Unless your doctor thinks you're sick enough to need urgent care, you'll need to make an appointment in advance for almost every test you need at public hospitals in the U.S. Appointments can take anywhere from a week and a half to several months.
This is one of the reasons why private clinics abroad are thriving, and many people can't wait that long and have to pay a high price to see a private doctor on their own (this is also the case in Hong Kong). Can nationals do that? Imagine if you go to the hospital with a fever, cough, or chest pain, and the doctor makes you make an appointment for at least a week before he can take a chest X-ray or draw blood for a lab test, even though it's free (in reality, you'll still have to pay for it yourself, just less) would you be able to take it?
The United States you go to the pharmacy to buy their own medicine that is really cheap (but on the cold medicine can be cheaper to where it), but a little bit more expensive to doubt life, hospitalization than five-star hotels, presidential suite is also expensive. So in fact both statements are right, depending on whether it is a big or small illness.
In the U.S., even if you pay for health insurance, you still need to cover some of the costs of seeing a doctor, not all of them are free, not to mention, there are still more than ten percent of the U.S. population that have no health care at all.
In the U.S. must buy health insurance, the average person to pay copay when you see a doctor, the equivalent of outpatient fees, how much depends on the nature of your insurance, and how much your premiums depend on your work unit, such as I work in the government, you can choose the HMO, can only go to see a designated doctor, but also to go to choose the PPO, you can go to see any doctor, the price is more expensive. When you go to the doctor, besides copay, if there are some special tests, you have to pay a certain amount of money for the tests, such as CT, NMR, etc., all with the consent of the insurance company, and you have to pay quite a lot of money yourself.
I'm retired now and have medcare, plus a supplemental insurance policy, because medcare only covers 80% of the cost and the supplemental insurance covers the other 20%, so you can rest assured. It usually costs over 200 dollars a month for one person. With medcare you don't have to pay copay, otherwise copay is very expensive, I used to pay 35 dollars a visit to a family doctor and 60 dollars a visit to a specialist.
You can compare the domestic charges. The U.S. should be in the category of private visits with health insurance, not public treatment anymore. The old United States should have free medical care, but it is difficult to be subjected to, because the porridge is small, can only queue up, you have to make an appointment, but who is not immortal, can be expected months in advance to be sick on the hospital, so that can not afford to see the sick, because the rows can not be into the free public health care, can only be out of pocket, so it's very expensive, they want to survive and must buy insurance, insurance, if the private medical care will be much better, but the health care should be a private sphere. But health insurance should be in the private sphere. Of course Americans are pretty much required to have private insurance for all as long as they work, I think, and it's hard to get around without it.
This should be divided into situations: 1, white card owners (personal name bank deposits must not exceed 2000 dollars, no real estate) can be in the state free of charge to see a doctor, by the government to pay the bill. Many domestic elderly people to the United States will apply for a white card. 2, the average U.S. resident must purchase health insurance since 2020. Medical insurance is mainly divided into HMO (designated medical organizations, such as KP Kaiser Permanente) and PPO (any medical organization, such as HOGA and various clinics, except those designated by HMO).
Each medical insurance is further categorized into Bronze, Silver and Gold plans, with prices ranging from low to high, and corresponding registration fees and deductibles ranging from high to low. For example, the registration fee for a copper plan is $65, and for a silver plan it is $40, which is out-of-pocket. 2020 premiums for a copper plan are about $380 a month up or down, and the older you get the more expensive it is, about $900 for those around age 65. Because the U.S. requires an annual tax return, if you file your taxes properly, you can deduct the premium, usually 50?60 percent.
Free means you have purchased relatively good health insurance. The type of health insurance also varies quite a bit, as my oldest couple is temporarily going to the U.S. for a few months to see the kids, and don't feel the need to buy pricey health insurance. My daughter-in-law said that it is very risky, and if you don't have insurance, you will go bankrupt if you have an emergency or serious illness. Even if there is insurance, there are different levels of benefits depending on what kind of illnesses are covered. The share of the old people's pension to pay for health insurance is not small. There is no such thing as free health care.
The U.S. health care system is very complex, I'll pick up what I've encountered and talk to you about it, although not comprehensive, but every example is true. First of all, it's obviously not true to say that healthcare is free in the U.S. The reason why some people say that is because people on low income insurance really do get free treatment, and there's also the matter of giving birth to a baby, so if you don't have a high income, all medical care for the child is free after the birth of the baby. But for most Americans, especially those in the middle class who are said to be poor or rich, they are especially out of luck because not only do they have to pay a hefty insurance premium, they still have to pay a lot out of pocket for medical care. This one was answered by another person! Our poor are also treated for free!
The United States medical care is not free, mainly commercial insurance to solve the problem, no insurance can not afford to see a disease, my daughter gave birth to a child in the hospital for four days *** Chemistry fee of nearly 40,000 U.S. dollars, all insurance reimbursement, my son-in-law due to diarrhea in the emergency hospital a day to infuse a bottle of liquid without medication, Chemistry fee of nine thousand U.S. dollars, all reimbursement. Poor people basically not money, hospitalization, do not deposit, discharge checkout, checkout if your deposit less than 20,000 U.S. dollars in medical fees can be exempted, there is a China to visit relatives of the elderly in the U.S. due to gastric hemorrhage hospitalization, the chemical cost of 50,000 to 60,000 U.S. dollars, the discharge checkout, the elderly do not have the money to pay all free of charge do not want to bear the burden of the children.
Children in the U.S. naturalized parents can get a green card, medical expenses are fully reported, before you can also get six hundred dollars per person living expenses, and now Trump came to power in the country to get a pensioner to cancel the cost of living. But in the United States to see a doctor is not convenient, to make an appointment, the agreed time must be, the time difference can not be more than an hour, otherwise you have to make an appointment again, in the United States, children are working, parents will not go on their own, so it is very inconvenient, in addition, see a doctor can not be good at a time, this time to see a special check may be needed to open a list of another organization specializing in the examination of the examination to check to the place but also make an appointment, after the examination, but also back to the original doctor to go to the doctor. After the examination, we have to go back to the original doctor to see, of course, but also to make an appointment, how troublesome, so a lot of green card elderly people want to come back to see the doctor, would rather spend money.