madmax17
21553
545
12
11euros, pretty good deal Germany
Jul 19, 2025 6:32 AM
madmax17
21553
545
12
11euros, pretty good deal Germany
justadude41123
In America, doctors will bill you 2 grand just to tell you that you need to see another doctor.
Nismu
LetsEatGrandpaCommasSaveLives
As an American, must have been a small papercut.
pareidoliaperson
These people must be American coz I don't remember getting handed a check at discharge. Is that true? Sometimes a bill but it's only around 30 euros.
2dollars15cents
In the US. I had major back surgery a few years ago. They kicked me out a couple hours after surgery. I was in so much pain, and couldn’t even walk. I had to literally be carried to the bathroom for almost a week. I feel like a day or two in the hospital might have been beneficial. Not financially. For that reason I guess I’m glad they kicked me out.
ToenailClippingsJar
When I had my hip replaced, I was sent home after 24 hours in the Netherlands.
Granted… it was the second hip so knew the PT drill and the fact that a watermain burst and the hospital needed to evacuate played a role as well.
Birdnose
This is sadly accurate
Shoutrr
also, for the europe part, it misses the family having to take a loan to visit the dude, just to pay the parking.
seoras13
The Scottish part of Europe has free NHS parking. But cunts with cars generally complain about any imposition on their freedom to be lazy bastards clogging up the roads, not you obviously, just other cunts, you know, them, the bad traffic you have to drive through on your short could be done on foot journey. Necessary journeys & car use get a pass, but they do make people lazy as fuck
egoAristippos
slidewhistlesymphony
Pretty much, unfortunately.
firstandlast85
the most expensive things at my surgery was parking and vending machine snacking raid after been required to fast 24 hours
shanefrost
Went to this E.R in Nevada years back in winter. Had what would be my first kidney stone. Sweating insanely, trying not to vomit, and blindingly in pain while confused and thinking I might die. Security guard said if I kept slouching over I'd be tossed out. Threw up. Wouldn't provide wheel chair as I kept collapsing and vomiting. Put me on morphine, told me I could not wait to be picked up in the building. Laid on cold ground outside at night to be picked up. All at my most vulnerable. :D
madmax17
Jebus, nasty experience.
shanefrost
The real fun of it with that wheelchair is that I pleaded to the nurse because I had already thrown up four times and that walking would exacerbate the nausea. She told me "No one's getting you to where you need to get but you." I threw up and collapsed, she rolled her eyes and said "okay, okay, let's go." and pulled me along.
The only person in that entire experience was an angel of a lady who offered me a warm towel because I couldn't stop shaking. So much dignity stripped from me.
Raska24
I work in orthopedics, and unfortunately the ‘stay as long as you like’ part isn’t real. We’re short on beds (which really means we’re short on personnel, like every other freaking place in the world) and our doctors always want to operate more than they get to, so as soon as you’re able, we will kick you out. Granted, we do that only once your pain is at least somewhat managed and we’re sure you’re able to make your way to the bathroom and have help making food, showering, etc.
SneakyGaryTheSerialHorseDrowner
smegheadenergy
On average I have to work six hours overtime each week to offset the cost of my health insurance for my paycheck to amount to what it would without coverage. All while my coverage is too expensive to even use. Fml
vwzzjxv6f9101
The only thing missing from the American experience is the debt clock counting upward. https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlZXl2am8xNnFyOXRuNGRrcTN6bXJ2NDVoMWluNGx2dDFnbTZ1MWFobiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/NvTGV2eswfcCk/giphy.mp4
FeedTheNachoMan
Can confirm, I got my appendix removed (and it must have been serious, since after the two-hour wait int the ER, they took me back for surgery within ten minutes after taking my blood sample) and was kicked out of the hospital in almost exactly 48 hours.
I also had too much stomach fat for a regular appendectomy, so I had *three* incision in my abdomen to heal up, in addition to the pneumonia I got from all the blood in my lungs from being intubated.
FeedTheNachoMan
Then they told me to take 500mg of Azithromicin or something like that for seven days, but the prescription they sent to the pharmacy was for seven total 250mg pills instead of seven days of 250mg pills, so I ended up only having a half dose of antibiotics after my surgery.
In a way I'm lucky, because I was homeless at the time and those seven pills cost me $94 to get, I wouldn't have been able to afford the $188 for twice that amount.
