European healthcare
 

We returned from Italy in mid-june with an adventure to report. My husband had a kidney stone attack in Italy and was taken to the hospital, given many medicines, an echo(sp)and cat scan. The total came to 78 euro. We said next time we get ill, we will head to Italy.
Three weeks ago I had a heart attack and ended up with angioplasty and a stent. (Baby aspirin a day saved my life!!!!)Didn't have time to hop a plane to Italy, but this all does make us wonder where in europe would you want to be when a medical disaster hits.

Agree-Agree!
I had a crazy accident in Rome on a Vespa which I should not have been on, but...Anyway, other than not understanding the language (I did know they were yelling at me not to move, I walked out about 2 hours later...cleaned up and NO BILL!!

Glad you are recovering! I'd really rather be in Italy or France if I had an emergency!

just waiting for someone to come up with the usual:
" but they pay higher taxes ..bla bla bla bla bla...

Wait for someone to say, "But WE pay higher taxes..."
Not everyone here is American, you know.

Got that right...and they don't pay $500.00/2 a month for Medicare and a supplement either!

Fortunately, I haven't had to try any other health system but my own(never got ill during a trip), here in Spain.
Emergency care is free for everybody, like in Italy. So I suppose it is also good for travellers :)
I'm pretty satisfied of the system. Sure it has some failures (nobody is perfect ! ;) ) but even in my hometown which is a middle sized one they have good and modern equipment. In big cities you can have some of the best european hospitals.

Got sick in Canada. Went to ER in a medium size town with a brand new Hospital. Saw a doctor. Spoke to her. No tests. Didn't even take my blood pressure. Bill: $350 for the ER visit and $150 for the Dr. So, it's not all cheap.

Yes, I know Canada is not in Europe, but I figure that there are those who also believe this applies to U.S. healthcare vs. Canada's.

"Got sick in Canada....
well , you are not Canadian ..
Why should the health care in another country be free or cheap for you?

danon -True, but the first poster talked about their own experience with health care in Italy and she/he is not Italian. So, I was just comparing that with needing health care in Canada and not being Canadian.

Yup, if you're going to have a healthcare crisis, have it in Europe!

Why do people with chronic health concerns travel?

>>>Why do people with chronic health concerns travel?<<<

Well, I suppose we could just stay home and die of boredom. ;-) :-D

These are the countries with the best health care according to the WHO:

1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland

Also:
30 - Canada
32 - Australia
37 - United States
41 - New Zealand

Leaving aside the emotional issues in all this, it would certainly - to put it mildly - surprise most people to hear that an institution claiming authority rates the health system in Greece as "better" than Switzerland, Germany or anywhere in Scandinavia.

Leading in turn to the suspicion (again to put in mildly) that said institution might not be quite the authority - or quite as objective - as it purports to be.

So what criteria did the WHO use?

Belgium isn't even mentioned and it's actually better than France in most respects...many French come here for treatment.

Availability is a big factor. Here's why the US ranks so low

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...insurance.html

Here are the evaluation criteria:

"WHO’s assessment system was based on five indicators: overall level of population health; health inequalities (or disparities) within the population; overall level of health system responsiveness (a combination of patient satisfaction and how well the system acts); distribution of responsiveness within the population (how well people of varying economic status find that they are served by the health system); and the distribution of the health system’s financial burden within the population (who pays the costs)."

Belgium ranks #21, Lawchick.

Read that France ranks highest in per capita use of anti-depressants.