> The main difference is the whole going bankrupt thing.
US healthcare really does seem to want to bankrupt people. As an example, most insurance doesn't cover dental care, which is (in)famously one of the parts of the body that needs the most maintenance.
My insurance doesn't cover my ADHD meds because I have to take more than 1 pill a day. $80/mo for the rest of my life if I want to treat a disorder. (My case is pretty bad, too.)
I (hopefully?!) have decades of life left, and $80/mo is almost $1,000/year. Not super cheap. I actually can't afford this on my own income and have to rely on a family member to help.
Most work plans include a separate dental plan, for which I am thankful. However, near worst-case scenarios for dental issues are comparatively affordable ordeals. My routine dental care is covered for me, but it's affordable either way. I had to have a root canal and crown, which would have been annoying to pay for, but certainly not something that would bankrupt me. If I remember correctly, it was in the ballpark of $2k in the DC metro area. It's still possible to set money aside for possible dental issues and self-insure.
Because dental costs are more reasonable, insurance premiums don't tend to be very high and can be purchased outside of your main health plan. If primary medical costs were more on par with dental costs (as it probably did once upon a time, when the offerings were much more primitive), insurance wouldn't be such a big issue.
US healthcare really does seem to want to bankrupt people. As an example, most insurance doesn't cover dental care, which is (in)famously one of the parts of the body that needs the most maintenance.
My insurance doesn't cover my ADHD meds because I have to take more than 1 pill a day. $80/mo for the rest of my life if I want to treat a disorder. (My case is pretty bad, too.)
I (hopefully?!) have decades of life left, and $80/mo is almost $1,000/year. Not super cheap. I actually can't afford this on my own income and have to rely on a family member to help.