Europe's Healthcare System Shocked Me — An American Living Here Reacts

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Americans pay more for health care than any other country in the world yet rank near the bottom for outcomes when compared to other developed nations. Can you believe that? That is crazy. I have personal experience in the US and here in Spain, so in Europe with healthcare and the experiences are completely different. So this is going to be a good video that's going to give us a little insight to u someone's story when they visited Germany, I believe. And this is my healthc care experience in Europe as an American. Life of Carl is the name of the channel. I will include a link in the description so you can head on over there and do all the YouTube stuff.

[00:00:40]Support their channel. I'm sure they would appreciate that. This is going to be interesting. I always get fired up when I talk about healthcare because it really was one of the main reasons that we left the United States because of some of the things that we were experiencing there with healthcare. So before we get going here, go ahead and like the video. That really does help a lot. Let's see what we can see.

[00:01:03]>> Hey guys. So, uh I'm going to talk about my uh healthc care experience when I went to Europe. So, I just got back from a trip to uh Europe. I went to uh Barcelona in Spain and then I flew to Amsterdam and I was in uh I was in Barcelona for a week and I was in Amsterdam for a week too and then I uh went to VS which is in southern Holland for my uncle's wedding >> and I went to uh Munchin Gladbach Germany for two days and then I flew back home.

[00:01:34]>> I think he said that pretty good. Would my Germans agree with that? That sounded good.

[00:01:39]Two days in German. Oh, when I was in Amsterdam, I uh I hurt my foot. I went dancing for too long in a in a nightclub.

[00:01:48]>> Uh-uh.

[00:01:49]>> And um the next morning when I woke up, my foot was like it it hurt really bad.

[00:01:56]It really felt like someone had like taken a hammer and almost smashed right behind my toes on my left foot.

[00:02:03]>> And it was swollen, but there was no marking. So, it really I was kind of confused. I was like, why, you know, why does it hurt? And I guess I just had overstressed it. So, um, I let it I took it easy for a couple days and then I, um, decided then I then I went on a walking tour of Amsterdam. I I did a a guided tour of the red light district and it's like a museum tour and stuff like that.

[00:02:29]I'm be willing to bet that he took it easy for a couple days because he was an he's an American who had experience with healthcare and you know that if you go in there like you just try and make it work as long as you can because it's going to cost even if you have a co-ay for your health insurance it's going to cost you. So that's probably why he decided not to go in.

[00:02:57]Whereas what I've learned being out here, it's like something's not right.

[00:03:01]I'm just going to the the hospital or to to the doctor, you know, because I don't have to worry about cost or or anything like that. And they have amazing quality of healthcare.

[00:03:12]>> So I was walking around for like two hours straight. And you know, normally that's no problem. I walked like six miles a day when I was in Barcelona and I'd been biking around all the time in Amsterdam.

[00:03:25]>> Uh but by the end of the walking tour, my my foot had just was just hurting really badly and I was limping and it was I knew it was no good. So the next day I drove with my uncle to VS because we were going there for his wedding and uh you know not much improvement at all. I waited I think I waited one more day and then on the day of the wedding the wedding was starting at like 1:32 something like that. I was like okay I got to go to the doctor. This is this is not it's not improving. It's getting bad. So I asked I was at a hotel so I asked the hotel reception uh you know where where's the nearest doctor? So they pointed out on the map for me and it was it was like a block or two blocks away. I think it was three blocks. Mhm.

[00:04:12]>> So I I called them up and the recording line was in Dutch, so I had no idea. You know, I I speak German and Spanish pretty well, but >> Uhhuh. I knew he sounded good when he was saying those words in German.

[00:04:27]>> I can't I can't speak Dutch, so I I had no idea what they were saying on the recording line. So I said, "Screw it.

[00:04:33]I'm just gonna go straight there." So, it was about I think it was around 9 10:00 in the morning, something like that on a Thursday.

