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Huh. Putting off surgery for months due to restrictions? Sounds like my mother who couldn't get back surgery for a near-herniated disk because her insurance demanded she go through two months of physical therapy first and she didn't have the funds (thanks to being out of work because of it) to pay for the surgery outright. So, thanks to insurance, she spent two months in agonizing pain for a surgery that fixed the problem immediately.
Huh. Putting off surgery for months due to restrictions? Sounds like my mother who couldn't get back surgery for a near-herniated disk because her insurance demanded she go through two months of physical therapy first and she didn't have the funds (thanks to being out of work because of it) to pay for the surgery outright. So, thanks to insurance, she spent two months in agonizing pain for a surgery that fixed the problem immediately.
So what makes the UK different from the US?
The per-capita cost is 40% of what we pay, average life expectancy is marginally higher and infant mortality lower.
Here is the opposite side of the coin. Rural Health Plans Initiative in Colorado has gone belly up. The CEO is facing 20 years in prison. Dozens of employers and thousands of their employees are not covered and now they have millions in bills they will have to pay on their own.
This comes on the heels last year of UnitedHealthcare in Co. denying coverage because a baby was too fat and a different child being too thin.
Huh. Putting off surgery for months due to restrictions? Sounds like my mother who couldn't get back surgery for a near-herniated disk because her insurance demanded she go through two months of physical therapy first and she didn't have the funds (thanks to being out of work because of it) to pay for the surgery outright. So, thanks to insurance, she spent two months in agonizing pain for a surgery that fixed the problem immediately.
So what makes the UK different from the US?
Not even close to the same.
Waiting around and doing nothing does not compare to trying alternative cures that would by much less invasive.
So, this is about "routine" surgeries and things like knee and hip replacements that have nothing to do with mortality rates, correct?
If I lived in any country that had universal health care, it would be clear to me (as they've always stated) that these types of surgeries have the lowest priority. The most acutely ill are taken care of first. I would definitely be purchasing a private policy to ride along side my universal health care if I wanted to insure I got faster treatment for more elective types of operations.
I think U.S. healthcare and treatment speed WAS excellent in the country up until the early 90s. I think, these days, it's getting rather sucky. It takes up to 3 months to get in to see an endocrinologist in my area and that is already knowing you have thyroid cancer. It took my aunt 2 months just to get in the door of an orthopedic surgeon for her bad knee and another 7 months to get on the surgical schedule.
In certain areas of the country where the doctor to patient ratio is "off", we are not doing much better.
Billions for surgery. Not one dollar for prevention.
Not much you can do to "prevent" an accident at work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003
Not even close to the same.
Waiting around and doing nothing does not compare to trying alternative cures that would by much less invasive.
When she had already been going to PT 3x a week for two weeks and received steroid injections only to have her back worsen... she had to undergo two months of literal torture because "trying alternatives" is better than sitting around, doing nothing, and not worsening it? ((Take into account, that the "approved" PT office was 25 miles from her house and upped to 4x a week))
Ever seen a person with a near-herniated disk so badly off that they appeared to have lost 4-5 inches in height?
Though, the article doesn't say that these patients were "doing nothing". If anything, the only thing it says is "simply delaying surgery by one means or another does not improve the outcome for patients as their condition can deteriorate." Which, I'm deducing that "one means or another" would be something like offering physical therapy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaggy001
The per-capita cost is 40% of what we pay, average life expectancy is marginally higher and infant mortality lower.
Well, imagine that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantasy Tokoro
So the future of healtcare in the US is the exact same as it is now?
Exactly what I'm thinking. Every single "horror" story presented about a country with "socialized medicine" is already happening in our current system.
There are many much bigger contributors to life expectancy than health care.
Blah blah blah ......
Keep paying America
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