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It doesn't. They wait for treatment too long and have to come here so they don't die waiting.
Actually, a lot of them are sent here by their own health systems because it is more cost effective to pay for US facilities for certain rare conditions or highly specialized therapeutic treatments than to set up their own facilities.
In the UK you also have the option to pay for private treatment if you don't want to wait. No need to come to the USA for that as they can get it at home and it is cheaper. Worth remembering that the UK has parallel public and private systems.
Every province has a list of hospitals with wait times. You can see them for yourself. Some cities have wait times less than a week if you need an MRI, others have a month. It's not uniform. I needed an endoscopy done, and I had to wait 4 MONTHS, in our good ol healthcare system
Perhaps, because it's debatable whether it works or not.
If you need orthopedic care in Great Britain the goal is to get you to the spevialist by 18 weeks. Are you willing to wait 9 months for the bypass your doctor recommends because your arteries are blocked enough that you at high risk for a heart attack, but it is considered an elective because you haven't had that heart attack yet? Or 18 weeks to get your plantar fasciitis treatment or torn ACL surgery?
Americans don't understand the concept of wait lists, the citizens of England and Canada do.
It isn't working and wealthier citizens in these countries are forgoing the free care for better care.
You can't have world class care for free.
There are no waiting lists for heart surgery in any western country with UH. These systems are very simple to explain even to someone like you. They are based on "triage". You know the meaning of that word? Good.
If your physician says you have a life-threatening health issue, you'll be in surgery within a week.
The other examples like foot problems and the like will have you waiting for several weeks, that part is true in Canada. The UK has a better system than ours which allows people with these issues to seek treatment outside the public system.
Simple answer - republicans and conservatives do not want it. They are against any government run program
In such case, it will become a national catastrophe and the conservative prophecy will fulfill itself.
"It will become"....in a situation (now) where a family of five owes (in theory) $52,500 per year just to cover their health care.....and that money, since it is not available, is simply added to debt....I mean, if you predict a catastrophe what do you call what we have? We have broken the back of the country and the economy with this three trillion per year.
Every doctor I have ever spoken to says it's time to just be done with it.....universal coverage. Let's do it by state to keep the systems smaller and also to allow those red states to serve their residents a watered down version.
RomneyCare was working fine in MA - for 5 years before the ACA came in. And I'm sure it would work fine if we left the ACA.
So the Gubment sets minimum standards (coverages or "rights") and the states decide the other stuff within those wide regs.
Actually, a lot of them are sent here by their own health systems because it is more cost effective to pay for US facilities for certain rare conditions or highly specialized therapeutic treatments than to set up their own facilities.
In the UK you also have the option to pay for private treatment if you don't want to wait. No need to come to the USA for that as they can get it at home and it is cheaper. Worth remembering that the UK has parallel public and private systems.
If they die waiting then life expectancy would change.
If enough of them went to the USA, the statistics would show it.
This is why health care is complicated. You can't use anecdotes. You have to use statistics!
There are no waiting lists for heart surgery in any western country with UH. These systems are very simple to explain even to someone like you. They are based on "triage". You know the meaning of that word? Good.
If your physician says you have a life-threatening health issue, you'll be in surgery within a week.
The other examples like foot problems and the like will have you waiting for several weeks, that part is true in Canada. The UK has a better system than ours which allows people with these issues to seek treatment outside the public system.
The best the US can do at this point. IMO, is have Medicare for 100% of the permanently resident population (the same as the UK), and tightly control prices and regulation in the private sector (Germany's approach).
Yes they work. But at the same time those systems are more complicated than many Americans realize.
At least they know what the wait times are. Nobody in the US knows how long patients have to wait or how many simply don't go for treatment because they cannot afford it.
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