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Comment by blackhaz | Hacker News Reader

I live in London. Developed a persistent headache which goes on for a few months already. Just got appointment to a neurologist for August 2023. Today is September 2022. Although, is UK in Europe?...

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Yep, that's how the coveted socialized health care system looks like in practice in many European countries. Sometimes the queue is short and you can use it. Sometimes it's not and you go to a private doctor instead. Sometimes, the nececessary drug is refunded and you get it for nearly free. Other times it's not and you buy it out of pocket. If it happens to be expensive, it will bankrupt your family just the same (or, more often, just die instead, because you don't want to do that to your family for an off chance of surviving the illness).

Anecdote: my friend in Silicon Valley is having debilitating headaches and her soonest (employer sponsored health insurance) neurologist appointment was 4 months away.

“The” US health care system in practice is extremely broken unless you have a concierge doctor or you donated enough to get your name on a hospital wing. Rural areas of the US are losing access as hospitals have been closing and urban/suburban areas have seen hospital consolidation. Our system is not an envy of the world, despite the marketing that makes so many people think that.

> Yep, that's how the coveted socialized health care system looks like in practice in many European countries.

The NHS really stands out negatively in Europe, no matter how great the Brits think it is. Unfortunately, English-speakers living where they do, this is not really voiced in the English press. Out of all of the Anglophonic world, yes, the NHS is probably the best.

Australian healthcare is pretty good. NHS sounds much worse to me but I've only heard horror stories.

Meanwhile my friend here I’m the US has to wait until may 2023 to see a dermatologist.

Long wait times exist in the US as well, we just like to pretend that it’s a socialized medicine thing.

Yes, but it's most likely a top dermatologist. There are lots of dermatologists around. For the first visit, it's normal to have to wait one or two months. Almost one year is definitely not normal.

> Yes, but it's most likely a top dermatologist.

It is not. It is a dermatologist.

> Almost one year is definitely not normal.

I would like to believe that too, but I don’t know what to tell you.

How many dermatologists have you called before giving up and agreeing to wait until May? In my experience it takes 3-5 calls to find someone willing to see me within a few days.

I don’t know, I didn’t interrogate them about it. I would imagine they considered that, but, then again, maybe not.

This is not the experience of my family members.

Never said it was typical, only that it exists.

When these conversations come up, people always trot out the wait time line, and it’s true, wait times are generally on the lower end for the US compared to other countries. However, they are not zero. Depending on the need, the region, and the time, you have to wait in America, just the same as in other countries.

Useful reference point: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/242e3c8c-en/1/3/2/index....

Sounds typical UK. But, how much is your health insurance costing, and could you land a $500,000 bill if you go to the wrong hospital?

Costs nothing if I'm dead, I guess.

No longer, because 350 million pounds a week was being diverted from the NHS into Brussels.

The pitch was the other way around, that £350 million going into the EU (if you believe that figure) could go to the NHS (it won't).

According to a big red bus.

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