A video of British people wildly underestimating the cost of health care in the U.S. is going viral.
News website JOE asked people in the United Kingdom ― where the majority of health care provided by the publicly funded National Health Service is free ― to guess how much they could be charged for certain procedures or medical devices in America if they did not have insurance.
“Man, so if you’re poor, you’re dead,” one woman said after being told how much money she would have to hand over for an inhaler.
Check out the clip here:
Ambulance call out? $2,500. Childbirth? $30,000.
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) December 3, 2019
Our NHS is not for sale, @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/q9z4r6Ni6g
JOE shared the video to Twitter on Tuesday amid fears that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to open the NHS up to American companies once the United Kingdom has concluded its stalled Brexit process and left the European Union. Trump has denied the claim. The clip has garnered more than 9 million views within its first 24 hours online and has elicited plenty of reactions:
Enjoy this video of Brits, who for generations have enjoyed nationalized healthcare, being absolutely stunned by the cost of basic health services in the USA. https://t.co/BSiWTqVib1
— Merry Whitta (@garywhitta) December 3, 2019
when I try to explain how my insurance works here to british people they're like "wait, so you pay your premiums... and then you pay more when you actually go to the doctor?" https://t.co/4lMGmFHmYq
— guy fieri 2020 campaign manager (@libbycwatson) December 3, 2019
Watch this. Why do we accept this as normal? https://t.co/L0QD4OVsnx
— Peter Shankman (@petershankman) December 4, 2019
America: Share your premiums and copays.
— Heather B. Armstrong (@dooce) December 3, 2019
I paid over $10,000 in 2019 alone for a health plan (covers me and two kids). A single visit to the ER is a $600 copay. Meaning, $600 gets one of us inside the door.
I have taught my kids how to live inside a hermetically sealed bubble. https://t.co/XhGJUlu2uA
I feel so incredibly lucky to live in a country where healthcare isn't a complete rip off... where it isn't even something I have think about.
— Westie 🌊🌴 (@MrProWestie) December 3, 2019
The NHS is always there, ready to help if I or my family need it. I want it to stay that way. https://t.co/3XkC9PAYEf
This is hilarious in a laughing-so-I-don't-sob kind of way https://t.co/HzdKTVme46
— Emily Flake (@EmilyFlake) December 3, 2019
this is hilarious, but tragic. https://t.co/dKwwZbBOND
— Monica Rix (@MonicaRix) December 3, 2019
This is what happens in a civilized country when they hear about our barbaric healthcare system in America. They genuinely asked, "So, if you're poor, you're dead?" Yes! If you don't have health insurance in America we let you die. Unreal. #MedicareForAll right now! https://t.co/k5yz9zQYtG
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) December 4, 2019
I have made a lot of new British and Canadian friends over the past couple of years and almost every single one of them has these sorts of reactions whenever I talk about the U.S. medical system. https://t.co/f0f0Pd1IO3
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) December 3, 2019
The grass is actually greener on the other side of the pond. https://t.co/XevsQIRzaV
— 🎄⛄Shannon Smores Morse🦌❄️ (@Snubs) December 3, 2019
Watch this video of Britons freaking out about how much Americans pay for health care, get angry, and then join the fight for #Medicare4All. Health care should not be a for profit industry, it should be guaranteed as a human right as it is in every other part of the first world. https://t.co/YeCuPOcfjy
— Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa🌹 (@CDRosa) December 3, 2019
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