This is misleading. Also in Europe people need to pay for healthcare - it’s just that the costs are lower and more equally distributed. It does happen that a foreigner is treated for free (should the hospital decided that billing is too much hassle, but that happens verrry rarely).
this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2025
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in France and the UK I'm quite sure you're treated for free, or I'm living in a fairytale, which is possible also
This is just off the top of my head, so the numbers are approximate.
In France it's (of course) a bit complicated in that you often pay first and then get partially reimbursed by the state system. If I go to my doctor and get a prescription, I'll pay about 20€ for the consultation + about 8€ for the medicine, no matter what it is, but will have about 70% of that paid back to my bank account later. If I were to go the hospital and have to stay overnight, I'll get charged a considerable amount for the treatment, medication and the hospital bed (and have that also partially reimbursed). However, there's a sliding scale of cosmetic to serious treatments that are reimbursed at progressively higher rates. This means you pay more for trivial stuff and less for important stuff up to life-threatening illnesses (e.g. cancer) for which the treatment is free (I think, I've not had one).
I pay around 8% of my annual income in health tax. Most people pay extra for private medical insurance (around 50€ a month, typically) in order to have all costs fully covered. The insurance companies are strictly regulated and pay out. I had a tooth pulled and it cost me 8€. If I want to replace it with an implant, it's 800€.
France is complicated.
In the UK there's usually no charge at all for a consultation or hospital treatment. Prescriptions are about £9 per item, no matter what the drug is. I pay approximately 11% of my annual income in health tax. Some people still pay extra for private health insurance in order to get preferential treatment and increase the inequality.
The above applies to residents, not to visitors unless their country has special agreement with the UK or French governments.
source: I've lived in both countries and I've almost bored myself into a coma by typing all this unnecessary detail.
Prescriptions are free in Scotland.
I am from Germany, I was billed like 700€ for a small checkup in a hospital in France because of an infection in my mouth after an operation. They first couldn't find me, because they didn't write my address right. so I had a collection agency writing mean letters to me, wanting more money.
I gave it to my healthcare provider and they sorted it out and paid it without questions ✨
yep okay... so I mistook not denying care with free treatment. The letters were in French I guess?
Fairytale it is.
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although technically correct, compared with the incredibly overpriced and near criminal US system, the Europe health insurance systems might as well be free.
Americans don't have health care. We have health insurance. Think about your car insurance vs a warranty. That's the difference. We have a system in place that we want to be something it was never designed to be.
Its a wonderful system.
A doctor with three decades of experience tells me I need a procedure. And a fresh-face college kid working at an insurance company, to keep their numbers down, tell me I don't need it.
Either way, I pay $6k in cash every year before anything really kicks in and that's beautiful.
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I'm sure Trump would say that it was because the USA subsidized all your services because Americans created healthcare and everyone else is stealing it.
And all of that collective real cost to administer is a tiny fraction of what an American would pay not only out of pocket, but also the monthly premiums both they and their employer pay to the insurance company. Who will initially deny the claim just as a matter of policy, regardless of whether it's covered or submitted correctly.
Then they will deny again because the ID code they used to bill it isn't "right" or it supposedly falls into some bullshit loophole documented nowhere. So both the patient and doctor's staff have to spend dozens of hours collectively wasting their time fighting to get something simple actually handled like it should be.