Health Care in the US vs health care in France, from someone who knows because he has experienced first hand both systems
I understand those in the US are listening to heated debates about healthcare, reform, and “socialized” medicine. I won’t add another boring polemic on the subject, I’ll just tell a little story of getting sick while on vacation, going to a doctor and a pharmacy, and not waiting in line or paying special fees for not seeing my “primary” doctor.
I live in France. I am covered by the French sécurité sociale. When I visit the doctor I call my doctor and make an appointment. Usually I can get an appointment within 2-3 days. It is at his private office, not some imaginary government run clinic with lines 300 weeks long.
I pay 22€ for a doctor visit, 17€ is reimborsed by Secu, directly sent to my account within 2-3 days of my visit. No forms to fill out, no hoping my insurance company is going to fully cover something, at the doctors office I give him my carte vitale, he swipes it, and all the necessary info is there. If I kept my mutuelle, private insurance supplement, it would reimborse another 4€ bringing the cost of going to the doctor to 1€.
For my prescriptions I go to any pharmacy I want, not some imaginary “government run” pharmacy with lines 300 weeks long. In fact, the pharmacies in France are really nice, clean, efficient, friendly, helpful, PROFESSIONAL, not like Walgreen, Walmart, Rite Aid style US pharmacies.
I show my carte vitale and then I only pay the amount not covered by Secu. My doctor already knows which medications are reimboursed or not so I generally know in advance how much it will cost. Most medications seem to be covered, unless you have serious illnesses, I have rarely paid for a prescription. On top of this, since the system is not rigged by pharmaceutical companies, everything that is not covered costs less than it does in the states, example with real numbers later.
SO, I went to the Atlantic Coast last week for the week. I had a terrible stomach, gastro, flu, sickness thing. No idea what it was, but I was sick all week. Last Tuesday I decided to go to the doctor, I didn’t know how this was going to work because I was so used to having to see my primary doctor and if not then paying more for seeing someone else. Here’s what happened.
I went to the local pharmacy to explain my symptoms and ask for advice, yes they actually give it in French pharmacies. I took some over the counter medicine they recommended but the next day I still felt bad. I went back to ask for a doctor recommendation.
They gave me the name of a doctor, located just above the pharmacy. It was during his office hours where no appointments are needed. I went into his private office, not some “government run” clinic with lines 300 weeks long. He saw me in less than 5 mintues of waiting. He asked a bunch of questions and prescribed some medicine. He swiped my carte vitale, I paid 22€, and went to the pharmacy to pick up the medicine.
1 day later the 17€ was back in my account. I didn’t have to explain why I didn’t go to my primary doctor, pay more, or fill out some form that I had to submit to my insurance company and pray they cover a routine doctor visit, all of which I have had to do when i lived in the US and had “private” insurance. Really a routine doctor visit, it just happened while I was on vacation, why shouldn’t it be treated the same as a regular visit? Why would it cost more? Why should it be more complicated?
So back to the pharmacy. He prescribed 4 medications for me. I went back to the pharmacy, just under his office, waited like 3 minutes in line. When the pharmacist brought all the medications to me, really another 3 minutes, not that excruciating 45 minute minimum wait in US pharmacies, she was a little worried. She said to me, 3 are covered and 1 is not, would you still like the one that is not covered? It made me worry, thinking about how expensive medicine can be, but I was really sick and said yes. I paid a grand total of 8€, 4 prescriptions, and 1 that is not reimbursed at all by Secu. It was any old pharmacy, I could have gone anywhere. I gave my carte vitale and that was it. I didn’t have to submit any forms to be reimbursed, I just paid the difference, 8€.
Really, going to the doctor, while sick, while on vacation, in a different city, region, and not referred by my primary doctor, and getting prescriptions, took all less than 30 minutes, involved NO special paperwork, in fact none at all, and no special permissions, no complications, AND it cost exactly the same as it would have cost had I been in Toulouse visiting my own doctor and regular pharmacy. For the French this is only normal, for people used to the US style of things, not so normal.
This is the basic coverage all people in France have, employed or not. Please stop trying to conjure up images of Soviet Style waiting lines and “government run” facilities. In countries where healthcare works well, that is not what happens.
I am self employed and do not earn a lot of money. I pay a percentage of my income in taxes to pay for my healthcare. Honestly, I don’t think it is that much more than I paid in the US, if you count the taxes I paid, and the cost of the health insurance plan, and the little expenses of having such an inefficient healthcare system. It may be even less.
I can see where earning a lot of money would significantly increase the taxes you pay here in France. That I think is the difference. In the US everyone thinks they will be rich some day, and when they are they wouldn’t want to pay so much in taxes, so to protect their possibly rich futures, they don’t want to do anything to increase taxes now. I guess it doesn’t matter that most of them will never be rich like they imagined so they should have opted for something sensible like healthcare. People constantly act against their interests, why should this still surprise me?
I don’t know if this is still a part of the debate, but when this debate last happened, I remember hearing “I don’t want a suit to decide for me”, well I’d prefer a person in a doctor’s suit making decisions for me than a person in a business suit making decisions for me.
Before demonizing a system, it might be a good idea to know how it really works.
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Have just discovered the world of blogs and think yours is great. I hope you manage to reach some fellow Americans on health care reform. Et pourtant, Michael said it all so well, why did nobody believe him?
Well I wouldn’t hold my breath about reaching many Americans. Nobody believed Michael because people can’t possibly believe that something is not the best in the US. Thanks for stopping by.