'If you’re poor, you’re dead': Video shows British are astonished at U.S. health care costs

Savannah Behrmann | USA TODAY

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WASHINGTON – "That's mad!" the British woman exclaimed at learning the average price to have a baby uninsured in the United States.

The price tag? $30,000.

The viral video of British citizens reacting to the costs of various health care procedures in the U.S. is now being used by some American politicians as well.

The video, published by the U.K. news website JOE, asked people walking the streets in Britain how much they thought certain health care procedures cost in the U.S if they were uninsured.

The U.K. uses the National Health System, a publicly funded and government-run health care system paid for through workers' wage taxes.

"So if you’re poor, you’re dead,” one woman said, hearing how much money an inhaler cost.

When asked how much one person thought an ambulance ride would cost, they questioned, “Is there a price for that?”

Ambulance call out? $2,500. Childbirth? $30,000.



Our NHS is not for sale, @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/q9z4r6Ni6g — PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) December 3, 2019

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., tweeted that those in the U.K. should "cherish, protect, & continue investing in your healthcare system!"

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"Once Big Pharma & special interests get their hands on it, it could take generations to regain," she continued. "Millions of people in the US are fighting to have a system half as good as the NHS."

Vermont senator and 2020 Democratic primary contender, Bernie Sanders, who introduced the Medicare-for-all single-payer health care plan, tweeted the video, saying to "remember that our outrageous for-profit system is not the norm in other countries."