[00:04:42]>> And I walk there, I I limp limp to the I limp to the doctor's office. So, I get there and um I uh I check in and I, you know, I say I just go up to the desk and I say, "Hey, how's it going? You know, I got this problem, blah, blah, blah."

[00:04:59]They take my ID, they scan it, they they tell me that it's going to be €25 for the doctor to check me out. So, keep in mind, you know, I I'm an American citizen. Um, >> I live I live in California. I have I have health insurance here, but I don't have, you know, it's not international health insurance.

[00:05:17]>> So, I'm over there. I I am not a citizen and I have no health insurance. So, they tell me, "Okay, so it's going to be €25 for the doctor to see you." So, I say, "Okay, all right." It's like that's like what a co-ay is in America.

[00:05:28]>> Yeah.

[00:05:29]>> So I go uh I had to get cash.

[00:05:32]>> And a co-ay in America just means that they're going to see you. The insurance company still has to approve whatever you're having done on the back end. So you can pay your little 25 bucks or in this case 25 year. Well, I'll say 25 bucks because this is in America. You can pay your 25 bucks, but you might have a bill on the back end if the insurance doesn't approve whatever you went in there for or if they only cover a certain amount of it. I know because I had that happen, thousands of dollars worth.

[00:06:06]>> They wanted me to pay them in cash. So that I was like, "That's fine." So there's an ATM across the street. So, I went and got I uh I went and got the the cash and then um I waited probably like 10 minutes, maybe it it might have even been less than that. It was like 10 15 minutes.

[00:06:22]>> Mhm.

[00:06:23]>> I went and saw the doctor. She examined my foot. Um you know, she did a thorough job. She looked at it. She said, you know, she asked me questions, blah blah blah. She looked at my other foot to compare. My my left one was kind of swollen and blah blah blah. So, she looked at the foot. She said, "Okay, um I think you need an X-ray. I think it has uh like a a stress fracture. And you know, she heard my whole story and everything.

[00:06:46]>> She said, "I don't have an X-ray machine here, but I can write you an X-ray recommendation for uh a hospital." So, I said, "Okay, that sounds good." She wrote me the recommendation, and then she said, "I can give you a it's like a painkiller slash uh anti-inflammatory prescription." So, I went uh so I said, "Okay, great. That sounds good. I'll take the prescription. So, she gave me the prescription. There was a pharmacy in the downstairs of the of the doctor's office. Um, so I just went I went down the elevator, went to the pharmacy, >> they filled my prescription and um it was it was €7 for this like painkiller/ anti-inflammatories >> right >> uh pill. So, I was they it was funny cuz they said, "Oh, do you want a receipt so you can you can get try to get your health insurance to pay for it?" Mhm.

[00:07:38]>> And I just started laughing. I was like, you know, there's what's what's the point? You know, I'm going to spend like an hour on the phone to try to get 5 from the insurance company or we had this happen here in Spain. My oldest son rides skateboards, so he's broken a few bones here and there, but he hurt himself. He thought he had broken his ankle. And we went into the hospital. We got to the hospital. They the doctor saw him. They went to put a cast on. I mean, we did everything. And it didn't cost us anything. The We do pay about €250 per month for four of us. In the United States, I was paying a,000 for just Lisa and myself.

[00:08:32]So, so we pay that 250 a month. We do pay that. But when he went in there, there was nothing that we had to pay for. He got an X-ray. He got the cast.

[00:08:46]He got all of those things. And then he I feel like he was supposed to come back a week later, I believe. But after we did all that, then we did have to pay for the crutches he had to have. He just needed one. And so we had to buy that at the pharmacy, Famatia. But but that was it. That's all we had to pay for. They gave him prescription. Oh, we did have to pay for a prescription, too. I don't remember how much it was, but it wasn't a lot. Whatever. So, he's like, "No, it's fine. Don't worry." So, I had I had the painkiller and I had the uh doctor, you know, the recommendation for an X-ray.

