Ten years later, 2017, I now have a new replacement of my left knee. Why? Arthritis, of course. So, I’m now bionic!! No Charge! My seven physio treatments following surgery - No Cost! The three further treatments my physiotherapist requested of Alberta Health were approved, No Charge! My husband enjoyed having Kidney Stones so much that he was hospitalized 5 times. Rarely did they pass on their own. Sometimes they used a lazer to break them up. No Charge!!! Our children are grown and have their own families. My husband and I are seniors. Our medications never cost us more than $25.00/prescription, and usually much less. An exception would be a medication which is not listed under Alberta Health. If the drug is needed, by Doctor’s request, our Pharmacist can contact Alberta Health, explain the situation, and the drug could then be added as a medication I need. All our hospitalizations, ambulance rides, No Charge! We no longer pay into Alberta Health. We never had the need to buy extra health insurance. American Congress, it doesn’t get any better than this. Your families across America could pay into Health Care by the quarter, at a rate determined by the family’s size and ability to pay. The top 2% can easily pay their own way and not draw on the monies needed for low income, working poor, and middle class. As I sit here in Edmonton, AB, Canada, I just shake my head at the cruelty of the Republican Party and what it is willing to inflict on the American People. None of that is necessary, and it certainly is not humane. America is not, and never has been, a leader in the field of Health Care. You are waaay behind the other free democracies of Europe. You, Republicans need to work with the Democrats to come up with a Health Care Plan as Great as the one I enjoy in Edmonton. If Canada, with more land, but fewer people, can do this the USA Should be able to do it. SHOULD, but NOT WILLING to, because of your silly politics and politicians. You put yourselves in the way of your Constituents, and Cooperation. I Believe America CAN do this. If you WILL do this, is the question.

I sometimes think about returning to the USA to live but always reach the same negative conclusion that I do not wish to endure the unnecessary costs and complexity of the American medical system. It's a decisive consideration.

The answer to the question if every American has the right to Health Care is self-evident. It is clear that the our government is in the pockets of the pharmaceutical and insurance lobbies. The question we need to be addressing is why every everything to do with health care in the US is priced exponentially more than in other countries. We may not be able to get to this question, however, until we address the issue of campaign finance reform.

Health care is important in all countries of the world and not just in the United States and he shows human Governments towards their people and not only that but the State reduce health care disbursements and reduce chronic diseases and thinking people advises health programmes and will cost less and have to be Everybody can get it for free and there are a lot of programs you can use to live healthy and healthy food and I support health care because I can't stand seeing anyone lying on bed and cannot enjoy this beautiful life and man deserves to be used in the service of peoples development

I have zero health insurance and returning to the USA would be of no help.

My husband and I retired to Baja California, Mexico 10 years ago because we simply couldn't afford to retire in the US, especially since neither one of us had health insurance and had been without it for almost 20 years previously. We found that the Mexican socialist system of universal health care took care of all our needs. We have had two major operations here, performed skillfully by well-trained doctors, and paid cash for both of them - combined cost $18,000. Those operations in the US would have ruined us financially. We'd be bankrupt. Here's an important fact to note. There are millions of other senior citizens like us who have retired to Mexico and other Latin American countries. Every year we get our social security checks deposited in our bank accounts in the US. Then we go to the ATMs in these foreign countries and we withdraw that cash and spend it in these other countries, NOT IN THE UNITED STATES! Can you even begin to estimate how much of that money could be stimulating the American economy, instead of Mexico's? And most of it is because of the insanely high cost of medical care in the US. Add to that the low wages and poor prospects for owing your own home or retiring on an income that's affordable (the cost of food alone is at least 4 times higher in the US than in Mexico), and you have a truly nonfunctional system. It works great for the 1% at the top, but the rest of the country is going to hell - or to Mexico - and lest you think we are suffering here, let me assure you that we are living in a beautiful location that is much safer than our former home in the US. Not all stereotypes are true. That's our story. Thanks for listening.

Yes we have universal health care here in Ecuador and even the poorest is received at either the public hospital and health care system. In addition there is the Ecuadorian Social Security System (IESS) for those who voluntarily subscribe or those subscribed through their employers. On paper it is great - until you have to use the system! Although there is some level of care for everyone there are serious problems too! There are shortages of doctors, nurses and administrative staff and since there is a parallel system of lucrative private hospitals and doctors operating private clinics, the good, well trained medical and laboratory personnel tend to migrate to these private institutions in the major cities like Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca, leaving smaller and rural areas without good private care nor with decent government operated facilities. So while I applaud a government run health care system providing services for ALL, all the time, without a parallel private system, it needs to be universal, efficient, employing the best medical and administrative people. Will this be possible? Look at the Veterans Administration for an answer to this question! So if we can't run the veteran's administration correctly, how will we do it for the entire nation? So it is not so simple, requires a lot of planning, mammoth resources, a steady supply of well trained medical and administrative personnel and huge outlays for hospitals and related medical infrastructure, unless we simply nationalize existing private facilities and convert them into government institutions. The transition from what we have today to a public system will be a complicated and difficult task.

