Has anyone had experience with Universal Health Care. Good,Bad or at all.Do you like it?

Question

I hear good and bad sides to this.I would love to hear some experiences with it.I hear you wait forever for major treatments and doctor appointments.Please tell me some truth to this program.I dont have a Political Agenda for this question I am just curious.

Answer 1

My wife is French and was in France when she became very ill.  She was taken to the hospital and immediately admitted.  There were no questions about who was going to pay or what sort of coverage she had.  The doctors provided the treatment that they felt was necessary without any thought to profit or keeping expenses down.

She was hospitalized for 2 months in a smaller city and received excellent care.  After she returned to the US, there were no questions about insurance or who was going to pay the bill.  She did get a bill for $12 for medication that she got in a follow up doctor's appointment.  

The best part of this experience was that she was able to focus on recovery rather than worrying about going broke from the experience.

At other times, she went to the doctor for minor problems.  She was able to get an appointment within 2 days and received good care.  I am not completely familiar with how the government pays for the care, but I do know that the system has been in place for many years and has remained solvent.  I'm not the kind of person who's going to say that everything is great about the French system, but my experiences with the system (emergency care and regular physician care) have been positive.  Thanks for the question!