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If you can't afford the care then it's the same as being in a country with lower healthcare resources.
That certainly could be true. But if you are smart and resourceful, take the time and explore, in many cases there are ways to get top notch treatment with very low to zero pay.
My wife is unfortunate enough to be receiving a million dollar treatment with a stem cell transplant. I talked to the director about costs and what do people do with no money? One of the treatments offered is over $300K, just for the treatment itself. Not including the costs of the necessary long hospitalization, complications, and all that. My wife was in for 60 days. He said that a few get it for free. The $300K is either written off by the hospital, or the treatment company. And there are associated moneys, grants and other supportive organizations, so that the poor can participate and be treated. How many I do not know. I have no idea of how many paying patients they take.
But I do know that Obamacare and I think Medicare pays about 1/3 of what they bill. And I hear no one complaining.
many sidelined workers are no longer employable by today's standards . many are just undesirable employees left .
you have a good portion who will test positive for hard core drugs , or can't pass a back ground check . the bulk may even be those let go because they were just not good workers and are just not wanted .
i have nothing to do with hiring at my old company but they have been hiring for years in quite a few states . the quality of people left has been poorer and poorer . like everything in life you reach a point of diminishing returns
Last edited by mathjak107; 12-08-2018 at 09:46 AM..
I can tell after over 40 years as a doc and patient, if your medical SHT really hits the fan, your best bet is the good ole USA!
No dispute on that score.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoonose
Only problem is the annual OOP expense for the middle class is too high with the latter.
Indeed, for people who have medical issues that cost between $1,000 and $12,000 per year, it makes sense to seek treatment abroad where costs can be as little as 1/10th for basically the same results. For many that solution is a lot simpler than wading through complex financing options, if any, in the US.
I would be okay with a tax-financed single-payer system, but one that works side-by-side/in competition with the private-sector system. But my understanding is that proposals for a single-payer system would also prohibit a side-by-side/competing private-sector system, which means that those proposing a single-payer system really do not want a single-payer system, they are just trolling potential voters. And that's why we have ACA, which to a great extent is a cruel joke.
In the most avowed socialist European countries, the single-payer system works side-by-side/in competition with the private sector and no one has a problem with either. Not perfect, especially in case of a huge problem that requires high-tech pharmaceuticals, facilities and equipment fast, but it does give basically the entire population at some sort of peace of mind. Perhaps it's well worth the cost to help the many that way than to save the few and throw the rest under the bus in the way that the US does.
Indeed, for people who have medical issues that cost between $1,000 and $12,000 per year, it makes sense to seek treatment abroad where costs can be as little as 1/10th for basically the same results. For many that solution is a lot simpler than wading through complex financing options, if any, in the US.
I would be okay with a tax-financed single-payer system, but one that works side-by-side/in competition with the private-sector system. But my understanding is that proposals for a single-payer system would also prohibit a side-by-side/competing private-sector system, which means that those proposing a single-payer system really do not want a single-payer system, they are just trolling potential voters. And that's why we have ACA, which to a great extent is a cruel joke.
In the most avowed socialist European countries, the single-payer system works side-by-side/in competition with the private sector and no one has a problem with either. Not perfect, especially in case of a huge problem that requires high-tech pharmaceuticals, facilities and equipment fast, but it does give basically the entire population at some sort of peace of mind. Perhaps it's well worth the cost to help the many that way than to save the few and throw the rest under the bus in the way that the US does.
But, I jest, of course.
Good Luck!
Travel medicine and surgery is very limited in reality. There are so many associated costs of travel, that it about only makes sense if you want a trip there in the first place. If the medical or surgical thing is low risk, then go for it.
I've been a proponent of a public option for about a decade now. Leave the private sector be, and to their own business. Side by side. I want this as a patient, and as a doc. Not single payer or Medicare for all.
"The long-running U.S. economic expansion has driven unemployment down to 3.7%, a half-century low. And to attract and keep workers, companies are raising wages at their fastest pace since 2009. But these improving conditions have yet to change the minds of millions of Americans who have given up looking for work. "
That's a great labor market. People who don't look for work doesn't change it, and your link also points out most of them are retired.
I can tell after over 40 years as a doc and patient, if your medical SHT really hits the fan, your best bet is the good ole USA!
There are lots of angles to this, primarily to what level of SHT we're talking. Most things that kill people (heart disease, cancer, etc.) there are many countries that can treat patients quite well.
There are lots of angles to this, primarily to what level of SHT we're talking. Most things that kill people (heart disease, cancer, etc.) there are many countries that can treat patients quite well.
Highest. Highest, and again highest!
My unfortunate wife nearly died from our highway head on 1/1/17. She would have probably died if sent to my own hospital, a level 3 ER. I probably would have killed her with a MAST suit! The long list of major injuries including at least 4 life threatening that she survived would astound you! Thanks to highly skilled paramedics directly online with the best, experienced ER docs, the most critical onsite stabilization and care, helo transportation, and then a specially trained level 1 ER and all the necessary tech and docs/surgeons at the receiving end. 36 injuries. Many surgeries, many docs and surgeons. Life threatening injuries included 3 aortic arch tears, C1 fracture, bilateral pneumo-hemothoraces, hemopericardium and pericardial tamponade. 2 weeks of trauma ICU on a ventilator/induced coma, 2 more weeks in the hospital. Then 6 weeks inpatient rehab. She walked on her own 6 months later, only to find her lymphoma reoccurring....
Her Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia morphed into a diffuse large cell lymphoma. She failed with an autologous stem cell transplant. And now barely recovering from an allo stem cell transplant done in August. Only higher level tertiary centers do the stem cells, in effect her only chance. The first transplant was a month in the hospital. The second was 2 months, where her list of side effects and complications, including several life threatening would astound about any doc!
She has endured the highest level of SHT X3 now! And today still has months and years ahead of her towards a more full recovery. Heart, lungs, pancreas, GI tract, sense of taste, renal failure, new hypertension. Still on dialysis. And of course her blood with severe pancytopenia. 28 pills a day, some highly technical and specialized, that I'd never even heard of. Very expensive of course.
I'm a doc of 40 years. Internal medicine and critical care. She has easily been my most complicated (and expensive) patient! She'd have died many times over starting in 2004 without the evolution of new medical technologies, new and highly specialized docs and treatments.
Thanks to highly skilled paramedics directly online with the best, experienced ER docs, the most critical onsite stabilization and care, helo transportation
This is indeed an area that many other countries known for otherwise solid medical care really fall short of USA.
Here in Thailand there are many good hospitals with great facilities, experienced western trained doctors, and well trained staff. However the experience with emergency transport is completely different. Ambulances come from hospitals which might be a lot farther from you through heavy traffic that isn't as keen on yielding, there isn't the USA luxury of the nearest fire station sending a fire truck with well trained paramedics as fast first responders. The ambulance is far more basic (looks like a van, not the house-on-wheels they have in USA) and crew might be a couple guys with very basic medical training and a female nurse.
That's just for in the cities, those cats living in the outskirts are best loading the person into the nearest songthaew or neighbor's pickup truck and high-tailing it to the nearest hospital with a trauma center.
The job market is great. People who get laid off and struggle to find work tend to have a slanted viewpoint.
If its great then why would I struggle to find work? By definition a great market means its an employees market thus NO ONE should struggle.
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