuked by the many Americans whose Canadian friends and family are happy with their health care. One of my sisters lives in Canada so when I hear Americans spout BS about their health care system, with some authority I can rebuff them with knowledge of my family's positive experiences.

Americans with personal relationships with Brits are far rarer, making that health care system a softer target that's less likely to be countered with first or second hand experience.
 
StarSong said:
I've heard plenty of Americans attack the Canadian health care system. However, those attacks are often rebuked by the many Americans whose Canadian friends and family are happy with their health care. One of my sisters lives in Canada so when I hear Americans spout BS about their health care system, with some authority I can rebuff them with knowledge of my family's positive experiences.

Americans with personal relationships with Brits are far rarer, making that health care system a softer target that's less likely to be countered with first or second hand experience.
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I actually meant the attacks on here .. it's always attacking the British NHS... not Canadian, nor Australian..

I'm sure you probably do hear a lot of complaining or praising in the US and Canada ooutside of this forum, it just always seems to be the Uk that gets hammered on here from people..
 
hollydolly said:
I actually meant the attacks on here .. it's always attacking the British NHS... not Canadian, nor Australian..

I'm sure you probably do hear a lot of complaining or praising in the US and Canada ooutside of this forum, it just always seems to be the Uk that gets hammered on here from people..
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Probably followed the same logic as I wrote above. Attack the British NHS because Americans are slightly familiar with it. Attack Canada's and too many would think about the Canadians we know who are happy with it. Australia is too remote - most Americans know almost nothing about their healthcare system so the fearmongering would be less effective.

The point of this piece by FOX News was to attack Bernie Sanders and his push for national health care.
 
StarSong said:
Probably followed the same logic as I wrote above. Attack the British NHS because Americans are slightly familiar with it. Attack Canada's and too many would think about the Canadians we know who are happy with it. Australia is too remote - most Americans know almost nothing about their healthcare system so the fearmongering would be less effective.

The point of this piece by FOX News was to attack Bernie Sanders and his push for national health care.
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yes I'm certain you're correct as always SS.. (y)
 
I was extremely happy with the excellent health care I received in Australia. It was modeled after Canada's health care system. One less thing to have to be concerned about, as far as differences went.
 

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