Discussion Your countries healthcare system.

[Threads]

What is your opinion of the current state of your countries healthcare system. How do you feel about it. What is lacking and how can it be improved? What do you think caused the problems it is currently enduring? How would address these issues?

I live in the United States, The healthcare industry here is a racket and is in bed with all other major industries. In the United States, healthcare prices skyrocketed under Reagan, as he pushed for the privatization and commodification of the healthcare industry. I currently pay $400 a month for my health insurance, although I have spectacular health insurance, many others cannot afford what I pay, and I find the entire racket (Because that's what it is) to be outrageous.

I feel that we have a very serious lack of professionals in the healthcare industry and that this shortage has also contributed to skyrocketing costs. Given the cost and difficulty of getting a professional or graduate degree, I can see the shortage becoming more and more dire, creating even more difficult conditions for Americans who lack the proper financial class to receive necessary care in a timely manner.

I don't see a realistic solution for this complex problem. I don't think merely providing medicare for all is a viable solution, especially given how the predatory nature of American capitalism is.

Tell me how you feel?

 

[311]

Massachusetts provides insurance for those who cant afford it. I believe it's a good model. California doesnt

 

[TAW122]

I'm in the US as well. What is lacking is due to the sky high prices of health insurance, poor coverage, and quality of care. My previous insurance plan which I had for almost 2 years (after my parent's healthcare plan stopped covering me after age 26), was utter shit. It was shit because it costs about $200 or so per month, the deductible was high as fuck, like $8K or something, coverage was piss poor (only for catastrophic situations), and of course, it was too expensive to maintain. I dropped the insurance like half a year ago and never looked back. I never really needed healthcare and even going to get a physical done annually was still hell of a lot cheaper than spending $200 per month for almost 2 years.

As far as solving the healthcare problem, well all I can say is to reduce the cost of it so people can afford it, have better quality professionals, revamp the way healthcare is run, but those are just too generalized solutions. Like @Threads said, there just simply isn't any good solution for this.

 

[hunter_lewis]

I live in Western Europe. Everyone has affordable healthcare. It is required by law that you have a healthcare insurance. The standard is the same for almost everybody.
I am very lucky because I am chronically ill and in the U.S my treatments would cost thousands of dollars

 

[ArtsyDrawer]

I'm pretty sure I have SOME sort of insurance, except I don't know what kind. Or if it's insurance. Or anything. It's weird here. I'll describe what I go through every couple months and you try and tell me what's this called.

• I need to do a thing. Usually yet another fancy MRI.
• I fight with my boss because getting a "seventeenth form" is a pain in the ass. The offices are open in the morning. My boss is the kind of guy who will scream if you're literally a minute late.
• I go to an office, armed with now roughly 6kg of papers. I look and find a very specific woman. She knows me. She sees me. She sighs. I ask for a "seventeeth form". She asks for papers. We start digging through an ever increasing amount of papers. Some are over five years old and still relevant.
• We spend roughly half an hour faxing all the papers god knows where. The fax is automated through some fancy sorting system.
• I get called from a hospital. It's never the hospital I need to go to. My request is denied.
• Next day I get a call from a hospital I DO need to go to. My request is accepted.
• I fight with my boss again. I need to pick up this A4 paper in person. Late by roughly ten minutes again.
• I put this paper in a special box I built for these forms. It's large, it's heavy, there's no way in hell it gets lost.
• I ask for a day off due to medical reasons. Boss has to agree. Demands proof that I've been in hospital.
• I show up in hospital about two hours too early. I'm anxious as hell.
• I'm called. I give said "seventeenth form". Sometimes they ask me for extra money. Never more than 50NIS.
• The thing is done.
• I ask for a written proof that I've been doing the thing. Entrance and exit times are often "falsified" because while the thing is often short, waiting to do the thing takes a few hours.
• I'm asked how I'm not dead yet.

