> > Go to <any country outside the US> and be treated for <fractional amounts>
For Hepatitis C? Absolutely not. It's way easier for US citizens to access the drugs to cure HCV in the US than it is for, say, British citizens to access it in the UK.
If you want to talk about other conditions, fine, but for Hepatitis C, this statements is patently false.
Given that the NHS lists most of the meds discussed so far as approved treatments [https://www.nsh.uk/conditions/hepatitis-c/treatment] and Hep C is been a target for increased treatment by the NHS for the past two years I am wondering what you base your claim that it is easier for US citizens to get access to the drugs than it is in the UK?
> Given that the NHS lists most of the meds discussed so far as approved treatments [https://www.nsh.uk/conditions/hepatitis-c/treatment] and Hep C is been a target for increased treatment by the NHS for the past two years I am wondering what you base your claim that it is easier for US citizens to get access to the drugs than it is in the UK?
"Approved treatments" just means "there exists a circumstance under which the NHS will cover them". For starters, the NHS almost never treats patients in acute stages of infection, whereas insurers in the US don't distinguish between acute and chronic infections. The NHS also tries to force patients to use interferon-based treatment first before covering the newer medications. There are ways around that, but it's not simple or easy.
As an American, how does that work in practice? I know I can go to Vietnam and be treated for a small amount (I was in a Vietnamese hospital for a couple of days due to a really bad strep infection and dehydration as I was unable/unwilling to swallow, and in a separate incident, also had a round of rabies shots after being bitten by a dog there). I figured it was cheap because everything is cheap there and no one there could afford it otherwise, not because of government insurance. But if I go to Australia, Canada, UK, or any other country, how do I get access to this cheap healthcare without becoming a citizen or paying taxes? Do I qualify just by nature of being there with a valid visa?
> But if I go to Australia, Canada, UK, or any other country, how do I get access to this cheap healthcare without becoming a citizen or paying taxes?
You'd likely pay more than a resident/citizen who may not pay or may a token amount. But this full price will still be very small in comparison to US (eg full price of doctor's consultation in France is like 25 EUR).
Even Switzerland which is expensive for Europe in terms of healthcare is cheap comparatively (a simple ER visit might be a few hundreds, not thousands).
I work in a Canadian hospital. We have OOC patients all the time...Out of Country. During their stay, they or their family get told to visit the business office to set up payment. The business office is a tiny, one person desk in the hospital. They will take payment directly or will correspond with your insurance provider. This is mostly for people with emergency and unplanned admissions. I'm not sure how it would work for elective procedures or med purchasing. You could probably walk into a walk in clinic and pay out of pocket as almost all with have debit/credit machines since some things aren't covered in Canada (travel vaccines for example).
Go to <any country that doesn't allow publicly-funded research and discoveries to be privatized and then farmed by a rentier-class of pharma investors> and be treated for <fractional amounts>
> Go to <any country outside the US> and be treated for <fractional amounts>