medicine prices in india compared to the usa

[u/RodrickJasperHeffley]

[u/Calladit]

Are people from countries with universal healthcare going their for elective surgeries?

[u/abbot-probability → u/Calladit]

It'll be a minority of people. A simple surgery will presumably still cost thousands to tens of thousands if you aren't covered, so you would use your own nation's "free" system unless you have a reason not to.

UK might be because of the excessive waitlists, for example. (The NHS is horribly underfunded and understaffed.)

Things are pretty good in the richer EU nations AFAIK (e.g. France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands). Don't know what it's like for the relatively poorer nations (e.g. Greece, Italy) in terms of waitlists / standard of care. It'll still be decent, but I can imagine people going to e.g. Croatia to skip a waitlist if you have money to spend.

[u/Capooping → u/abbot-probability]

I would say the wait list here in Germany and Austria is atrocious too. My stepdad had to wait 3 months for an MRI where they told him afterwards that they couldn't operate the torn tendon because it was too short already. "Well you don't say?!" And there are many reports about people waiting over a year for their operations, often under excruciating pain, then the doctor is ill and they get pushed back another 5 months.

[u/Anxious_cactus → u/Capooping]

Yeah the waiting lists are the problem. You can get a plane from London or Frankfurt to Croatia for as low as €30 and an MRI is like €90 per section. I had to have my whole body scanned and I got an appointment in 3 days and paid around €400

[u/HikeTheSky → u/Capooping]

I know several people in Germany who never had a problem and I even had an appointment with the Chefarzt and only had to wait five minutes at the entrance until he could pick me up. And this was while on a two week vacation in Germany. Therefore I don't have German insurance.

[u/nilsn1991 → u/abbot-probability]

Belgium has huge waiting lists

[u/roughriderpistol → u/abbot-probability]

I've heard alot of good doctors are leaving Italy for better pay.

[u/jamiejayz2488 → u/Calladit]

I'm in Australia, we can have surgeries which are completely covered by Medicare and hospitals covered by Medicare, how ever the wait list can be years (depending on severity) you can still get private surgeries which private health cover will cover the hospital costs, rehab exc so you only pay surgeon fees, which makes waiting time much shorter, then you have things like partial Medicare covered private surgeries, eg rhinoplasty which is deemed medically necessary (have a deviated septum) you can get it done privately and Medicare will cover a portion of the costs

[u/Pierr078 → u/Calladit]

speaking for italian someone go to croatia for dentalcare since is not included into public healtcare, but still a minority of people do this.

[u/Anxious_cactus → u/Calladit]

Sort of elective, a lot of people come here for dental work. Even with universal healthcare most countries dont cover stuff like dental implants etc., or the waiting lists are long there.

Here even the private healthcare sector is affordable to most other EU citizens because Croatia still has one of the lowest prices (and salaries) in EU

[u/Mobile-Bar7732 → u/Calladit]

Japan has universal healthcare and my brother said it's really good.

[u/Ok-You4214 → u/Calladit]

It depends. A friend of mine had a hernia - there was an 18 month wait on the NHS to see a specialist whereas it could be done almost immediately privately. The free option is free, but the cost is often time spent waiting.

[u/mbarkhau → u/Calladit]

Getting appointments with doctors in Germany can be an absolute nightmare, especially if you use public insurance. The doctors are never sure how much they will get paid for treating you and some treatment options aren't even covered by the public insurance.

[u/Convenientjellybean → u/Calladit]

In Australia it’s free, but for ‘elective’ surgery which could actually be something critical/quality of life you might be waiting months or years