[00:09:23]Okay. So the next day, so the wedding happens the next day. My foot's actually feeling a little better, probably due to maybe due to the pill she had given me.

[00:09:31]Um, and so I'm driving with my relatives to Munchin Gladbach, which is pretty close to the German uh Dutch border.

[00:09:44]So my my aunt, my great aunt, she takes me to the um basically the emergency room in her town, Munching Gladbox. So I go there, they had me fill out a little bit of paperwork. They like photocopy my ID. I I signed a couple things.

[00:10:05]Um so I go to get the X-ray and um Oh, so sorry. First, I I'll tell you how long I waited. First >> Oh, okay.

[00:10:16]>> I check in, then I go back to the emergency room.

[00:10:19]>> Um, I probably waited about a half hour.

[00:10:22]I think I made like a phone call and I read a couple news articles on my phone, but you know, it was a half hour and this is an emergency room, >> right? Do you hear the shock in his voice?

[00:10:36]I mean, there's been stories of people who die at emergency room in the United States because there are a lot of people and I used to sell health insurance, Medicare, and there are a lot of people who go to the emergency room even though it's almost like they use it as a primary doctor because they know that they have to see you in the emergency room and cost is really not the concern. I mean, this is just this is what happens. This is what people tell me. They'll just go to the emergency room. And so, it just makes the weights super long. And I mean, I don't know. I've never done that, but people tell me that that's that's what they that's what they do. So, it makes the waits super long. So, sometimes people don't get treated. It takes a while for them to get treated. I mean, you go to the E. I know in the US, my son, again, my older son had a concussion and we went to the emergency room and because he like didn't remember anything. He kept asking the same questions over and over.

[00:11:43]So, we went there and I don't know, it was probably a good four or five hours before they were able to see him or something like that. I don't know. It's just crazy. So, so that is something that's pretty interesting how that's probably what he was thinking. Like that's why he's shocked.

[00:12:03]It only took him a half an hour. And now here when we had to go in for my son, it didn't take us very long at all. And one thing I remember, oh, he came back, I think he went back a week later, my son here in Spain when he hurt his uh ankle.

[00:12:16]And then they took an X-ray.

[00:12:19]So they went in to see the doctor.

[00:12:21]The doctor said, "I'm going to send you for an X-ray." because he he didn't he didn't think he saw anything or something like that. So, he went and took the X-ray and then the doctor looked at the X-ray and he said, "I don't see anything." We were like, "They told us it was broken." You know, it was only a week later or something like that. They told us it was broken and so he sent him to do another X-ray and it didn't cost us anything extra for him to do that. So, there's just a huge difference in what what we're used to.

[00:12:50]>> And again, I have no insurance and and I'm not a German citizen. That's crazy.

[00:12:55]>> Go there. They I wait about a half hour.

[00:12:58]I go and see the doctor. The doctor examines me again. I tell her the whole story. Then she says, "Okay, we're going to give you an X-ray." So, I walk down to the X-ray room. They do the X-ray. I go to the reception room in the X-ray wing of the hospital. And I I they say, "Okay, your charge is €20 for the X-ray." So, >> wow.

[00:13:18]>> I'm like, "All right, great. That sounds good." €20. So, I go back up. They look at my X-ray, they say, "Okay, you don't have stress fracture, but you need to take it easy for a bit." They're like, "You have lots of inflammation and uh you know, you just got to take it easy and and etc." Uh so they give me they give me this um they give me like a a pain cream >> and they wrap my foot up and they they send me on my way. So, I leave I leave the hospital and I tell my aunt. I'm like I'm like, "Yeah, they only charged me €20." And she you know, you know how the Germans are. She's like, "Oh, that's not that's not right. You must you probably owe a little more." So, I was like, "All right, whatever." So, we go back to the billing office and they determined that I owe them another €60.

