As a follow European, having lived in several countries east-to-central-to-west, I concur.
Where did this myth that European healthcare is some sort of panacea originate?
Maybe from far away, if you squint really hard, through ideology-tinted lenses?
Or some viral study referring to 1990s Sweden?
You want to avoid the public healthcare system like the plague. GPs, dentists, specialists, palliative care… always look for the "private" option first. I scare-quote "private" because the industry is heavily regulated so that even private care must be half-public, in order to operate legally.
The resulting public system is depersonalized, bureaucratic, uncaring, underfunded (inevitable corruption and inefficiency of mind-boggling proportions rather than lack of funds as such). The system survives through heroic efforts of overworked & abused "public" doctors and nurses.
In my home EU country (CZ) the medical staff are either revolting [0] or resolving to good old bribery to restore the market conditions [1].
And CZ is just middle of the pack: most European countries have it worse, according to the Euro Health Consumer Index [2].
Thanks for providing your perspective! It’s incredibly frustrating to keep reading from people whose hospitals look like 5* hotels coupled with the Space Station praising a system they never used and have no idea how bad it can be.
Just because they perceive it as being free (although we are paying it through the nose in our monthly taxes) while theirs require a job and an insurance (which ours pretty much requires too).
Where did this myth that European healthcare is some sort of panacea originate?
Maybe from far away, if you squint really hard, through ideology-tinted lenses?
Or some viral study referring to 1990s Sweden?
You want to avoid the public healthcare system like the plague. GPs, dentists, specialists, palliative care… always look for the "private" option first. I scare-quote "private" because the industry is heavily regulated so that even private care must be half-public, in order to operate legally.
The resulting public system is depersonalized, bureaucratic, uncaring, underfunded (inevitable corruption and inefficiency of mind-boggling proportions rather than lack of funds as such). The system survives through heroic efforts of overworked & abused "public" doctors and nurses.
In my home EU country (CZ) the medical staff are either revolting [0] or resolving to good old bribery to restore the market conditions [1].
And CZ is just middle of the pack: most European countries have it worse, according to the Euro Health Consumer Index [2].
[0] https://www-seznamzpravy-cz.translate.goog/clanek/domaci-ziv...
[1] https://www-seznamzpravy-cz.translate.goog/clanek/domaci-ziv...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_Health_Consumer_Index