Broke my arm last week and had to spend an evening in the emergency room. was operated on a week later to remove a big pice of bone that had been broken of, all in all I paid 600 Swedish kronor or about 70 dollars

You son of a bitch! I broke the bone in my right big toe and paid about 3,000 US dollars just to be told to tape my big toe to the next toe for it to heal.

Why did you pay 600,-? Did you go to a private hospital?

In Germany I've broke once my arm, had two operations with 3 days in hospital each and payed 0. So I don't know the problem

YoU pAy fOr hEaLtHcArE.

In Taiwan, It will cost you 20 USD for ER, 150 for the surgery and 66 for 2 night at the hospital, total 236

People told you not to do a masturbation marathon but you didn't want to listen.

Fake, you dont pay for shit like that in Europe.

What a poor country that must be, that a hospital bill with that amount of weight only carries 60 Dollars.I mean in the us, the richest country in the world, the bill is a fair amount of 100k. But thats already a good price

I live in the same system, so we must include that we were paying the mandatory health insurance for all our adult lifes.... Also... Here in hungary you would not pay at all, for healthcare if you go to state hospital But my employer or I was paying about 22 euro every single month, whenever i use healthcare or not... and that payment is not refundable You can choose private care, but emergencies are most probably handled by state funded ambulances and hospitals... and it is all "free" whether you struck your hand with a hammer and need an xray and a little plaster or you crashed with a car and you need major surgery and months and months of hospital care... All free from the common bugdet every working adult puts together The state system is not perfect, mostly subpar and obsolete machines, the doctors are underpaid... but for most basic care, it works!

as OP (other posters) comment, healthcare is free in many countries - and we don't necessarily have higher tax rates as a result. Just as the world is learning that QE is not the boogieman, maybe free health care isn't the boogieman either: https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=https%3a%2f%2fclick.e.economist.com%2f%3fqs%3de08ce88ecd4b8b6e23c2064d8f6f5309d4f5487dca9c6111705fe53e27fb8a8f85fd87e04a0f168df3f49a7eae56ac410527522aaa7e1c4c1765529a1cfe675a&umid=c84b4fb2-d52f-4e50-b856-356cdf9c2371&, auth=9c53320a86c408a524caa981ac41bc7dbea78b05-7b0c06f8d5bb94b6bfeba513cf36a40eedf4d4e4; https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=https%3a%2f%2fclick.e.economist.com%2f%3fqs%3de08ce88ecd4b8b6e4d819cc816b2fab68cb46750f9565703e098bcd5b6177439cae05b1cd55fe6650cdde97aaf59e9fc575076673ab44798fccb21e7461ece3a&umid=c84b4fb2-d52f-4e50-b856-356cdf9c2371&auth=9c53320a86c408a524caa981ac41bc7dbea78b05-ef643c67d8ab534b060a3187f3a952c247acc5e4