Agatsu74
German here. I needed hernia surgery, spent the night at the hospital afterwards.
Grand total: 10€
Mithi
Me too in 2019. Recently found the invoice (for information only) for it: 16k€ for a laparoscopic surgery of an inguinal hernia. Any US-citizen with a outrageous price for it?
FiftyShadesOfCauliflower
To be fair, "stay as long as you want" is an exaggeration and what you don't see here are the 1-5 other patients in your room who cough and sneeze in your direction and rip the window open in the middle of the winter while you lay there in the cold draft trying to recover from surgery. But I'll take that over the AMerican healthcare system any day.
flexstar
madmax17
Nasty :D
reverendmalerik
11 euros? They charge you? What kind of capitalist propaganda is this?
Unless that was the parking fee. Then it is accurate. That's about what I paid when my wife had our son. It was a 4 day stay after all.
JohnSatclaire
This is completely made up . . . an American doctor would never have that much direct interaction with a patient.
ElecTech
I think they forgot to add the $20,000 for this "consultation".
memiter
Europe: I had series of very, very expensive treatments, all covered by health insurance. All I paid was parking at the clinic.
theskirrid
3 years ago spent 6 months in hospital. Wales. All free. Prescriptions free, after-care free.
If only there was some way we could ruin that, and make it cost more, and make profit for some kind of middleman...
jumpbus360
Oh yeah? Well do you have eagles and guns? Because you can't have FREEDOM without eagles and guns. Duh!
ApothecaryGrant
Please, for the love of god, don't let anyone talk you into privatizing the NHS. ANY portion of the NHS. In fact, you'd probably find the most savings by using NHS funds to build a giant catapult and send Nigel Farage flying back to Russia.
madmax17
Nigel is slimy as fuu.
orp0piru
Keep voting for UKIP and Truss et al., you'll get there
madmax17
Wow, Wales is alright.
theskirrid
We've got fibre to the home now, and we're in the middle of nowhere. No mains drainage though. Or gas. And electric lights 😮
Tenookey
For now, it is... the people in my local towns can hold some ugly views on the world though... but the nature is beautiful, the housing is comparatively cheap (Also, autumn brings fields full of magic mushrooms if you're into that kind of thing :D).
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CarlBassett
NI generally funds the state pension, not the NHS. The NHS is funded through general taxation, so income tax, VAT, corporation tax, fuel duty etc etc.
Renza0
it would be more like if instead of your tax money going to buy tonnes of ammo thats just going to be dumped into the sea for budgetary purposes or buying new jets that are only there for show, instead went to ensuring you didnt die of avoidable causes or putting you into debt for life for the fix for the avoidable death
shehdbeuebw738373
Or if your ins premiums went to your care and not the executives and shareholders
Renza0
pretty sure it would also just cut them out from being a middle man, and in doing so, drastically lower prices
Phixik
I was charged 3k with insurance for 2 stitches after a very deep cut. This is not far off and it's sad.
Icetech3
I had a biking accident here in the States... 125k.... What a country
madmax17
OMG 😀
Skuggen
Hospitals here (Norway) will kick you out as soon as you're able to walk out the door. Mind, a part of the reason for this is that staying at a hospital is a great way to pick up infections.
Cutwail
And also, you'll recover better in your home.
Bonsaipanda
Not only infections but infections from bacteria that is antibiotic resistant.
PimpinKen
And 98% of people want to spend as little time as possible there as well. I hated not being able to leave.
Spaceqowboy
Also staying in a hospital is tiring. Even in a private room you cannot live on your own rhythm. My doc always states “sleep is the best medicine, and you sleep best in your own bed”, so as soon as it’s medically responsible I get to go home.
Titilve74
Same in France : now you are moved out as soon as you are able to walk back home.
Other reason though : just to reduce costs for the hospital.
thisistheusernamethatneverendss
As an American who has had extended hospital stays, it’s the same here. Stay until you can recover at home and leave. Hospitals are ground zero for antibiotic resistant infections.
The big problem is that the system isn’t comprehensive. People who can’t access healthcare easily use the emergency room for minor issues because they won’t turn you away. The hospitals charge exorbitant prices in ERs for those minor services to discourage it. Most won’t/cant pay the bill anyways and ignore it
Cillellic
And also staying in hospitals longer than necessary will inable patients more. They move less and "feel more ill" - thus it takes them longer to recover. And tbf there is often a shortage of both beds and personell, and every night spendt in a hospital bed costs the state big bucks.
sakasiru
Yeah, you will usually get transferred to a rehab facility where they try to get you on your feet as soon as possible.
