return2ozmaNon-Americans, what's it like when you're sick and need to go to the doctor?
CatladyXin my city (southeastern Brazil) we have two facilities for healthcare: the emergency center (UPA - unidade de pronto atendimento, emergency medical unit) and the family health center (UBS - unidade básica de saúde, basic health unit)
at the UBS I can see a doctor or a nurse, get prescriptions, get referred to specialists and exams/tests, IST tests, and so forth, if I’m not in meed of urgent care
at the UPA I can be treated (rather) quickly if I’m in an emergency
a few weeks ago my uncle had a heart attack. it was nothing serious, thankfully. we called the ambulance and in 5 minutes they were here, he was treated quickly, sent to another city nearby for emergency catheterism and angioplasty, and he paid a total amount of zero reais for everything
I love SUS (sistema universal de saúde - universal healthcare system)
gigiocorAnd if you really want to pay for that appointment, you can schedule one for R$ 50~200 (more or less 8~40 dollars) depending on the place you go.
depending on the doctor it will be more like 300-600… and healthcare insurance is not cheap, and not widely available from employers