US Healthcare Cost Comparisons

Discussions focus on the high costs of medical care in the US compared to other countries, with users advocating medical tourism to places like the UK, India, and Germany for cheaper treatments and sharing personal stories of exorbitant US bills.

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e.g www.chr US AU chrisstucchio.com GP EU i.e U.S SEVEN medical healthcare hospital cost insurance tourism private health treatment insurer

Sample Comments

cess11 Jan 19, 2026 View on HN

I'd wager it's less expensive than US medical services.

vidarh Oct 1, 2018 View on HN

It's low enough in the UK, that if I lived in the US and found myself needing to pay privately for something non-urgent, I'd probably fly to the UK or elsewhere to do it. There are in fact several private London hospitals that market themselves to foreign patients.

Sven7 Nov 18, 2014 View on HN

I dont think so. Have you heard of medical tourism - the great equalizer.

thehias Jan 18, 2024 View on HN

It is a shame that medical bills can force you to change your way of life in the USA. In Germany or similiar countries with universal healthcare your cost would have been alomost 0$/€.

herodotus Jul 11, 2021 View on HN

What I learned the hard way is that non-us citizens who need minor medical help should go to a drop-in clinic, not a hospital. In the few times I have done that, the fees were reasonable. The one time I went to a hospital to treat an infection in my thumb, I had to pay over $5,000. The same procedure in Canada would have cost me $50.

tyfon Apr 5, 2017 View on HN

I can understand inconvenient, but expensive?Even in the US where you actually have to pay for medical stuff, it can't be more than $10 or so for a quick consultation?

Klinky Dec 8, 2022 View on HN

The private insurer is 2x the cost. You don't think people travel outside the US to receive care? Medical tourism is alive and well in the US due to the cost burdens for-profit healthcare requires.

rogerbinns Jun 4, 2013 View on HN

Those weren't your options. As with most things health related in the US, someone else was paying (the "insurer" in this case). Given the choice between you paying $2,400 in the US (and the insurer paying an amount you don't see or care about), or you going to the UK and paying 3,000GBP plus accommodation and tickets, I'll bet you pick the former.It is in the insurer's interest for you to go somewhere cheaper as it saves them (not you) money. There are various press articles about this hap

rasmafazi Jun 19, 2017 View on HN

That is mostly a problem in the USA. You could get your healthcare in places like the Philippines and save 95% of the bill.

dguaraglia Sep 11, 2014 View on HN

Yes! I don't know about India, but if you went to Argentina you could probably get treated for pretty much anything for that amount.I have my own story about how shitty the US health care/insurance system is, but I've told it before.