However, in my paycheck, a huge chunk goes to "medical expenses". I've never been treated at work for anything bigger than a carboard cut. If you think papercuts are bad, You DO NOT want to experience a cardboard cut.
To sign up for this thing I literally walked into the office I go to every time I need something medical done and said "Hello. I want to sign up for your service, please."
The sign up process for this was roughly half an hour.

 

[Severen]

You have to pay a lot of $$$ for healthcare here and if you can't, you are fucked unless you are a single mom... Yeah, welcome to MURICA. Where poor people without kids are considered scum and should just fuck off and die in at least half the population's eyes. Some states help all poor people with heatlhcare though. But the Republicans are trying to sabotage this.

 

[Sinbad]

Free! Tho I question the quality of care..

 

[Shewaitsforme]

Im in the uk so NHS, i also work for the NHS so tbh ive had better access to mental health services than most. Most i pay for healthcare is £10 for my prescription as im not exempt (you dont pay for medication when your in hospital tho). I dont know how people in the US survive although the UK is quickly following suit.

 

[Severen]

Im in the uk so NHS, i also work for the NHS so tbh ive had better access to mental health services than most. Most i pay for healthcare is £10 for my prescription as im not exempt (you dont pay for medication when your in hospital tho). I dont know how people in the US survive although the UK is quickly following suit.

The U.K. is light years ahead of the USA.

 

[Shewaitsforme]

The U.K. is light years ahead of the USA.

We are regressing, when you work in the NHS you see it clearly. You see the change in ownership. So many things have been sold but still bare the mark of NHS so patients dont find out, little bits of funding cuts that are to be replaced by access only with payment. Its crazy whats hapoening in the face of the public and they dont even know the half of it.

 

[Johnnythefox]

I'm in Scotland, we get free prescriptions here.

 

[GreenLantern]

Massachusetts provides insurance for those who cant afford it. I believe it's a good model

Romneycare?!

This is one of the many reasons I hate america. Growing up they teach you that america is so great, and the best in the world. This is proof that it isn't. (Some) other countries have it so much better than america. If I was from somewhere else, I wouldnt even visit the united states.

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

I'm In the US with no health insurance. I can't really get any because the premium is too expensive and I have one or two pre-existing conditions - plus I'm a smoker. Even if I could get it, I'm looking at a 5 grand deductible every year so unless I break my leg or something I won't even hit that, rendering this whole garbage system utterly pointless. Who invented the American healthcare model? Opulent sociopaths you say? Ah, well that explains it.

 

[CJM]

Public here. It does the job, I don't have to worry about paying for anything should I need to go to the hospital. If I wanna see a private doctor I need to pay around $40 and perscriptions are $5.

Sure you'll get wait times with public but If I wanted to I can just go the private insurance route and go through private hospitals, but I'm fine where I am.

 

[Lra888]

I live in NY and I have cheap insurance: $20 a month, copays are $25 for psych doc and therapy, prescriptions are a few dollars or less (I just filled my klonopin and it was 98 cents). It's cheap for me because I have a shit job. If I made less it would be totally free.

America is odd in that healthcare is often least affordable and most difficult to obtain for the middle class. If you have an okay income you'll be paying hundreds per month per person, if you're poor it's very low cost or free, if you're rich it's still hundreds but it doesn't matter because you're rich.

 

[TAW122]

America is odd in that healthcare is often least affordable and most difficult to obtain for the middle class. If you have an okay income you'll be paying hundreds per month per person, if you're poor it's very low cost or free, if you're rich it's still hundreds but it doesn't matter because you're rich.

Pretty much sums it up. That's what my father once told me when he lectured me about the health insurance problem a few years ago. Since I'm from a middle class family (though not middle class at all in terms of my bank and socioeconomic status currently), I cannot afford the couple of hundreds per month due to lack of income and a small bank account atm. Plus my coverage sucks for what I'm paying for.

 

[Lra888]

Pretty much sums it up. That's what my father once told me when he lectured me about the health insurance problem a few years ago. Since I'm from a middle class family (though not middle class at all in terms of my bank and socioeconomic status currently), I cannot afford the couple of hundreds per month due to lack of income and a small bank account atm. Plus my coverage sucks for what I'm paying for.