My family moved to Canada May 29,1975, due to my husband’s work. We thought we’d be here 10 years, it’s now 42 years and counting! Several things helped to keep us here besides my husband’s job. The most important influence was the healthcare program. We were a family of 6, with 2 boys, and 2 girls. Immediately prior to moving to Canada we had formally adopted our second daughter. That very summer we discovered that Beth, (2nd daughter), wasn’t hearing us as well as our older children. We took her to the hospital and the doctor determined Beth needed tubes put into her eardrums to release pressure buildup on the inside of the ear. This happened twice. Well, that was a new experience! NO CHARGE! That floored us. We paid for every little and big thing medically in the USA. Every quarter we paid, as a family, about $130.00 for Healthcare. My hysterectomy cost me $5.00 for the paperwork! Both girls had tonsil/adenoid-ectomies - No Charge! I was lying in a hospital bed recovering from surgery to my right shoulder, (arthritis), when my oldest son, in high school, walked into my room to tell me he, too, was in the hospital recovering from an emergency appendectomy! He had driven himself to the hospital due to the pain!! No Charge for either of us. Not to be outdone, our second son eventually had arthroscopic knee surgery twice, but several years apart. No Charge. My turn to have a total right knee replacement due to arthritis. No Charge! Physic was also covered by Alberta Health

My monthly premium, even with additional services riders, is approximately 2/3's the cost of my premiums as a U.S. Federal government retiree. I have an annual deductible, but no copays for professional visits, medications, and/or diagnostics. Overall, my cost of care is approximately 1/2 of what it was in the U.S. I recently had a total knee replacement with all the pre-care, surgery and 4-day hospital stay, and post-surgical rehab covered through my insurance premium--no extra costs!

We live in Canada and are so lucky to have the health care we enjoy. It isn't free as we've paid for it on a weekly basis throughout our working lives. We are retired now and can still visit the doctor as needed. My husband recently made such a visit as he was experiencing periodic pains in his chest. He was scheduled for a cardiac stress test almost immediately at no cost to us. I dropped him off and picked him up 3 hours later. When he got home he looked this test up as he was curious as to what it might cost in the US and found that it would be $3-5,000 or more depending on where in the US he was. I have no idea if any health plan in the US would cover this test or what the co-pay would be if it did and I'm glad to be here where I don't have to worry about the cost when testing is needed.

I have osteoporosis, and have received free care for two broken wrists and total hip replacement for a fractured femur. Our only out of pocket expense was the cost of an ambulance ride to hospital. X rays, orthopaedic geriatric and physiotherapy consultations and associated hospitalization has all been paid for throw provincial health care. My husband has received cardiac care and consultation, hernia repair, and other routine medical care at no personal cost. There is no way we could afford to return to the USA in our late 80's.

My residence is in Switzerland, where I was diagnosed several years ago with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, for which I've gotten superb care at what is probably the best hospital and with some of the best doctors in a country with sky-high medical standards. I've had lots of tests; antibody treatment; surgery; many scans and X-rays; and radiation treatment. All this isn't cheap. It's the first time in my adult life I've needed sustained medical care. And my perfectly ordinary, basic Swiss health insurance has paid for almost all of it without a fuss. Wait -- there was one fuss: my wife and I spend considerable time in France, but my Swiss insurer at first didn't want to pay for my regular treatments there, which would have either trapped us in Switzerland or cost me a serious amount, more than just pennies. But with a little help we discovered that Swiss law requires them to pay for those treatments in France (where, incidentally, they're a lot cheaper!), so we weren't trapped in Switzerland. I know that my care is covered by my basic insurance, and I can switch insurers if I want, so although I still have the problem of cancer (along with some other things related to being a mature age, like cataracts -- now solved by the standard surgery), I don't have the problem of worrying whether I can afford to pay. My insurance, by the way, costs $435 per month, and luckily I can afford that. Just for your information: my antibody treatments cost about $3400 each in Switzerland; the identical treatments about $960 each in France; and in the USA a few years ago, $11,000-$18,000 depending on where. Same brand-name medicine, same method. What's the lesson here? I never cease being aware of the injustice when others can't afford care, or may not even be able to get to it. I'm damned lucky. I'm still alive. And my T-shirt says so.

