Health care in Germany.

[trof]

My friend (U.S. citizen in his late 70s, yet) was going hiking with a group of German friends in Germany.
It's a group that gets together once or twice a year.
He noticed a bump on his throat.
One of his friends, a physician, told him he needed to get it checked out, post haste.
Told him where to go.

He did so at a clinic in Frankfurt.
He was there overnight.
They did extensive tests.
Tests that would have been very expensive here.
Verdict was cancer.

They told him not only what treatment he should seek, but also gave him a list of doctors near his home in the U.S. who could provide that treatment.
His bill was $150.00

[guillaumeb]

1. The GOP prefers freedom.

The freedom to avoid seeing a doctor because one cannot afford it.

The freedom to buy junk insurance.

The freedom to die because one does not have insurance.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. you omitted the important freedom

The freedom of corporations to suck all resources from the individual before allowing the individual to die.

Our wealth care system is much more efficient at extracting resources than the 'justice' system.

[guillaumeb]

5. How could I have forgotten?

Than you for the reminder.

[democratisphere]

2. The American Criminal Enterprise Healthcare System is just that.

"We the people" are a bunch of lemmings and fools.

[kairos12]

4. National Health Care in Germany since the age of Bismark.

[comradebillyboy]

9. Otto von Bismark, a notorious liberal.../s

nee Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg

[Ohiogal]

6. Everyone else in the developed world has figured it out

why can’t we have nice things, too?

Oh, yeah.... Republicans....

[Hav]

7. Noteworthy that these are the costs for someone who isn't insured

I guess that no health insurance for abroad was bought.
Considering not only the tests but also a stay overnight and I assume meals, it's hard to imagine that it's covering the actual costs. At the very least, it's obviously not about making big profits by overcharging people with no insurance.

[IronLionZion]

8. Can't hear you over the sound of all this freedom

[TomSlick]

10. Years ago, I was in Dublin and had a similar (albeit less serious) experience.

In the middle of the flight over the Atlantic, it occurred to me that I had forgotten eye drops needed as an anti-rejection drug following a cornea transplant.

Once I checked into the hotel, I found a pharmacy. I explained the problem and told them what drop I needed. The Pharmacist allowed that he had the drops but that I needed a script and he could not accept a faxed or e-mailed script from my doctor back in Arkansas - that I would have to have a script from a local doctor and he recommended a GP in the same block.

I walked into the GP's surgery and told him my problem and the name of the drops I needed. The GP promptly wrote me a script. Not being Irish, I offered to pay but the GP demurred. He wished me a nice visit in Dublin and sent me back to the Pharmacy. I ended up getting the identical drops for a whole lot less than I had been paying in the US.

Needless to say, upon my return home, I sent the GP the best thank you letter I could muster.

[Ohiogal]

11. I think every Republican in Congress

Should be forced to go on a trip to a few developed countries and forced to take a look at how they provide health care for their citizens. And hammer it into their thick heads that it is a good thing that people want.