Yes it's really fucked up. Back when I had a higher paying job I was actually more financially unstable because of my healthcare costs during bad periods (insurance, therapist, psych, high copay, prescriptions etc) - and the plan was not very good, certain things not covered.

 

[Misanthrope]

We are regressing, when you work in the NHS you see it clearly. You see the change in ownership. So many things have been sold but still bare the mark of NHS so patients dont find out, little bits of funding cuts that are to be replaced by access only with payment. Its crazy whats hapoening in the face of the public and they dont even know the half of it.

The state of the NHS being organised into intentional self destruction and starved is deeply depressing. No one voted for this at all! As an insider do you think if the architects of this destruction are removed it could still saved or do you feel it is too late? That the privatization efforts have already entrenched themselves too much?

 

[SadHoe]

Mexico: it sucks and what you get for free is shit, lucky me I've never had the need to get that medical attention.
The Netherlands: my time there was when I was a minor and if I remember well my partent payed about €360 per year and that included me and meds for him lol

 

[GreenLantern]

Mexico: it sucks and what you get for free is shit, lucky me I've never had the need to get that medical attention.

But I heard in Mexico they at least get free or cheap dental care. There was a story not too long ago about americans flocking to Mexico just to get affordable dental care. Dental Tourism

 

[Shewaitsforme]

The state of the NHS being organised into intentional self destruction and starved is deeply depressing. No one voted for this at all! As an insider do you think if the architects of this destruction are removed it could still saved or do you feel it is too late? That the privatization efforts have already entrenched themselves too much?

I think even it they were removed it wouldnt 100% be saved but its destruction would be slowed down. The NHS does not have the money to buy back the services it has sold especially because alot has been sold behind the publics back. For instance the NHS sold patient transport in Greater Manchester to Arrivia they removed some equipment like the blue lights which led to less front line vehicles for emergency staff, EMTs and Paramedics sat on station with no vehicle to work out of. The NHs has been given the contract back and all vehicles one by one have been recalled to reinstall the blue lights again. The rapid responce vehicles are on hire, couldnt afford then so they are now being sent back, those paramedics on them are nkw being put on ambulances, again increasing the need for more vehicles, 3 years time they will reintroduce the rapid responce cars so money to lease them plus money to get a worker on there. We may have to co-exist with the private services now and unfortunatly that means somethings will just have to be paid for as the NHS will just not be able to afford them. Sorry i work on the ambulance so i see alot behind the scenes

 

[Final Escape]

What is your opinion of the current state of your countries healthcare system. How do you feel about it. What is lacking and how can it be improved? What do you think caused the problems it is currently enduring? How would address these issues?

I live in the United States, The healthcare industry here is a racket and is in bed with all other major industries. In the United States, healthcare prices skyrocketed under Reagan, as he pushed for the privatization and commodification of the healthcare industry. I currently pay $400 a month for my health insurance, although I have spectacular health insurance, many others cannot afford what I pay, and I find the entire racket (Because that's what it is) to be outrageous.

I feel that we have a very serious lack of professionals in the healthcare industry and that this shortage has also contributed to skyrocketing costs. Given the cost and difficulty of getting a professional or graduate degree, I can see the shortage becoming more and more dire, creating even more difficult conditions for Americans who lack the proper financial class to receive necessary care in a timely manner.

I don't see a realistic solution for this complex problem. I don't think merely providing medicare for all is a viable solution, especially given how the predatory nature of American capitalism is.

Tell me how you feel?

The problem with the healthcare system is the involvement of the state. The state controls so much that it alters the quality and choices about what healthcare u can get and afford, efficiency, the amount of doctors there can be, what doctors are taught(not necessarily taught the least invasive or best ways to treat a disease or disorder) We have not had free market capitalism in decades especially in the US at least. The worsening of the healthcare system is to do with socialist policies, not free market capitalism. Socialism has been incremental so many people get this confused. There's a new YouTube vid from Stefan Molyneux about how to save suicidal doctors. They talk about how healthcare used to be vs now in the US. When it was more free market people got much higher quality care.