JiggleWigglepp
About 25 years ago the UK was the same before we gutted the local council budgets and the care sector. Now you get people that are well enough to leave hospital but need care being stuck in hospital for longer than they should be. Which funnily enough is more expensive.
DontLookAtMeInThatToneOfVoicee
And then they become 'deconditioned' to independent living due to having 24/7 care when it's not needed. This creates a whole other psychological/sociological problem in and of itself. They really don't think of the long game when they make these cuts. I see it nearly every day at work (I'm an NHS nurse).
redtruck
I had 2 knee replacements, in Canada. Cost $0.
madmax17
Damn 🤣 that's why Americans go there, or to Mexico.
stonecoldstevebuschemi
Broke my elbow (Canada). Surgery =$0. Pain pills post surgery =$10. If I was across the border in the USA, that probably would have cost me over $10,000. And I only had to wait 3 days between the break and the surgery. All in all, a pretty good experience.
stonecoldstevebuschemi
And my boss covered the cost of my 6 months of physiotherapy (great boss!).
BasinStreetDesign
Ditto for my wife. But parking is still money-maker for them.
redtruck
I can’t agree that parking at hospitals should be free.
Sure, we get some revenue from parking fees, but most goes to maintenance and security companies.
Health care systems are in the health business, not the parking business.
Car transportation is a luxury, not a right. We have options.
annonymouse211
To be totally accurate the doc in the American one is in there way too long. It should be a guy in a suit from Private Equity explaining the bill and kicking him out. The doc would have had to see 3 patients in this timeframe to keep the hospital metrics up to investor standards. And I'm actually ENTIRELY SERIOUS.
drksdrlife
"The doc would have had to see 3 patients in this timeframe to keep the hospital metrics up to investor standards. " - If I knew nothing else about America, this sentence right here...
madmax17
Private equity? 🤣
annonymouse211
https://youtu.be/2sQdkrDZYO0?feature=shared ayup. This guy is a physician and makes amazing both funny and accurate little videos of what things are like
annonymouse211
Oh and also I'm a healthcare provider here. So that's why I know. Just the video is funnier than I am.
stealthredux
This is no joke. I recently had a life-threatening internal injury at work and while in hospital the total, cumulative time the actual doctor spent in the room was 30 seconds (generous estimate).
just4thelolz
I learned about the highly addictive drugs part only recently. Although I have always wondred why Americans who just went to the dentist were a meme subgenre for a while. Europeans don't usually leave the dentist high as a kite in my experience.
jaydude22
In Canada that’s typically only if you’re getting g some serious work done.
HelikaformerNubisKnight9
Never saw anyone high comming from a dentist. You get local anesthesia and aren't allowed to eat or drink for an hour so you won't bite the numb part of your mouth and sometimes you are told not to drive as the anesthetici may slow down your reactions. No high. I want my dentist high, damnit!
marthafarquar
I went to the school dentist in Scotland, when that was still a thing. It was only when I left school and went to another dentist that I found out people usually get anesthetic for fillings as the school dentist only gave it for extractions.
pyr0max
I have never left the dentist high, or the orthodontist, or the oral surgeon, or the implantologist. Either no anesthetics or you wait till the effect wears of.
just4thelolz
Ok, but y'all know what I'm talking about, right? "David After Dentist" anyone? Or "Jack After Wisdom Teeth Removal"? I swear I'm not making this up. You can watch them on Youtube.
pyr0max
Yeah, I have seen some of what is mentioned, it's just that I thought they were exceptions or overacting for the internet points.
psych0bunneh
I'm an American and it is still unusual for dentists to offer anesthesia BUT there IS at least one full chain of dentists offices that started advertising that that they do as a selling point for people with dental anxiety. My small local dentist is expanding in a few years to offer anesthesia. When I was very young, I had a couple oral surgeries including wisdom teeth removal which were not done by a dentist and I had anesthesia for them. So it's certainly not unheard of, but it isn't "normal".
just4thelolz
Do they use ketamine? Because I found out that that's what was used in David's case. "Anesthesia" can mean a lot of different things is my point. I had anesthesia for my wisdom teeth, but I wasn't high or even loopy after.