An American got sick in Taiwan. He came back with a tale of the ‘horrors of socialized medicine.’

That is one way of looking at it but it will be too complicated to discuss here. Another way is to consider macro spending and what they get in return.
Taiwan: Health care spending is about 6% of GDP. Gets universal healthcare that includes every single doctor and hospital and extremely low wait times. No one is worried that they might go bankrupt if they get sick.
US: Health care spending is about 17% I believe. Gets ridiculously spotty coverage, incomprehensible doctor hospital networks, higher wait times. You better be ready to sell everything you own if you get a semi-serious sickness.

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Are you sure that was a simple CT scan? the one time my friend had to get one there were no wait times and I don’t know how much exactly but it definitely was way cheaper than that.

Yes, a simple CT scan. I have no idea why it took so long, maybe the local hospital sucks. But it’s just a 5 minute walk away so I was too lazy to shop around.

You might be surprised. A kenyan friend who got in an accident a while ago got a ct scan, 50 something stitches, surgery on the abdomen as metal cut it open amd they had to put some things back inside plus ambulance and a couple nights stay, plus antibiotics and whatever meds they fed him. Total bill was 9800nt. No insurance.

Edit. Im on nhi. Ive had a few ct scans and they cost as much as administrative fee at counter. I think 350nt. Like 12 usd. Nothing. They give them out like candy here cause the gov foots the bill. Thats the issue here is abuse of the card. Which is very real.

The problem is actually the insurers. They can even veto on the best medication for the patient’a conditions…based on cost. Same with choice of health providers, including both hospitals and doctors. Some are covered, some not, good luck which one is closer. Heck even tests may or may not be included. And the astronomical bills just pile up.

The problem is the voters…That’s one problem we ain’t got here.

The comment section on the article is an example of denial. Saying that the story was not true, that NTUH is a private hospital, that Taiwan is some backwater. My favorite: this is an island, no illegal immigrants abuse the system.

The NHI is very good, not perfect, but can work and it is not going to fail tomorrow of at least in 20 years. The leeches here are the elderly abusing the medication and the Taiwanese residents abroad -mostly US- who pay nothing yet come here for free medical treatment because of their age…And blood.

Taiwan’s health care costs a fraction of the US partly because we use generic meds made in places like India and etc. US, no way. You must use the brand name most updated by a few companies. The regulations for meds used is much tougher and guess who lobbies for these regulations? Big pharma.

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Imagine that, vetoing compensation on the basis of cost. :roll_eyes:

Your ideas about US healthcare are based, surely, on the experiences of one or two relatives living in the US currently and your own ideas about central American, boilerplate socialism. Can’t be much more than that, Shirley.

Gets seriously up in my grill how you write here as if you have “real” beans to spill about the US to non-Americans, my friend.

It’s more complicated than that. The Taiwanese residents abroad that I’m aware of continue to pay their NHI while overseas or switch it off and reactivate by returning to Taiwan and backdating payments. And to be honest, if I had that choice I’d totally do it. In Canada I’m now waiting for my third attempt to have a gastroscopy - it took a year to get the first appointment which was canceled on the day of - as was the second. It’s a simple diagnostic procedure, but Canada’s health"care" system seems to work on the basis of attrition: if you survive long enough to be seen your now-urgent case will (probably) be treated. Maybe. I wish I had access to the Taiwanese medical system here.

But Canada doesn’t really have a system – it has a collection of systems.
:snowman: :snowman_with_snow: :snowman: :snowman_with_snow: :snowman: :snowman_with_snow: :snowman: :snowman_with_snow: :snowman: :snowman_with_snow: :snowman: :snowman_with_snow: :snowman:

I had two CAT scans fairly without an appointment and I was on the table in the machine within 45 minutes of showing up.

Paid with cash so was not very expensive I don’t remember exactly.

Maybe your haspital has a long wait.

I don’t get it. My two night stay for a broken arm was over 50k

Possibly because you needed some metal implants.
There’s a lot of factors. You didn’t have NHI?

It’s the same in Taiwan, as per my irl life experience. My wife’s uncle doesn’t take his health seriously either.

They should dismantle NHI until people learn not to abuse it, and probably keep it dismantled because It’s a slippery slope to overall socialism

Oh yeah that’s true although I think that was about 20k of the cost
Nah but fortunately did have travel insurance

They are getting stricter all the time, usually there’s a six month residency period before availing .

Dude, that’s just fearmongering. It’s not a slippery slope to the bogeyman people call Socialism. Developed countries do just fine with Universal Healthcare and has actually grown the economy. I’d rather they abuse the NHI than being unable to afford to pay and get worse.

The incapacitated don’t make good customers.

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Possibly just being sarcastic ?

It’s an interesting point though because I think the word ‘socialized’ has been dragged through the dirt in the US and that is preventing them using systems that are more efficient when applied across a vast swath of the population (universal health insurance) . Not only that they don’t understand how the fee can stay with the patient giving the patient much more choice .

The current situation in the US is much worse, a monopoly of medical groups and insurance companies in different regions, where often there are really only one or two feasible options for (private ) insurance.

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Government needs to socialize some things that are necessities otherwise greed takes over. Things like health care, education, roads, electricity, water, telecommunication, and internet are all good examples of things that should be socialized for the greater good. While I don’t trust government to get things right, I trust them a hell of a lot more than private industries that exist to generate the highest profits possible.