The same patient. The same diagnosis. A different life.
Every health system rations care, and none of them can avoid it. What differs is the currency they collect it in — money at the counter, weeks in a queue, paperwork on a kitchen table, or a treatment quietly downgraded to a cheaper one.
Walk a patient through one system, one decision at a time. Every choice bills you in all four currencies at once, and the meters keep score.
Figures are illustrative and rounded, drawn from typical cost-sharing and wait-time ranges rather than a single dataset. Clinical pathways are simplified for teaching and are not medical advice.
STEP 01 · CHOOSE A SYSTEM
Where does Alex present?
Same 45-year-old, same A1C of 9.2 percent, same tingling feet. Pick the jurisdiction, and the rest of the story is written by its financing rules.
STEP 01 · CHOOSE A PATIENT
Four people, one country
Each has a different condition, a different relationship with medicine, and a different amount of money. Each can be run through all four coverage designs.
STEP 02 · CHOOSE COVERAGE
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The premium is what you pay to be allowed in. The deductible, coinsurance and out-of-pocket maximum decide what happens once you are.
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Three decision points. Each one bills you in money, weeks, paperwork and clinical outcome at the same time, and the meters on the left keep score.
PATIENT
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TIME ELAPSED{{ weeksText }}
WEEK 1WEEK 52
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ADMIN BURDEN{{ adminText }}
WHAT HAPPENED{{ lastChoiceUpper }}
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Nothing was billed. Deciding not to seek care is free at the time, and it is the most expensive choice in this simulation.
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OUTCOME · {{ outSystemUpper }}
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HOW IT ENDED
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THE PATH TAKEN
Click any road not taken to see where it would have led.