[00:14:04]>> So, my total my total charge for visiting an emergency room in Germany was €80, you know, and that included an X-ray. M >> so if you know if if you go if you if you did the same thing in the United States and you didn't have health insurance >> you know especially if you weren't a citizen I'm sure the X-ray would probably cost at least three or 400 bucks and then just the fact that you're in the emergency room at least be another couple hundred. So you'd probably be at the door 500.

[00:14:33]>> I show up you know not a citizen no health insurance and they charge me 100 you know sorry €80.

[00:14:39]>> Mhm. Um, and you know, I was happy there was I I waited a half hour at the emergency room and I waited like maybe 15 minutes at the at the doctor's office in Holland, >> right?

[00:14:52]>> So, overall, I think my experience was pretty good and I I was h obviously I was happy that I didn't have a fracture cuz that would have really, you know, that would have really ruined the rest of my trip. And, uh, yeah, so it was it was really good. Um but I just hope that this leads to a further discussion about uh you know the healthare system we have in the United States because over there they have a combo >> uh of it's mostly universal healthcare.

[00:15:22]So it's like singlepayer universal healthcare where the government pays for it. Um, >> okay.

[00:15:28]>> And in German, >> he's sorry, he's talking about in Europe, I think >> you can buy I think in Holland too, you can buy supplemental healthcare insurance. So like if you if you're you know, some reason you're not happy with it and you can pay extra money. Um, but you know, the prices are way lower, the the weight times were faster if you ask me. And what a lot of people will say, you know, they'll say about the they'll they'll rag on the Canadian system or they'll rag on other on universal healthare systems. They'll say, "Oh, the the wait times are forever and you're going to get a a shitty doctor and poor care."

[00:16:07]>> Yeah.

[00:16:07]>> And I just I never had that problem. And you know, I mean, granted, I only went to two two different doctor's office.

[00:16:13]>> I mean, that is the argument that people in the US make. And what I always say is that, you know, I'd rather have it to where someone who I dealt with, I mean, in order for me to help people with Medicare, Medicaid, they had to be like not, you know, they didn't have a lot.

[00:16:33]Like, you couldn't have a lot and have Medicaid for sure. You have you have to almost be like a ward of the state in order for you to qualify for Medicaid.

[00:16:43]Medicare is different.

[00:16:45]um you know once you reach the age of 65 then you're able to get Medicare but typically people who had Medicare weren't the wealthiest people those people usually had some private insurance or something like that so you know you had people that aren't the wealthiest who if if I had it my way it might take a long time but at least they would get help instead of getting no help which is what was happening a lot before, you know, the Affordable Care Act was put into place. I know this is a sensitive subject and a lot of people going to be have uh take issue with what I'm saying, but I just know from my own personal experience that, you know, my boys had were on the Affordable Care Act. It wasn't the best insurance, but it was better than nothing. But they had to have it because for us, for Lisa and myself, we were paying a thousand thousand dollar a month. So, you know, we didn't want to be paying $2,000 a month or something like that for all four of us. So, you know, that that is one of the gripes that he's mentioned here that people don't like the fact that, you know, there's long wait times.

[00:18:02]And I know I'm not going to say that doesn't exist because it does. I know people that are probably can be in the comments here saying how they, you know, maybe lost somebody because they had to wait or there was a long wait for them to get some type of procedure done or something like that, which I I know that's a true, you know, true statement. I've had I've had people say that before. So, I don't know. It's just a sensitive subject, but it is nice to be somewhere where they care about the people and then what ends up happening is, you know, in the US it's big business and so it doesn't benefit them to get you healthy.

[00:18:50]I mean, just think about it. They if everybody was healthy, they wouldn't have business. So they deny things. They do they do all kind of stuff. They they used to be able to deny you if you had a pre-existing condition, whatever that was, diabetes, asthma, I mean, things like that. But >> and you know, a doctor's office in an emergency room. But uh yeah, that was my experience. So hopefully uh you can pass this on to other people and tell them, you know, spread spread the truth. All right. I get one.

