Mastodawn

John Leonard 1d ago

Qasim Rashid, Esq.

No random immigrants don't get free healthcare in the United States. Americans don't even get free healthcare in the United States. Who do MAGAs think we are?
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Belgium
Brunei
Canada
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Singapore
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
UAE
UK?

Nah. This is the USA. We don't provide health—we let insurance corps exploit it.

@QasimRashid I live in Switzerland. There is no free healthcare here. What do you mean by „free“?

me_valentijn 1d ago

@mcm_63 @QasimRashid
It means everyone gets healthcare, even if they can't afford it. Which is what happens in Switzerland.

@me_valentijn @QasimRashid true.

@QasimRashid
That's a heavily redacted list.

alec timmerman 🇪🇺🔒🌍📱🌳📰1d ago

@QasimRashid @veranderwens No free healthcare in the Netherlands also. But it is affordable, and unconditional.

Bart Veldhuizen 🚀1d ago

@altim @QasimRashid @veranderwens indeed, this list surprised me too. To add to what you wrote: in the Netherlands, everyone is required to have a health insurance, and after a small yearly deductible all our care is covered. People don’t go bankrupt from hospital bills in civilized/developed countries (which, I’m very sorry to say, the USA is not anymore).

canleaf08 ⌘ ✅1d ago

@altim @QasimRashid @veranderwens Except for trans people. The condition there is “patience”.

Glad you put a question mark after UK as our beautiful NHS is already half sold to US corporations. 😖😓

MarjorieR 1d ago

@grb090423 @QasimRashid if you are an immigrant in the UK what healthcare you get free at point of use varies.
Generally you can get primary healthcare (such as treatment for accidents) but for secondary healthcare (such as a pre-planned hip replacement) you may have to pay.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/immigration/benefits-services-and-your-immigration-status/check-if-your-immigration-status-lets-you-get-free-healthcare/
If you come here on a visa you are also asked to pay an annual surcharge of about £1000 (less for students and children) on top of your other visa costs.

Most NHS healthcare in the UK is paid for out of general taxation.
Some things you have to pay for, such as drug prescriptions (but only in England), though you can limit with pre-pay (£115/year) and there are exceptions for chronic conditions.
And NHS dental treatment (though it is still cheaper than private, if you can find an NHS dentist).
And for most you now have to pay for your flu (if <65) and COVID (if <75) vaccinations.

Check if your immigration status lets you get free healthcare

Find out about charges for NHS treatment if you're from outside the UK, check if you can get free NHS treatment and which treatment is always free.

Citizens Advice

McNadoMD 1d ago

@QasimRashid bravo. Had to scroll. A+. 10/10. No notes.

LaughingMaus 1d ago

@QasimRashid We certainly do pay for our insurance in Germany (2025 17-18%). How would "free healthcare" work when doctors, nurses and people who work in their offices and in hospitals and labs have to buy their groceries and put gas in their cars too? The important difference to the US system is that the German one will take a noticeable percentage from your income every month but medical bills, much less catastrophic illness or disability won't send you to bankruptcy court.

Steve Atkins 1d ago

@QasimRashid I live in Ireland. No free healthcare here either.

It’s a better system than the US in many ways, significantly worse in a few others.

Irenerd 🐌1d ago

@lluad @QasimRashid Brasil with the SUS everyone on brazilian territory is covered

It’s no perfect but I had my knee surgery totally covered by the Sistema universal de saude when i lived there as student

MárciaW 1d ago

@irenerd @lluad @QasimRashid came to say the SUS in Brazil is not perfect but everyone is covered. Unfortunately the lobby of health insurance and private care is very powerfull and do all they can to break the universal system

Peter Brown 1d ago

@MarciaW @irenerd @lluad @QasimRashid yes, they are doing everything they can to break the system in the UK as well. Not helped when several members of Parliament have substantial investments and interests in private health companies.

