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I have a good friend who lives in the UK and she thinks their healthcare is wonderful. My son spent over a year there in school. When he was sick he was seen right away and the cost of any prescription was very reasonable. When I get sick and call my doctor, they tell me they have no openings for 2 weeks. I could be dead by then
The cost of prescriptions per item is £8.40p. Approx $10. If needing lots of medicines, then a three month season ticket can be purchased for £29.10p, or about $36. Many people don't have to pay anything, which includes all aged 60 and over, children, and low paid, or unemployed.
My doctor didn't think it was so great. She and her husband moved from Canada to the US to get out of the Canadian health care system. She says the system doesn't allow doctors to make a living that compensates for the effort they put in to become doctors. I'm not sure when she moved to the US. She's been my doctor for over 20 years now.
For me the fear of a doctor shortage would have to be addressed. If people don't think it's worth it to go through the education to become a doctor we could have a serious problem.
Canada is seeing a shortage of family practice doctors as doctors choose more lucrative specialties. They are also seeing a shortage in areas of low population density in a system where the only way to make more money is to turn over more patients. Health care becomes like schools where the more students you can pack into a room the more money you get from the government. That hasn't worked well for schools where it doesn't matter what a good education costs. You have what you have and that is it unless you can find a way to pack more students into the space you find available.
One thing I like about my doctor is she takes her time with her patients. It's annoying to have to wait for your appointment but I try to remember that she gets behind because she takes her time with each and every one of us. If the only way to make more money is to see more patients that goes away.
Interesting. My Mom lives in Canada today
My Mother had a serious fall first week of December. She hasn't had to wait for anything. She had a stroke a few days later at home. She did spend two weeks in hospital for a cracked neck, and then for therapy from the stroke (she's completely recovered). Two amubulance rides, two hospitals, physical therapy, . etc only cost - tv and phone in her room.
She was sent home and someone comes in every day to help her out and a physical therapist comes weekly to help her. Her doctor made a house call. No cost -- no co-pay.
She did have to pay for her neck brace -- I think it was under $100 and she bought a walker. That's all.
I lived in Canada 20 years ago. There wasn't a shortage of doctors back then -- not at all. Not sure where this person lived though. Like some parts in USA without great facilities and doctors.....there may have been areas with no doctors. When I moved from downtown Toronto to a small community of 30,000K I wanted one specific doctor and only got in because my sister was a patient of that doctor....she wasn't taking anymore because she was 'full up'. My Mom did have to travel to neighboring communities for her treatments because the town she lives in isn't big enough to have the special services for what she needed. But that's not 'socialized medicine'...that happens here.
My father in law was very sick and was air ambulanced from USA back to Canada -- he hasn't waited for any treatment and they haven't paid anything.
My mother in law has alzheimer (my in laws are separated and remarried) and she is waiting for a space in a full time care facility that meets the standard they want but that's all she has ever had to wait for.
When we lived there I had a son who had asthma -- phoned my doctor at 8:30 in the morning and that I thought he had a bad cold. I was at the doctors at 9 -- she said he was having an asthma attack and take him to the hospital. I walked in and said - my doctor says he is having an asthma attack - -they walked me to the back and saw us immediately.
The only time I ever waited in Canada in an emergency room was when I broke two toes. They don't do anything for broken toes but I they said they could put a cast on it to protect the toes (I used public transit in the big city & was concerned). So I waited a long time for that because it was election - -and FREE.
I went to emergency once with my then 2 year old child in the greater Atlanta area. He had taken a spill, as 2 year olds do...but then started throwing up a few hours later...just inside the time that it could be related to the fall. I brought him in. We waited over half an hour in the empty emergency waiting room....with him throwing up. They then took us back and we waited about half an hour again...then they looked at him -- blood pressure that kind of thing.....he had stopped throwing up. We then waited an hour for a catscan ...and then we waited another hour for results. We shared a room with a woman who had a case of the trots and wanted the doctor to give her meds because she was suppose to take a plane the next day and didn't want to have them on the plane. They were discussing options. We waited....waited.
So not sure the better health care applies. If my son had truly been at risk for a concussion shouldn't they have taken him right away -- shouldn't they have been a little more proactive. Nope...nope nope.
30,000 vets have died waiting for care in the USA.
Yes doctors CAN make more money here but is that better for all of us...and in 20 years the US health insurance has changed. During that time doctors have refused patients from various programs because the insurance companies don't pay what the doctors want.
So please don't make it like we can walk into any doctor in the USA and get whatever treatment we want. Unless you are millionaires -- you are restricted, may not have all the access you want or need.
My mother in law fell and broke her hip last Saturday night. She was taken to the hospital, and operated on Sunday morning. New hip, and right now she is awaiting transfer to a concentrated physio unit to get her mobile again. She is 91 years old. No questions about insurance, no bills. Just free treatment at the point of need. Of course nothing is free....... we pay for the NHS through our taxes. But no one seriously ever considers a different form of health care in the UK.
Last edited by English Dave; 03-26-2017 at 05:48 AM..
They don't want to do what makes sense, which is medicare for everyone because they are beholden to Wall Street and the donor class.
How would the buy-in be structured for those who haven't already paid Medicare tax for decades? There'd be a full-scale riot if everyone suddenly becomes eligible for that which others have had to pre-pay tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or in some cases, millions of dollars over the span of their careers.
What makes the US different, that would make such system a disaster?
The United States isn't a nation. It is a weird union of various ethnic groups who often hate each other.
Welfare works as long as people identify themselves with the nation, and want to work for its common benefit. It doesn't work when everyone is trying to take advantage of the system because of some feeling of past or present wrongs, or because they believe others are taking advantage of the system.
Social safety-nets work really well in homogeneous countries, but fail miserably in diverse countries.
Last edited by Redshadowz; 03-26-2017 at 05:46 AM..
Few foreigners travel to the US for surgery. Don't make it sound like every foreigner wants to come to the US for anything; they don't
There is no doubt that overall quality-of-care would decline with a single-payer system.
There is no doubt that many wealthy foreigners do travel to America for certain procedures, and that it never happens the other way around.
There is no doubt that the vast-majority of new healthcare techniques/treatments/drugs/machines/etc, come from the American healthcare industry. And that that is in large part because of its huge profitability, which diverts top-level talent into the medical industry.
And one of our main exports to the world, is medical technology.
These are just the facts. There is no reason to argue about them. And any attempt to argue about them, turns into total stupidity.
Now, what is also a fact, is that no country who has a single-payer system, wants to get rid of it for a private system. Because the truth is, people like the peace-of-mind that a single-payer system provides.
Most people would gladly trade quality for security and equality.
The one thing that every person in this world wants, is security.
That's interesting because Governor Jerry Brown claims California can't afford single-payer. Even WITH all those Hollywood, Music Industry, and Silicon Valley 1%-ers.
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