The point I was trying to make was that cancer screening is expensive only because we have a highly inefficient healthcare system. (India was an example and their healthcare system has its own flaws) Sure we can point to PPP, but the reason why screening is that cheaper elsewhere is not ONLY because of PPP. Since you mentioned Germany, public health insurance covers early detection cancer screen every 3 years (2 for skin cancer) once you’re 35. The concern about “raising insurance costs significantly for everyone” in US only exists because of the way healthcare is set up here. It shouldn’t be that expensive to screen and it shouldn’t be that expensive to treat.

https://www.informedhealth.org/what-screening-tests-does-ger...

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lm28469 14 hours ago | parent [-]

> The concern about “raising insurance costs significantly for everyone” in US only exists because of the way healthcare is set up here.

100% definitely not lol, you need 2-3 months to see any kind of specialist in germany, 5-10 hours before someone sees you in the emergency room. The healthcare system of every western EU country is getting worse year after year because of the aging population, and on top of that we're taxed more, for shittier services.

I pay 800+ a month and it doesn't even include a yearly blood work unless I beg for it. Just look at your own link, in germany we screen for two cancers for each gender and it's already so fucking expensive, there are dozens of cancers you could theoretically screen for.

Skin cancer screening is actually a good example, we diagnose way more than before, and it has virtually no impact on death stats: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/melanoma-...

> More than 80,000 Americans are told each year they have melanoma skin cancer. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because the numbers are six times higher than they were 40 years ago.

> Overdiagnosis is one of the most harmful and costly problems in medicine

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darth_avocado 13 hours ago | parent [-]

> you need 2-3 months to see any kind of specialist in germany, 5-10 hours before someone sees you in the emergency room

That’s like pretty much the standard in the US as well? The unless you’re dying, you’re pretty much in an extremely long wait before you get seen in an emergency room, and then later get sent a $10k+ bill at the minimum. And there’s very few specialists that you can see immediately. In fact, for the majority of people, the step before “how fast can I see my specialist” is the “what specialists are in network”.

And as far as costs are concerned, I pay $2000/month for two people and it will only go up once we have a family of 4. This isn’t even the top tier plan, just a good enough one. Not to mention the thousands of dollars in deductible that you have to pay before the plan kicks in.

And we have an aging population as well. And that’s not going to change regardless of who’s paying for the care.

You’re being taxed for it, we’re paying out of pocket. The only difference is that you get shittier services when taxed, and here you don’t get the care if you can’t afford it. And if you end up in the ER and they have to treat you despite you not having the coverage, the taxpayers cover it anyway.

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dekhn 12 hours ago | parent [-]

In the US, depending on your health plan, the fastest way to see a doctor is Urgent Care. They will typically see you nearly immediately, and send you to the emergency room (with paperwork already handled). You will still be charged, although at least in my case, it's just a copay.

	▲	darth_avocado 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> In the US, depending on your health plan, the fastest way to see a doctor is Urgent Care Correct. It’s faster than getting your PCP to see you and it’s faster than Emergency Room (which GP was comparing the wait times for in other countries). But how much you wait really depends on a lot of factors: how many other patients are sick that day, what time of day are you calling, does the urgent care take appointments, how many urgent care centers are in your area etc. In my area if you call at 8 in the morning and the urgent care you are calling gives out appointments, you’ll probably be seen the same day. You’ll have to wait for your appointment, but once you show up for the appointment, you’ll be seen immediately. If you’re calling in later (after 10 in the morning) or walking in to a facility, you’ll probably be waiting at least 2-3 hours if you’re lucky. All of this of course comes with higher costs (not as much as ER though). The problem with urgent care though is that it’s more expensive if you’re running tests and is only designed to fill in for conditions that you’d ideally want your PCP to take care of, but can’t get an appointment for. True emergencies still go to ER. In fact some urgent cares don’t even have equipment like xray or sonography machines, so if you need one, you’d end up in ER anyway. (and get charged for both)