MárciaW 1d ago

@peterbrown
"Over more recent decades, however, SUS was affected by the neoliberal reforms defended by the World Bank, which criticized the constitutional guarantee of comprehensive health care for all Brazilians and encouraged the participation of the private sector in the provision of services" from 2023
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10682286/#bib1

Brazil’s unified health system: 35 years and future challenges

PubMed Central (PMC)

I'd like to point out one thing: in Finland, healthcare is not free at point of use like NHS is. While all residents and citizens alike are insured, that means they are billed and the cap is pretty high. The cost of medical care and medicine has been on the rise quite drastically. It's the same old story of gradual privatization: make public services under-resourced, services start failing and people who can afford take private insurance.

Garden Gnome 1d ago

@kaspian @QasimRashid it's free in Canada like in the UK, but like in Finland, the UK, and Canada (Sweden, France too) privatization/mismanagement is creeping in and increasing costs/decreasing services. Seems like a nearly global thing.

@gardengnome666 @QasimRashid

In Finland, the system is two-tiered. There's workplace health (about a third of the population). The public sector caters for the elderly, children and the unemployed. There's a plausible illusion of "no-cost" healthcare -- most young and middle-aged working adults have access to the fast lane (called "työterveys") that their employer pays for on their behalf. The sick and poor on benefits struggle, are denied care or billed unproportionately to their income.

Garden Gnome 1d ago

@kaspian @QasimRashid that sounds like German healthcare. If you're on the mandatory insurance, you get bumped down the list whenever someone with private insurance comes along, two tiers.

After being in different countries, I've really realized that Canada has the best health care system. You pay nothing for your care, it's covered by taxes. But conservatives are slowly killing it to make way for private health care.

GoWestEh 1d ago

@gardengnome666 @kaspian @QasimRashid We have a defacto two tiered system in Canada. Basic care is free, but slow. If you want something like knee surgery in less than 2 or 3 years, you can choose from several private options, or the increasingly popular medical tourism options.

Garden Gnome 1d ago

@GoWestEh @kaspian @QasimRashid I suppose it depends where you are in Canada to have access to this two tiered system, and I suppose there are too many knee surgeries. My uncle had two. He was supposed to lose weight so they'd last longer, I think he's only gotten heavier and will need new knees soon

Garden Gnome 1d ago

@QasimRashid this is a lie conservatives are spreading all over. In Manitoba, Canada, my brother (who consumes converative media) told me that the healthcare system is overrun by "illegal" immigrants. The reality is the last conservative government closed hospitals. Healthcare isn't provided to people without a government issued health card. No one is illegal, but the government has to issue the card (therefore not illegal). My family also wasn't born where we live, so we are immigrants.

Serf de Web 1d ago

@QasimRashid
Add Costa Rica to your list. Also Iraq (health care is a guaranteed right in the constitution that the US wrote for them after toppling Saddam Hussein).

Ko Simon toku ingoa

@QasimRashid Americans who visit us here in NZ have more right to healthcare here than they have at home in the USA.

Kinda silly really.

@SimonCHulse @QasimRashid Kinda right though.

Protecting fellow humans shouldn't be a discussion.

Ko Simon toku ingoa

@chad @QasimRashid I agree. It should be free to visit a hospital when you’re in need everywhere

@QasimRashid If someone is bleeding out and actively dying in our ERs, us Canadians will provide aid to stabilize them for transport to their home country.

This should be the bare minimum for all nations.

@QasimRashid I usually abstain from commenting but free healthcare is what we have in Brazil. 100% free. No insurance needed. For every Brazilian and foreigners.

The quality varies amongst places (we are the size of a continent) but you can get treated anywhere. YouTube has some videos of foreigners needing help in Brazil (look for SUS healthcare), getting treated and being surprised it is 100% free. There is even the term "medical tourism" because of how accessible it is. 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

Paul Schoonhoven 🍋🍉1d ago

The US and healthcare ... The odd one out there... (In so many ways...)

Health spending per capita, 1970 to 2024
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/health-expenditure-and-financing-per-capita

@QasimRashid @waynedixon Qasim, DAMN RIGHT.