Today I read an article from Daily Kos about living uninsured in Japan. The author, and American, has been living in Japan for the last five years, and for four of these years he has been uninsured. The audience for this commentary is mainly the audience of Daily Kos: politically interested liberal technophiles. However this article in particular applies to all Americans as we debate the future of our own health care system in the U.S. Although bloggers have less credibility than newspaper journalists, Daily Kos is one of the most credible online blogs in existence. And thus anything published on the Daily Kos is sufficiently credible.
The main argument that the author has to show that our health care system needs improvement is that he paid as much for his visit to the doctor without insurance as many people in the United States pay with insurance. This is very counterintuitive and astounding to me! He also disproves the fear that most Americans have over foreign healthcare (waiting in line) by stating that it took less than an hour from when he walked into the doctors office until he had his meds at the pharmacy.
I had a similar experience two years ago when I had to go to the Emergency Room in Germany. My entire visit, including a local anesthetic, cost me only $40 without insurance. That same visit in the United States would have cost me a $100 co-pay.
This commentary shows that we have much room for improvement and that healthcare is a financial problem that can be solved.
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