[00:19:27]Uh >> he was a good guy. I mean it's um I do know I I have friends in Spain and they have told me that you know the waiting rooms can be long. We have private insurance so that's a little bit different. So we probably have a different experience. So you know you can't have long waits in the waiting room and things like that. But you can get treatment and you know I just know people in the US where they just can't and the cost of I know people that ration their insulin because they can't afford to you know pay a lot for insulin. I think it used to be like 35 euros and then we got another a new president and some things changed and it's more than that now because I remember I was still selling Medicare at that time and it went from a cap of $35. It's the most anybody was paying for insulin to now it's like two, three, four, five times that.

[00:20:24]So over there, you know, the insurance companies have lobbyists who lobby for certain insurance uh laws and things like that. My personal story, which I've told before, but you know, essentially, as I was saying, I was paying $1,000 uh a month for Lisa myself, and I was having some problems with my heart, like it my heart rate was high, and I was freaking out. And I went to the doctor and the doctor told me that okay we need to figure out what's going on. So there's two procedures you can have. One of them G gives you it's like angoplasty or I don't know. One of them gives you like 30 35% accuracy as to whether or not you have any blockage or anything and the other one is like a 95% accuracy as to whether or not you have a blockage. And it wasn't that simple. The way he painted it was you have this $35, you have this 35 uh 35% accurate procedure and or accuracy procedure and it does this and this and this and this and then you have this one where it looks down here at the bottom of your heart where if this happens if something's wrong here then you know this there's you know how doctors are they tell it to you straight like there's people that you know don't survive from this like all that kind of stuff. So, which one do you pick? I'm like, 95% accuracy. I'll take that one, please. And so, we had the procedure and everything. And then after being home for a few I don't remember few weeks maybe we got a letter from our insurance company United Healthcare saying that they denied the procedure and we had we owed I think it was like $28,000 or something like that.

[00:22:22]So I don't know. I mean I was just so mad. I was so mad because I spent all that money on insurance. I thought it would have been good for something. And it's just because they decided that it was like an elective procedure and I could have gotten a 35% one or not had one at all.

[00:22:39]So, you know, I just think it's crazy because stuff happens to people. You don't know who there's nobody out there that knows what kind of illness they're going to get or anything like that. And in the United States, they do not take care of their people. I mean, they have something over there right now, but in in the US, they have a mentality of, hey, if I can do it, you can do it. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps. Go out and get your own insurance, you know, don't be a loser, not have insurance, stuff like that. So, healthcare is always a little touchy subject for a lot of people, but I just wanted to to take a look at it. I've done some other videos on healthcare in Europe, but this one here had like 20 something million uh let me see views or something like that. Let me check on this guy. It had uh oh like two 20 something had two million views and about like 20 something thousand comments. So I figured that this is going to be a pretty good one to take a look at. So in fact, let's let's see let's check on some of the comments here.

[00:23:44]So, this says here, I don't know. You might not be able to see that.

[00:23:50]Let's see.

[00:23:54]I don't know. You know, you're European when he says €60 and you're like, "That's too expensive."

[00:24:01]That's funny. All the dislikes are Americans that believe European healthcare is communism. Yeah, that's true.

[00:24:08]Let's see here. This one says, "Healthcare be like USA pay to win.

[00:24:13]Europe is free to play. Free to pay.

[00:24:17]This guy talking chair. Allow me to sing the hymn of my people. He's still talking about his chair was squeaking a lot. But anyway, I don't I don't want to spend too much time on that, but it's worth me kind of telling my story a little bit so you can kind of hear it.

[00:24:29]Hey, if you have any comments, go ahead and put those in the comments. That would be great. Just curious to know if you're an American and you visited Europe at some point, did you have an experience similar to his? And if you're here in Europe, Europe, I mean, tell us what you think about this video. That would be really great just to hear from you. So, give the video a like before we get out of here. And thanks for joining me today. My name is Greg and we will catch you on the next video. Peace.