 

[Lra888]

For countries with national healthcare, how does it work? Do you call for appointments for whatever type of doctor, therapist or procedure you need and they tell you to come in? Can you walk in? Do people abuse the system like making unnecessary appointments, getting lots of pills because it's all covered? Curious.

 

[Shewaitsforme]

For countries with national healthcare, how does it work? Do you call for appointments for whatever type of doctor, therapist or procedure you need and they tell you to come in? Can you walk in? Do people abuse the system like making unnecessary appointments, getting lots of pills because it's all covered? Curious.

You can make an appointment with your GP (wait times are getting longer tho) they can refer you on for what you need if they cant provide it. If you end uo in A&E they will refer you to the correct department and youll get a letter to attend an appointment. If you dont want to wait then you can pay privatly but the more people who do that the longer the wait time if for people who arbt paying. Example i needed knee surgery i ended up going private due to the pain and wait tine on the NHS a month after surgery i was sent a letter with a date for my appontment with the NHS at the same hospital id paid 2000 to have the surgery in anyway. So paying patents displace those who arnt paying. A lot of people abuse the system, pretend to be sicker so they get more benefits, council housing, dont have to work or sign on each week etc and of course there are those who dont abuse it and rely on the 'free' NHS prescriptions and treatments to keep the alive live like type 1 diabetics

 

[TAW122]

You can make an appointment with your GP (wait times are getting longer tho) they can refer you on for what you need if they cant provide it. If you end uo in A&E they will refer you to the correct department and youll get a letter to attend an appointment. If you dont want to wait then you can pay privatly but the more people who do that the longer the wait time if for people who arbt paying. Example i needed knee surgery i ended up going private due to the pain and wait tine on the NHS a month after surgery i was sent a letter with a date for my appontment with the NHS at the same hospital id paid 2000 to have the surgery in anyway. So paying patents displace those who arnt paying. A lot of people abuse the system, pretend to be sicker so they get more benefits, council housing, dont have to work or sign on each week etc and of course there are those who dont abuse it and rely on the 'free' NHS prescriptions and treatments to keep the alive live like type 1 diabetics

I guess there are drawbacks to even free healthcare or national healthcare. I do recall someone saying there was a person who had a bunion on his/her foot and it took them months to get it treated in Canada, whereas in the US the doctors can treat it soon, but it costs a fortune just to have the treatment done.

 

[Xerxes]

I get healthcare through my employer. It's really good, sadly all the therapists and doctors around here suck ass, are judgmental, horrible bedside manners, and have reception/billing staff that rip you off. The nurses misdiagnose often or can't spell so they write something generic. Schizo-affective and schizophrenia are two different diagnoses and have different medication to go with it, just because you can't spell the phrenia part.

 

[Misanthrope]

I think even it they were removed it wouldnt 100% be saved but its destruction would be slowed down. The NHS does not have the money to buy back the services it has sold especially because alot has been sold behind the publics back. For instance the NHS sold patient transport in Greater Manchester to Arrivia they removed some equipment like the blue lights which led to less front line vehicles for emergency staff, EMTs and Paramedics sat on station with no vehicle to work out of. The NHs has been given the contract back and all vehicles one by one have been recalled to reinstall the blue lights again. The rapid responce vehicles are on hire, couldnt afford then so they are now being sent back, those paramedics on them are nkw being put on ambulances, again increasing the need for more vehicles, 3 years time they will reintroduce the rapid responce cars so money to lease them plus money to get a worker on there. We may have to co-exist with the private services now and unfortunatly that means somethings will just have to be paid for as the NHS will just not be able to afford them. Sorry i work on the ambulance so i see alot behind the scenes

Thank you for your response I found it informative even if it is both troubling and disheartening.