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Nuclear medicine? In the US, they perform surgery for rotator cuff problems. Many can be healed with massage, but insurance doesn't pay for massage. It does pay for surgery.
I try to avoid surgery if I possibly can. It was an option given to me by the rheumatologist.
The oral prednisone prescribed, (I can't take NSAIDs) coupled with analgesics and some physio seem to be doing the trick. I'm much better. He also wants to send me for an MRI, but what for?
I'm on the mend.
Someone from Canada/UK/etc can speak better than me on this and perhaps clarify.. But my understanding is.. If you have chronic knee or back pain or something like that.. Then it can take quite some time (6 weeks seems to be about the longest I have heard of) to get scheduled for scans? And then you may have wait times to get a needed surgery(based on the scans) done. I hate to call these surgeries 'elective', because I'm sure if you're suffering, it sure doesn't feel 'elective'.
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I have congenital issues with my hips and knees.... When they flared up on my right side, I was fortunate enough to have insurance that covered the entire cost of surgical repairs needed.....
Now that my left hip and left knee are deteriorating, the insurance coverage that I pay $500 per month for will still leave me with ENORMOUS bills for those surgeries, so I go without.... and do the best I can....
Waiting 6 weeks for CT scan or MRI would be just fine by me if the prospect of needed care at little or no cost to me was on the other side.....
oh... and I, too, received care for a severe ankle injury in Toronto many years ago.... that care was every bit as good and as thorough as I would have received in the states, but only cost me about $25 .... and they agreed to send that bill to my home in the states for payment later..... my only real complaint was that they did not put pads on the crutches, saying that they caused palsey....
I wish you were around last year to tell my friend in the UK that he is only "telling stories".
He was the greatest defender of the NHS. Until last summer when he was having problems breathing. Went to his doctor, who referred him to a cardiologist, who scheduled him for an angioplasty and possible stents....scheduled him 6 WEEKS after his visit. He told my friend to do nothing strenuous and to rest for the next 6 weeks. WOW...how his opinion changed about the NHS.
Of course, if you were one of the many "poor" here, you would go into the emergency room of any hospital, be admitted, and probably have surgery the next day....yep, we have it bad here.
Let me tell you a story about my cousin.
He had no health insurance and a low paying job. He could not see a doctor, because doctors want payment up front, and he did not have money to pay a doctor nor did he qualify for Medicare.
When he got sick, he had to "tough it out" because he knew he could not afford the doctor visit nor the tests that the doctor might order for him. When he finally collapsed, he was rushed to the hospital in the small town where he lived, he was flown by helicopter to a hospital in the city where surgeons rushed him into surgery. He survived for about a week, but the life-saving measures were too late. He was 55 years old.
Your friend, while agitated that he had to wait, survived. Had your friend's ailment been more severe than it was, then surgery would have been performed immediately.
As for showing up in the emergency room one day and having surgery the next, that almost never happens. My mother was hospitalized for chest pains, she was diagnosed with arterial blockages, spent a week in the hospital and sent home with instructions similar to your friend. Her surgery was performed 4 weeks after the diagnosis. She had quadruple bypass surgery.
Again, my rotator cuff injury, while painful, was hardly life-threatening or urgent.
Clinic to X-Ray to cortisone shots to specialist to Nuclear medicine - about ten days.
I won't be complaining.
Most Canadians are quite happy with the system.
If it's urgent or life-threatening, the care is immediate and of excellent quality.
seems to indicate that you are the exception, not the rule.
Site is mildly difficult to navigate.. But for Outpatient Shoulder Surgery.. I can't tell if this is throughout Canada or just in BC.. There are (As of May 31st) 1538 people waiting for shoulder surgery. 50% of people who have had shoulder surgery were taken care of within 10.5 weeks. 90% were taken care of within 42.7 weeks.
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Waiting 6 weeks for CT scan or MRI would be just fine by me if the prospect of needed care at little or no cost to me was on the other side.....
That is irrelevant to the point I was making. Not talking about whether the wait times are acceptable or not. Pointing out that there are, indeed, wait times for 'elective' items while also pointing out that there are NOT wait times for critical care items.