I showed up in the UK on a Friday. Owing to the fact that Europe is the birthplace of the black death, the following Thursday I got sick. I got really sick. Like 104 degree fever shaking uncontrollably for hours sick. Like, better go to a hospital sick. As we all know Britain has a National Health Service, and as we also all know it's a hellish nightmare of bureaucracy and care-rationing that produces sub-standard results after long delays. Except that's complete BS. I hadn't even been in the country for a week before I needed the NHS. I didn't have a National Insurance Number yet, I didn't have my supplemental insurance through my employer set up, I was just some random foreigner coming in off the street saying "I don't feel good" and hoping for the best. It started with a phone call to a 24 hour number set up as a sort of remote triage. Report your symptoms, get some suggestions from a trained nurse. In my case they said "yikes, you need to see a doctor right away. Your nearest GP is just a few blocks away. All you need is your passport and they'll get you set up." At least I think they said that. My ability to understand Scottish was pretty terrible for the first 6 months we lived here. Anyway, I showed up with nothing but a passport and a fever and sure enough, within 2 hours I had been seen by a doctor, prescribed medication, had my prescription filled, and took my first round of antibiotics all for a grand total of zero dollars. Zero. I did not pay a single cent. Or pence. Whatever. "But you did pay, in the form of taxes" to which my response is, our effective tax rate is almost identical here to what it was back home. Like, within 2%. And because my wife and I both have complicated medical histories (she had cancer and I had renal failure, both in our teens) our cost of living is actually dramatically lower than back home since we're not paying outrageous sums of money for healthcare. I don't understand why so many Americans accept as canon that Single Payer is a byword for bureaucratic dysfunction. The reality is that the NHS, though undoubtedly bureaucratic, is an absolute marvel. We could have this. We could also live in country where sick people visit a doctor and get better because of course they do. Single-payer is legit, you guys. The NHS is the real deal. And remember, the NHS is carrying around a half century of accumulated legislative baggage, not to mention complications from devolution and EU membership. If America set up its own single-payer system we could do an even more amazing job. This is the great fight of our time. Health care is a right. And anyone who tries to reduce this argument to some weird take about "so you're going to enslave doctors?" is a dishonest jerk. Ask doctors in the UK if they're slaves. Ask doctors in Canada, or Australia, or France, or Sweden. Anyone who tries to make any argument involving the words "free market" is either a complete moron, or else they're lying to you because they think you are. Health care is your right as a human being. America is smart enough, wealthy enough, and compassionate enough to figure out a way to guarantee that right for all our citizens.

I grew up in California but left the US with my New Zealand husband in 1992 for a 'few years' overseas. I have since lived in Germany, the UK, New Zealand, France and now Australia. Two of our three sons have a serious chronic illness which means we have a need for excellent, reliable and accessible health care. Fellow Americans have often asked me when I have returned for visits why we haven't moved back to the US, given our kids' significant health issues. The inaccessible and non-patient friendly US health care system has been one of the major disincentives for us when we have considered a move back to America. The rhetoric about long waiting times and poorer quality health care overseas has not been something we have experienced. I can't help but think that when Americans finally get a proper, universally available and affordable health system they will realise that they have suffered without this for far too long. The rest of the world understands this. Health care is a human right. It enables everyone to have a chance at a full and healthy life. We need this type of health care system in the US. There is nothing to fear!

I love universal healthcare because ... as a American citizen firstly studying abroad and now, having earned my PhD, working as a university lecturer in the UK, I have zero health care in the US. In the UK, I was seen twice at Moorfields Eye Hospital and more than seven times in hospital under the NHS (including once by the xray department) without a single co-pay charge. This meant that I didn't have to worry about how I was going to pay for my treatment as well as worrying about an ongoing condition itself.

I first came to Mexico in 1959 for a six week art course at the Institute Allende in San Miguel--and here I still am. I was out of Mexico for seven years once living and wo

With health care under attack in the United States, we are now having to come to grips with Americans living abroad becoming health care exiles, not only because of pre-existing conditions, but because of quality and cost of health care overall. Jim and Jane P. are both health care exiles. They moved to Germany for work twenty years ago (while in their 50’s) and decided to retire here. However, like many Americans, most of their assets are in the United States as well as their home. While they are proud Americans, they cannot live there. Four years after retiring, Jane was diagnosed with Castleman’s Disease, a rare autoimmune disease affecting the lymph system. They were informed that there were just 2 specialists in the world who could help, one being a German-trained Dutch doctor in Little Rock, Arkansas. The German health care law states that if they cannot treat a disease in Germany, they have to send you where it can be treated. The German system paid for both to go to the U.S. (flight and accommodation) and Medicare paid for the 3-month hospital stay. According to U.S. regulations, Jane could not stay more than 3 months in the hospital as her treatment could technically be done as out-patient. While the cost of the experimental drug was $10, the cost of administering was $10,000 (due to profit and malpractice insurance) per treatment. Jim and Jane would have had to pay this out-of-pocket had they stayed in the U.S. after the 3 months. They returned to Germany where Jane went through two years of chemotherapy (total out-of-pocket excluding monthly insurance premiums was around €3,000 as opposed to an estimated $100-200K in the U.S.) Jane has been cancer-free for the past four years. Jim had a heart attack last year and needed a triple by-pass. His total out-of-pocket cost was €310 for ten days in hospital and three weeks in rehab. Prescription drugs for blood pressure are limited to €10 for a 3-month refill. Their monthly insurance premiums are 15.7% of their gross income with a cap in Germany of €700 per month. Jim is actively lobbying the Senate with his proposal for fully-funded healthcare. The response so far has been null, which means that we all need to step up our efforts to help our Congressmen and Senators understand that this is the “art of the possible” not a pipe dream.

