South Korea Has the Best Healthcare in the World

According to this at least.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/best-healthcare-in-the-world

What is Korea doing right? More importantly, why can't countries like Sweden, Iceland, Ireland, Canada, etc. get their act together and be more like Korea? I mean, that is what we say about Korea when it is low in the rankings- Why can't they be more like "enlightened" Europe?

Not taking anything away from Korea's healthcare, having experienced it both in Korea and Taiwan, I rate Taiwan's ahead of Korea.  I have had surgery in both countries and I found Taiwan more professional and the hospitals much more user friendly. In Korea when I had surgery I was expected to bring a friend or family to look after me post op, there were no facilities to actually take a shower should you have to stay long term and the nurses did the minimum. This was at a good hospital in Jamsil.

Taiwan is the opposite, you don't need your family to take care of you, everything is done for you by the nurses, including going to buy you snacks at the cafeteria or outside market, bathroom facilities are like a hotel. Taiwan's national health insurance is dirt cheap too and pays for everything. In Korea I had a huge co-payment. The doctors and nurses here all speak English, the hospital I went to in Korea, just about none of the nurses spoke English.

So for foreigners, Taiwan is way ahead, for locals I cannot comment on Korean medical care. Perhaps I just had a bad experience, but if I had to choose which country to have medical care in, it would be a no brainer for me as a foreigner.

I mean, that is what we say about Korea when it is low in the rankings- Why can't they be more like "enlightened" Europe?

literally nobody on this forum is from or shills for europe, lol

Really? No one hangs a big Union Jack flag in their house while making post after post about how the U.S. sucks?

Bzzzt. Wrong.

SPQR

literally nobody on this forum is from or shills for europe, lol

Kyndo? But he doesn't shill. He's a true believer.

Regardless, its the often used refrain comparing education systems or health care or guns, etc. Why can't so and so countries be like Europe? Why can't people be more cultured, tolerant and enlightened like Europeans?

Anyways, the point is this is mostly just to serve as a sidebar to the healthcare debate.

If one is going to cite a source to make their point, well they have to stand by that source.

There are loads of Brits on this forum who go on and on about how the U.S. sucks, some of whom have posted very recently.

Regardless, its the often used refrain comparing education systems or health care or guns, etc. Why can't so and so countries be like Europe? Why can't people be more cultured, tolerant and enlightened like Europeans?

id imagine thats probably because europeans and americans have always spent the majority of their time sniping at each other, lol

There are loads of Brits on this forum who go on and on about how the U.S. sucks, some of whom have posted very recently.

Not to mention Canadians and Aussies. And if you go on social media, no shortage there.

If you want an example of the arrogance and lack of self-awareness Europeans possess, there's a famous clip on The Daily Show of Europeans baffled that Europe+War are in the same sentence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C38p7N5h9M

You also now have people claiming Russia isn't "European" because it doesn't have European values, it has Asian ones like authoritarianism. Because apparently invading your neighbor is an Asian value, not a European one, as clearly indicated by the history of Europe and authoritarianism is something that isn't part of European culture since there's no one alive in Europe at the present day who grew up under and supported an authoritarian regime.

According to this at least.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/best-healthcare-in-the-world

What is Korea doing right? More importantly, why can't countries like Sweden, Iceland, Ireland, Canada, etc. get their act together and be more like Korea? I mean, that is what we say about Korea when it is low in the rankings- Why can't they be more like "enlightened" Europe?

So you're not really interested in discussing the pros and cons of Korea's health care, but rather to pettily complain that people only compare Korea to Europe when Korea is doing something wrong? 

Not to mention Canadians and Aussies. And if you go on social media, no shortage there.

If you want an example of the arrogance and lack of self-awareness Europeans possess, there's a famous clip on The Daily Show of Europeans baffled that Europe+War are in the same sentence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C38p7N5h9M

You also now have people claiming Russia isn't "European" because it doesn't have European values, it has Asian ones like authoritarianism. Because apparently invading your neighbor is an Asian value, not a European one, as clearly indicated by the history of Europe and authoritarianism is something that isn't part of European culture since there's no one alive in Europe at the present day who grew up under and supported an authoritarian regime.

Yup, DeMartino had no interest whatsoever in discussing health care.  he just wanted to start up a discussion on western arrogance for the millionth time.  Great you're back.  Did the mods give you a break because of that long winded crybaby letter you got CO2 to post for you?  I thought you received a permanent ban?

From those stats, Denmark looks to score better than South Korea on most of the criteria but for some reason scores lower on Health Care Index, whatever that means. What rubbish!

Yup, DeMartino had no interest whatsoever in discussing health care.  he just wanted to start up a discussion on western arrogance for the millionth time.  Great you're back.  Did the mods give you a break because of that long winded crybaby letter you got CO2 to post for you?  I thought you received a permanent ban?

Seems you're not interested in discussing Health Care. Seems you're more interested in discussing me for the millionth time.

From those stats, Denmark looks to score better than South Korea on most of the criteria but for some reason scores lower on Health Care Index, whatever that means. What rubbish!

Yeah, I have no idea, but hey, if those stats are considered valid for trashing the state of U.S. Health Care, then they're valid for Korea's ranking.

I dunno, my experience with the Korean healthcare system has been, affordable, but most unprofessional. I have had some doctors that have been professional, but some that have been greatly unprofessional.
I went to a big hospital with a referral letter for a big problem, that was completely dismissed before telling me I was fine. I had to travel 5 hours to Seoul for this, and each trip is expensive (2 trains + hotel + food) and took 4 - 5 visits before they'd honor the referral. And even then they were treating me like I was faking the whole thing. I used my vacation time a few weeks ago to NZ to get tested. Docs found the issue really quickly, and told me, that because my issues went untreated for 3 years, there is likely going to be some permanent damage to my lungs / raspatory based bodily functions; And that this could have been avoided because the issue was easily detectible.
Granted, there have also been a few doctors here that have been great with me, but I personally haven't had any major issues like this back in NZ. I do get stuff like that can and does happen everywhere.

