PolyPassport recently profiled a Texan woman and her family’s journey from the US to France in search of more affordable healthcare and saner politics. They had EU passports on the basis of ancestry.
It reinforces a lot of the stereotypes we have about healthcare in Europe, particularly on pricing and access overall. Cataract surgery cost her some 300 EUR (!) and her daughter receives free prosthetics every two years.
But her story does dispel the notion that anyone, anywhere can just walk into an EU hospital and get treated—including EU citizens. That’s consistent with my own experience. I’ve lived in a few EU countries and certainly paid less for often high-quality care than in the US. But I never found it to be straightforward or necessarily leagues better than equivalent systems, say, in Asia. Like the woman in the article, I also missed speaking to providers in my native language about ailments that can’t often be conveyed with an A2 level proficiency! :)
It got me thinking about the trade-offs we face when chasing healthcare (or anything really) abroad. It’s about balancing the good with the not-so-good and making the most of our choices wherever we go.
Food for thought and a point discussion.
I have T1D, and I actually pay more in Japan than I did in the US. I had great insurance in the US, though. How that breaks down is my premiums are way higher here and the doctor visits cost more. Prescriptions are slightly less.
If you compared average users in my case, it would be much more affordable in Japan.
One thing in particular about US healthcare costs is the deductible, which hits you up front, all at once.
Are you able to get the latest insulin there?
Are you on any GLP-1?
I had to Google glp-1. Didn’t know what that was. So I don’t know about that.
I am able to get the stuff I use, so I’m good, mainly fiasp cartridges. I am still using dexcom g6. The cgm and pump stuff are available by clinic you go to, which is weird.