I've lived in Germany since 1999. In 2006 I was working in Miami for business when I was diagnosed with pericarditis and had to have a surprise heart surgery. I was 36 at the time and thought I had a bad cold. I was at the hospital almost a week and the costs were over $100,000.00. I repeatedly called my German insurance company, and they insured me that I was covered for up to 3 months outside of Germany. I was instructed to provide all of the hospital bills and informed that I'd be reimbursed, but that I'd be responsible for paying the hospital back. I returned to Germany, submitted the reams of bills and sure enough over 80k EUR was in my checking account(!) 3 weeks later. That was the easy part. It took me over 6 weeks to actually pay the bills. The process was byzantine and there was very little transparency or logic to all of the charges. Collections agencies were calling me, and when I snapped back, clearly not intimidated and irritated that TRYING TO PAY had become a full time job, they dropped their bullying schtick. It really made my heart to go out to those who couldn't afford care. An Illness like the one I had is terrifying and life changing, how cruel to have to suffer a personal financial catastrophe on top of such an experience. FIX THIS!

I am now a dual French-US citizenship after moving to France 22 years ago. I have benefited from only quality care in France for myself​ and my family and have never had to worry about the cost. What I've seen and experienced in the US during these years has made me very grateful to live in France. ​During one vacation in the US, I got a terrible ear infection in the evening and was in unbearable pain. The only option at that time of day was to go to the emergency room, but I knew how much that would cost, so I accepted my father's offer of some ​very strong prescription pain medication that he was taking for his back. The pain went away instantly and I was high as a kite! The next day, I went to a clinic and ended up spending $150 for the visit, antibiotics and decongestants. This would have cost a quarter of that sum in France, IF I'd had to pay everything out of pocket, and I would not have had to weigh the risk of taking medication that was not prescribed to me against the financial strain of an emergency room visit. As a family, we had several other experiences during US vacations where we did not seek medical attention due to the cost. My son had a boating accident that ripped open the palm of his hand. We certainly would have taken him to get stitches in France, but decided to take care of it ourselves (luckily my sister is a registered nurse). My husband once had heart attack symptoms, and my sister again came to the rescue and snuck him into a back door of her office to give him an EKG, after we had gone to the hospital and were greeted with a price list detailing what we would have to pay for any treatment he got. Now we take out extra insurance when we go to the US, but the cost of what we would have to pay if anything happened is still a concern. I don't think anyone in the US goes to the emergency room without worrying about the cost. Here in France, my health comes first. Not having to worry about how to afford health treatment should not be a luxury, but unfortunately it is for many Americans. How can people pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness if they can't afford the medical care they need to stay healthy?

I have Crohn's disease and am currently enjoying my first unmedicated remission (2 years so far!) since being ill for 20 years. My husband recently expressed his fear that my health might get that bad again. When I shared his fear with my doctor, the response "you'll likely never be that ill again" took me by surprise and my response was incredibly emotional. When I first became ill, I didn't have health insurance. I was being raised by a single mum and I hid my illness as long as I could until it became emergent. My father lived in a nearby state and put me on his insurance so that I was able to get care, stay in hospital for a month and have 3 life-saving surgeries in 9 months. That was me sorted until I aged out of my father's insurance, which resulted in my ignoring my illness until it got too bad, going to the ER, being admitted to hospital and given temporary medication and having medical bills too high to pay and signing on to state aid to pay the bills. Flaring that often and that hard as well as not having a relationship with one caregiver meant that my body was irrevocably damaged. A little over 2 years ago, I had a major surgery to remove the damage and outfit me with a permanent ostomy. This means that I can no longer move back to the US, as I need a regular supply of ostomy products, which can easily be covered with health insurance, but which would quickly become costly without. I know that my quality of life and care were only possible with insurance and a relationship with one doctor monitoring my health. This is what I tell my representatives when I call them from here in Zürich, Switzerland.