Also, a couple years ago, just before corona, I believe Finland was ranking #1 in healthcare / hospital related stuff too. Might have just been in medical technology, but I remember Finland being up there last time I checked rankings for medical related things. :o

So you're not really interested in discussing the pros and cons of Korea's health care, but rather to pettily complain that people only compare Korea to Europe when Korea is doing something wrong? 

He does have a point though.

One of the Waygook Commandments brought forth from Mt Halla in the begintimes is "Thou shalt not compare Korea to any other country unless it maketh Korea look bad."

Seems you're not interested in discussing Health Care. Seems you're more interested in discussing me for the millionth time.

Where were you discussing health care?  Don't try to turn this around on me.  You just introduced the health care ranking so you could pursue another one of your endless petulant argument threads that were supposed to disappear when you got banned.  You've come back with a sock and are hitting the ground running.  You got called out all the time as DMartino.  Don't whine when the same thing happens for your new identity.  Spots, leopard and all that. 

I used my vacation time a few weeks ago to NZ to get tested. Docs found the issue really quickly, and told me, that because my issues went untreated for 3 years, there is likely going to be some permanent damage to my lungs / raspatory based bodily functions; And that this could have been avoided because the issue was easily detectible.

Omg, sorry to hear that! What was the initial cause? Breathing mold spores?

I dunno, my experience with the Korean healthcare system has been, affordable, but most unprofessional. I have had some doctors that have been professional, but some that have been greatly unprofessional.
I went to a big hospital with a referral letter for a big problem, that was completely dismissed before telling me I was fine. I had to travel 5 hours to Seoul for this, and each trip is expensive (2 trains + hotel + food) and took 4 - 5 visits before they'd honor the referral. And even then they were treating me like I was faking the whole thing. I used my vacation time a few weeks ago to NZ to get tested. Docs found the issue really quickly, and told me, that because my issues went untreated for 3 years, there is likely going to be some permanent damage to my lungs / raspatory based bodily functions; And that this could have been avoided because the issue was easily detectible.
Granted, there have also been a few doctors here that have been great with me, but I personally haven't had any major issues like this back in NZ. I do get stuff like that can and does happen everywhere.

Also, a couple years ago, just before corona, I believe Finland was ranking #1 in healthcare / hospital related stuff too. Might have just been in medical technology, but I remember Finland being up there last time I checked rankings for medical related things. :o

I'm sorry to hear that. Was your issue related to mold?

My experience has been the same, for the most part. Korea's healthcare is affordable, but if you have anything serious going on, good luck finding anyone who'll take you seriously unless you're experiencing ultra severe symptoms.

Won't go into details since this isn't about me, but a friend had a health scare a couple of years back that could have turned into something very serious had she accepted what the first two doctors she saw told her. They were both so ****** unprofessional, and got raging mad at both of us (I went with her each time) when we both kept pushing the issue because they weren't really listening to what she was saying and kept trying to run us off with bullshit diagnoses. She finally visited a university hospital where the doctor there actually listened to her about her symptoms and didn't just try to prescribe her antibiotics and painkillers. Got the tests done, confirmed that the previous doctors were ****** morons, and got her treatment. No longterm damage, thankfully.

I dunno, my experience with the Korean healthcare system has been, affordable, but most unprofessional. I have had some doctors that have been professional, but some that have been greatly unprofessional.
I went to a big hospital with a referral letter for a big problem, that was completely dismissed before telling me I was fine. I had to travel 5 hours to Seoul for this, and each trip is expensive (2 trains + hotel + food) and took 4 - 5 visits before they'd honor the referral. And even then they were treating me like I was faking the whole thing. I used my vacation time a few weeks ago to NZ to get tested. Docs found the issue really quickly, and told me, that because my issues went untreated for 3 years, there is likely going to be some permanent damage to my lungs / raspatory based bodily functions; And that this could have been avoided because the issue was easily detectible.
Granted, there have also been a few doctors here that have been great with me, but I personally haven't had any major issues like this back in NZ. I do get stuff like that can and does happen everywhere.

Also, a couple years ago, just before corona, I believe Finland was ranking #1 in healthcare / hospital related stuff too. Might have just been in medical technology, but I remember Finland being up there last time I checked rankings for medical related things. :o

My true feeling on this is that health care rankings are pretty ridiculous to begin with. What really should be discussed are "tiers". Like if you have a bunch of nations that are pretty close, say Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Austria and Switzerland, then any ranking difference, is it really THAT significant? On the other hand if one was ranked #1 and the other #26, we might freak out and start making judgments.

I do think the U.S. is enough of an outlier in everything that one MIGHT have a case for going beyond a tier model, but still, you can't just point at rankings and stop there.

Omg, sorry to hear that! What was the initial cause? Breathing mold spores?

Pretty much - was bronchitis caused by mold was the result - I was too young, and healthy, for it to be caused by age. The mold went undetected in my old apartment for awhile, until the landlord noticed a lot of high water bills, that resulted her finding a leaking / burst pipe in her place, that caused damage within mine in an area I never really use or check, or was behind large furniture I couldn't move and stuff. But since then, it would grow extremely fast (I'd deep clean on Sunday, and see mold by Tuesday).
Whenever I suggested mold related to the doctors here, they'd state: "Mold doesn't cause health issues." It wasn't until a week before I went to NZ I saw a doctor here that was open to it being that. The meds he gave me for it help a lot too. xD