A US woman has sparked a discussion online after sharing why her experience of working in American healthcare changed the way she looked at the country’s medical system.
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Anna Haakenson, who shared her thoughts in an Instagram video, said she once believed American medicine represented the highest standard of care. However, after spending more time within the system, she began noticing problems that made her question how it functioned.
Woman questions US healthcare system
In the caption of the clip, Haakenson wrote, “I used to think American medicine was the gold standard. I was excited to work in it. I got to be around smart, highly trained people and be part of a system I thought was the place people wanted to come for care. But the longer I worked in it, the more holes I started seeing.”
She said several aspects of the system became difficult for her to understand, including insurance, office systems, long working hours and the high cost of treatment. According to her, one of the most frustrating parts was the lack of clarity around medical expenses.
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“Insurance made no sense. Office systems made no sense. The hours made no sense. The cost of everything was out of control. And somehow, no one could ever tell you what anything actually cost. Everything felt off,” she wrote.
‘How is that normal?’
Haakenson further explained how patients often remain uncertain about what they owe even after insurance is processed. She said, “You’d run something through insurance and still not know what you owed. Then, weeks later, some random letter shows up in the mail saying, ‘This is not a bill, but you may owe this much.’ What does that even mean? How is that normal? Who is running the show here?”
She added that seeking healthcare abroad made the problems in the US system even more visible to her.
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“Because once you experience systems where care can be simple, transparent, and affordable, it becomes really hard to keep pretending the American version makes sense. I’m not saying every country does it perfectly. I am saying the U.S. has normalised a level of confusion, cost, and dysfunction that people should question way more than they do,” she wrote.
Watch the clip here:
Internet reacts
The clip has prompted several reactions from social media users, many of whom agreed with her observations. One user wrote, “This is exactly how it feels. Nobody knows the real cost until the bill arrives.” Another said, “Healthcare should not feel like a guessing game.” A third commented, “The insurance system is more stressful than the illness sometimes.”
Another user shared, “I moved abroad and could not believe how simple doctor visits were.” Someone else wrote, “Americans have been trained to accept confusion as normal.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
