The private healthcare system here is actually quite amazing.
The kicker is that most people don't want to pay for it and think it should be free.
The largest problem is that if you have a low paying job or have an employer that doesn't cover your insurance costs, or at least part of them, it can be hard to afford.
For the average worker, health insurance is affordable, and most companies will cover portions of it.
This changes drastically with dependents. My health insurance is like $420 a month and my employer covers all of it, zero cost to me. But if you have 3-4 kids you are looking at $2k+ per month and most employers aren't going to cover more than $700 per month of that. But it all depends on the company you work for; very successful companies will sometimes cover the employee and all dependents.
People talk about how expensive it is here, but i believe it can be expensive for people with serious illnesses. Certain medications are insanely expensive. The medical system for pharmaceuticals is a complete fraud and rip off. Charging people $80 for insulin, which should be around $5-10.
There are pros/cons, just like everything.
But when i was in a terrible accident 15 years ago, i was in ICU for 7 days and had so many procedures it was insane. My bill was over a million and i paid $7k of that. Not too bad.
And i had knee surgery, which totaled about $70k. I paid $2500.
It all depends on your insurance plan, but i will admit for poor people who have a lot of kids, it can be very difficult. But also, maybe people should make better choices in life? Just my .02.