My Grandmother was really never sick a day in her life. Minor things that any 87 year old would deal with.. Low potassium. Monitoring her blood pressure (which wasn't HIGH, but was elevated a bit).. On Christmas Day 2013 she thought she was having a heart attack. Called an ambulance.. Found that she had a hiatal hernia undiagnosed for a VERY long time (She always just thought it was heartburn) and her stomach was actually trying to come up her esophagus.
She was transferred to a larger regional medical center because the local hospital wasn't comfortable doing the surgery and wanted a specialist to do it. They basically strapped her stomach down to keep it in place.. She was in the hospital for.. About 10 days. Heart problems were detected during the hospital stay and a pacemaker was implanted. She was then sent to a nursing home (technically 'rehab facility' would be more accurate) for just under 2 months.
Total cost to her... Nothing. And this is in the US. Medicare, plus supplemental, plus her state health insurance in retirement. She did not owe one penny for that. she did have to pay for the prescriptions they put her on. Again, nothing major.. Unfortunately, she developed a reaction to the blood thinners and had to be taken off them.
What she DID have to pay for.. After the 2 months in the nursing home, she didn't feel strong enough to live on her own.. So, she elected to go to a retirement community on a temporary basis. THAT cost her about $2000 a month, which would have been MUCH more if she had needed round-the-clock nursing care. I don't believe that is really any different in Canada.. Again, someone there can perhaps speak to that.. UHC in Canada does or doesn't cover nursing home care/long term care?
Now. This story does not have a happy ending.. In mid-April, she threw a blood clot which caused a massive left hemisphere stroke. She was airlifted to the regional medical center and spent a week in the stroke unit. Then was transferred to Hospice care as the stroke was basically something she would not recover from. She passed peacefully in Hospice 10 days after the stroke.
Again, total cost to her.. Nothing. I share this story just to point out.. Not every person who has a severe medical event in the US goes bankrupt.
Again, total cost to her.. Nothing. I share this story just to point out.. Not every person who has a severe medical event in the US goes bankrupt.
A friend of my niece's had a premature baby. At the time she and her husband had no health insurance because he'd been laid off. The baby needed intensive neonatal care. The baby died anyway. The couple is now in debt for over $1 million.
This report is typical propaganda for universal health care.
Anyone who knows someone from Canada or England will tell you how horrible getting fast and good healthcare is in those countries.
You would wait weeks to get the same procedures you get in days here.
I had the unfortunate experience of tearing my Achilles tendon recently. I was on a forum that is world wide, for those who have done this and required medical repair. The difference in protocols was AMAZING. Much better care in the US vs other countries. In fact, those living elsewhere were constantly complaining about the lack of adequate care for this pretty common injury. Long waits, lack of facilities, refusals to do surgery or even perform MRI's - going the cheapest route possible (trying to fix it nonsurgically when in the US the more effective surgical route was nearly always taken, and almost immediately).
Made me very glad to be living in the US and "putting up with" our medical system. I tore mine in February and am fully recovered while many in the group in the UK, Australia, etc are still clumping around in orthopedic boots and hoping to eventually get the care they need.
I had the unfortunate experience of tearing my Achilles tendon recently. I was on a forum that is world wide, for those who have done this and required medical repair. The difference in protocols was AMAZING. Much better care in the US vs other countries. In fact, those living elsewhere were constantly complaining about the lack of adequate care for this pretty common injury. Long waits, lack of facilities, refusals to do surgery or even perform MRI's - going the cheapest route possible (trying to fix it nonsurgically when in the US the more effective surgical route was nearly always taken, and almost immediately).
Made me very glad to be living in the US and "putting up with" our medical system. I tore mine in February and am fully recovered while many in the group in the UK, Australia, etc are still clumping around in orthopedic boots and hoping to eventually get the care they need.
You're lucky to be one of the ones who actually has health insurance.
LaBonte, my mother was a retired school teacher and like your Grandmother, had EXCELLENT insurance coverage through the Teacher's Retirement System in the state of Texas..... My mother had many health problems starting in her early 40's and was always able to receive excellent care at little to no cost to her.......
But.... those all inclusive insurance plans paid for by an employer or retirement system are a thing of the past......
the insurance coverage I had 10 years ago cost WAY less and covered WAY more than what I have now and that is our future...... unless things change drastically and so long as the insurance lobbyists are calling the shots, that will not happen.....
You're lucky to be one of the ones who actually has health insurance.
No complaints here with the Scottish NHS.
The vast majority of Americans have comprehensive health coverage.
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