In a world where medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S., the simplicity of the Greek experience felt like a revelation, says the American father. Credit: AMNA
An American living with his family in Chalkida, Greece, expressed his astonishment about the Greek health service in a video that has gone viral.
For this American, a picturesque afternoon of ice skating took a sudden, painful turn. “This is my daughter,” the father explains, gesturing to a young girl with a resilient smile. “She broke her arm a couple of weeks ago… we unfortunately had a run-in with the emergency clinic.”
For any parent from the U.S., a broken bone isn’t just a medical emergency; it’s a financial one. Back home, the father notes, a trip like this—ER fees, X-rays, and a cast—”would easily cost you anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000 or more out of pocket.” He recalls the burden of the American system, where his family paid $20,000 each year in premiums, yet still faced the gauntlet of high deductibles and the constant fear that insurance might simply refuse to pay.
However, in Greece, the family encountered a system that seemed to operate on a completely different logic.
“Leave”
The experience was a blur of efficiency that lacked the administrative friction Americans have come to expect. “In the States… before you even get to see the doctor, you’re talking to a cashier,” he says. In Greece, the process was stripped down to the essentials: “We literally signed in, we saw the doctor, got x-rays, they reviewed the x-rays, they put her arm in a cast, they gave us all the recovery instructions, and then they said goodbye.”
It was at this point that the “American reflex” kicked in. Accustomed to the “massive amounts of paperwork at the cashier’s desk,” the family stood in the waiting room, hovering, waiting for the inevitable bill.
“We were just standing there waiting, nothing… I finally turned around and went back to [another father] and said, ‘Sorry to bother you, but what next?’ He laughed. He like looked confused at first… But when he realized what I was asking, he just said, ‘Leave.’”
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The cost of healthcare in Greece
The father’s astonishment is palpable as he recounts the final tally. “Seriously? Yeah. I mean, the total cost? Zero. Seriously.” In a world where medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S., the simplicity of the Greek experience felt like a revelation. “No one asked for a credit card. No one asked for our insurance. No one asked for anything. They literally treated my daughter, and we left.”
While his daughter prepares for a recheck at a local orthopedist, the father’s message to those thinking of moving abroad is clear: the shock isn’t just in the move—it’s in discovering that elsewhere, “healthcare is just totally different.”
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