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).
