> The quality of service is low but higher than in major metro areas in US
This is always my question when I hear about service being "great" or "terrible" - relative to what? I honestly have no idea if my healthcare is "good" or "bad", because I've only experienced one system. I have plenty of complaints, but there are also lots of things that don't go wrong that could.
People complain about lines in other countries, but me/my family has had waits of 2-6 months getting appts for new ob/gyn, dermatologists, rheumatologists, sleep specialists, etc. Mental health experiences have been worse until we stopped trying to do it through insurance at all and just ate the costs. Involved treatments (e.g. at a hospital, even outpatient) involve multiple, pricey bills.
So when you say "quality is low", what does that MEAN?
I am assessing it in two ways. One is comparing it to other services: do they have modern equipment? Is bureaucracy a burden? Do people working in those services generally act like decent human beings? Are doctors/technicians competent? Is it easy to imagine a service at higher quality and how much would it cost? Using those criteria I think medical services in my country are low quality, especially the public option.
Another way is comparing to other countries. I have family living in US (both immigrants from different countries, now US citizens, having children there) and very close friends living in Switzerland. Both lived in Poland for many years and often visit so we are all in good position to make comparisons. Both US and Poland suck in comparison to Switzerland in all imaginable respects. They comparison between US and Poland comes out about equal at least according to us.
This is always my question when I hear about service being "great" or "terrible" - relative to what? I honestly have no idea if my healthcare is "good" or "bad", because I've only experienced one system. I have plenty of complaints, but there are also lots of things that don't go wrong that could.
People complain about lines in other countries, but me/my family has had waits of 2-6 months getting appts for new ob/gyn, dermatologists, rheumatologists, sleep specialists, etc. Mental health experiences have been worse until we stopped trying to do it through insurance at all and just ate the costs. Involved treatments (e.g. at a hospital, even outpatient) involve multiple, pricey bills.
So when you say "quality is low", what does that MEAN?