Here in the US, if you have health insurance, any time you go to the doctor it’s $200. That’s if you have a doctor to go to. So we mostly don’t go, until it’s really bad, then maybe you have to go to the hospital, which may be a few thousand bucks on the low end and bankruptcy on the high end. You have no idea what you will pay when you go, they send you a bill in the mail that arrives 2-3 weeks later.

So we pretty much avoid interacting with the medical system at all costs.

If you do want to see a doctor or specialist it’s pretty easy since they are businesses, you just call them up and make an appointment. But what do I look like over here, John D. Rockefeller?

Then we die young of easily preventable diseases.

UK here. Everything is free at point of use (paid via taxes) except prescriptions. It's around £10 per item. But they are free if you have certain long term health conditions, are pregnant etc.

To see a specialist your doctor writes a letter and they contact you.

I open Google, search "am I gonna die", and if it says probably not, then I ignore whatever it is and hope it goes away. And if it says I am, then I wait for the end to come.

I'll start with the German system. Here you are either automatically insured in one of the public insurances (there are many), which marginally differ in their cost (think single digit euro differences) and have to cover basically the same procedures. If one reaches a certain income level, being privately insured is possible.

If you are publicly insured, you wont see most costs, as these are directly handled between your insurer and the doctor/hospital. For some medications and procedures there are co-pays that are flat fees (5 Eur for Medications, ...).

Access to specialists mostly need a referral from your family doctor.

In private insurance, often you yourself will be billed and you will need to hand this to your insurance company.

The good side is that in most common situations I have never needed to worry about cost in public insurance, wait times for referrals can be very long and understanding what you need to get certain care can be very difficult. Private insurance often has better payment schemes for providers and less artificial limits on number of patients or which doctor is able to provide services, so access to most care is faster and more widely available.

Australia here.

For most medical services, the govt will reimburse you a set rate. The GP or specialist can charge you whatever, sometimes the same as the govt reimbursement, sometimes quite a lot extra. You don't pay anything at public hospitals (which are nice).

I recently had some great problems, I stayed overnight in hospital twice, for a total of 3 nights in private rooms, had an internal scaffold inserted in my artery. i also had numerous consults with specialists and drs.

The whole thing cost me about $500, a few days work on average wage.

USA. Others have covered cost but I’d like to add how long it takes to see a doctor.

I have an established primary care physician that I’ve seen for years. Now though if I want an appointment I have to wait at least two months. So I have a membership with an urgent care near me that puts a $180 cap on visits to their chain of urgent cares. There is obviously no on going care with them but most of the time that’s okay.

A friend of mine doesn’t have an established PCP and to get one he must wait at least a calendar year….

Romania you pay taxes from your salary or if you are a student then you are automatically covered. To access specialists you need a piece of paper from your designated doctor that confirms from him/her that you need a specialist.

The reality tho is that the state of the medical system is bad. Understaffed and equipment older then 40+ years.

In Poland, it doesn't. They just steal our money without anything in return you have to wait for years to get into surgery what you pay taxes for.

In Vietnam - an awful system where nothing works. Have to pay for private healthcare where docs have dubious education.

It’s Private (need insurance) but regulated by the government to ensure prices are fair and there is a fallback for people with low income.

In Mexico the government has their own health care system, if you are a Mexican citizen you have access to it for free (if you are a student or you work legally), it's sustained by taxes that employers pay to the government, there are two health care systems IMSS and ISSSTE, depending on if you work for the government you get one or another.

These institutions will give you the treatment that you need and surgerys as well, except cosmetic stuff. Since these institutions aren't optimal (usually takes a long time to get attention) you might prefer to use a private health care, and you just pay a private company for what you need or pay monthly for an insurance plan, which will cover certain hospitals and specific diseases

Rural Guatemala and it's mostly done through mobile doctors because it's so remote. We have universal healthcare on paper but the government spends so little on it that the resources are awful and private care tends to be a lot better and trustworthy.

In Denmark its paid through taxes.

I still have to pay to visit the dentist though, which can be quite expensive.

Regular doctors visits are free, but if youre refered to some specialist, like.. i had an issue with my knee, i was directed to some therapeutic pro. That cost me like 20 euros per visit. However, a friend of mine had to visit an eye doctor which was also free.

And medicine also is self paid, like antibiotics or whatever. Its rarely super expensive though.

But i when my kid was born we had no expenses at all. His mother had to stay (with him) for 2 days at the hospital and while there she had full free access to a stocked fridge, stuff for the baby (diapers etc) and all that jazz.

Ive not heard of anyone having other expenses either, like cancer treatments or getting a broken arm fixed

In Malaysia, you're treatment are mostly covered by the goverment through subsidies. You usually pay a percentage of the treatment cost. The only exception is cosmetic surgery and certain high end medications, i think. Despite that, there are still people that is unable to pay the fee and the goverment still provide some kind of monetary support or the public hospital helps by paying the remaining fee using available fund. As a result, there are long waiting time for treatment and the public hospital generally overcrowded and healthcare workers were overworked. Thus, most of our specialist or other healthcare workers would escape this hell hole for a much better paying job in private sector or in other country.

With good insurance, I mostly just pay the copay. I do not have good insurance.