Health Care
- Thread starter White Knight
- Start date
White Knight
Spectral Warrior con passion
Really, Teddy, that's what I thought--and hoped for as well--when I started this thread. I need to learn from my fellow members based on their experiences and opinions.
gord
New member
hi steve, when it comes to health care, i have lived through both systems.when i arrived in canada aa american style health care was in place. in 1970 canada adopted socialized medical care. for people with lower incomes, it was a godsend, no longer did they have to worry about getting ill and losing everything. the u.s. should take on our system, everybody should be covered just like we are. rich and poor are treated the same. it is said that 500,000 u.s. citizens have illegal canadian health care cards ,which is a drain on our system. you can buy them on the black market. a lot of republicans say that the u.s could not afford a canadian style health care, of course this is nonsense, we are talking about america the richest most powerful country in the world, not some third world country. gord
White Knight
Spectral Warrior con passion
Hi Gord. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and insights. I also believe that this country should go to a "single payer system'' such as Canada and some other progressive countries have done. I believe it would be a lot more equitable than the profit driven system which we have now. However, given how much Obama has already caved in to the Republicians and their friends in the health insurance industry on such signature issues as the public option--which he had pledged to support during his presidential run--I hold out little hope for this transition occuring anytime in the foreseeable future.
Dorsetmike
Member
Steve, methinks that until the USA can scrap the lobbying systemyou will never beat the moneybags. Too many worshipping the almighty dollar, with no time or thought for people.
[rant mode on]
The drugs industry (medicinal not recreational!) have way too much power. Over here we can buy for example unbranded Paracetamol tablets, 16 for £0.20/£0.33 in a supermarket, the same item branded costs over £1/$1.60, from what I understand you don't get an unbranded option on that side of the pond.
It's the same in most other things, camera batteries, £50/$80 for a manufacturers item, Amazon or Ebay £10/$16 probably made in the same factory!
I could go on .........
[/rant mode off]
[rant mode on]
The drugs industry (medicinal not recreational!) have way too much power. Over here we can buy for example unbranded Paracetamol tablets, 16 for £0.20/£0.33 in a supermarket, the same item branded costs over £1/$1.60, from what I understand you don't get an unbranded option on that side of the pond.
It's the same in most other things, camera batteries, £50/$80 for a manufacturers item, Amazon or Ebay £10/$16 probably made in the same factory!
I could go on .........
[/rant mode off]
White Knight
Spectral Warrior con passion
Mike, your "rant" is well-taken and much appreciated indeed!
gord
New member
hi steve, the u.s. will probably never change their health care. the loud minority mainly rich who can afford to pay and have the best care in the world, are selfish and inconsiderate and dont want to give it up.the rest of the population will struggle to make outrageously high premiemsand other costs.the media, limbough,ann coulter, and the horrible fox network continue to brain wash the masses with lies and false statements. some of the things they have said about our health care is lies and completely stupid. i have heard of people actually losing their houses and going broke because they unfortunately got ill. that to me is an awful shame. gord
White Knight
Spectral Warrior con passion
Gord, you're absolutely right on point with your observations. For some reason many people in this country keep voting for the Republicians, even though the Democrats are closer to their class interests. I guess they actually believe the tripe and hype that Limbaugh, Coulter and the other right-wing blow hards are pumping up their asses.
gord
New member
steve,these tv journalists like beck, limbough,and many others on the fox network are dreadful people without a heart. i couldnt stand their bull any longer so i canceled fox news. unfortunately they crop up on other networks from time to time and continue to irritate me. anyway i am going to sign off in a few minutes and get back to my job.i will be selling a lot of my jazz lps at the toronto record show tomorrow.i have been busy all week trying to decide what too sell and i still have not finished. gord
White Knight
Spectral Warrior con passion
Good luck with your venture, gord. At least that maniac Beck has recently been fired by Fox--but as you say--just like a bad penny, he pops up somewhere else. As he's already a quite comfortable billionaire, I guess it doesn't faze him too much anyway.
teddy
Duckmeister
I have just asked my Doctor if he can change my medication. Currently I am on Metformin for diabetes, in liquid form. I discovered the cost is £600.00 per month as opposed to approximately £30.00 per month for tablets. Some of the extra cost for the liquid for is justified, i.e. it does not last so long on the shelf and therefore can not be stockpiled like tablets can, but there is a very large amont of ripoff involved. It is worth asking your doctor if it is possible to reduce the cost of your menication or health care. It might help the NHS to get back on its feet.
teddy
teddy
teddy
Duckmeister
Just had to reduce my health care insurance to a basic level. It had crept up to around £150.00 per month and I have almost halved it but of course lost some cover. The last goverment removed the tax breaks for pensioners with private insurance, which did not help matters, especially when you consider that us workers are still paying for national health cover as well. Rip off? I think so. An illegal immigrant has just had £200,000 worth of care on the NHS which they have not, and never will pay for. Shame the same care is not available for people who have lived here all their lives and payed into the system.
teddy
teddy
Dorsetmike
Member
I've never had health insurance and never had a problem getting treatment or medication. My late wife had BUPA health care before she moved here, she had a partial hysterectomy under BUPA a few months before we met, doing just enough to deal with the immediate problem. The problems recurred within about a year, NHS completed the hysterectomy and solved the problem for good and were not too complimentary of the private hospital idea of taking it away a bit at a time.
Under the private schemes they will often do that sort of thing, so they get paid twice or more for doing the job. In UK private health care is a rip off, I suspect it is similar elsewhere too. Many dentists these days seem to do a poor job too, at one time if you had a filling it was good for years, now a lot of them seem to "fall out" after a couple of years so you have to pay to have it done again and again or they do a filling when an extraction would make a far better solution, so they can get paid for an extraction after a while.
Under the private schemes they will often do that sort of thing, so they get paid twice or more for doing the job. In UK private health care is a rip off, I suspect it is similar elsewhere too. Many dentists these days seem to do a poor job too, at one time if you had a filling it was good for years, now a lot of them seem to "fall out" after a couple of years so you have to pay to have it done again and again or they do a filling when an extraction would make a far better solution, so they can get paid for an extraction after a while.
JHC
Chief assistant to the assistant chief
The main problem here is that when things go wrong in a pvt hospital they do not have the resources or expertise to deal with it, so you finish up in the public system. Over the last 9-10 mths my Wife has been in the private hosp for surgery and they have messed up and she finishes up with major surgery in the public system, so I do agree with you Mike
As an American, perhaps I can speak a little about illegal immigrants and the burdens many of them place on our health-care systems-
In America, in order for a hospital to be chartered, they are obliged to treat anyone requiring emergency care, independent of ability to pay. Sounds reasonable on its face- but in practice what happens is treatment is often given to people who can't pay, have no prospect of ever paying, have no intention of ever paying. This is particularly common among illegal immigrants (a.k.a.: "undocumented workers," according to the latest PC-edition of the Western Hemisphere's metaphorical Newspeak Dictionary).
Hospitals are left with three tactics in response to this burden...
1) Impose massive wait-times for the freeloaders, attempting to impose an opportunity-cost on the proceedings. [As a gambit, it's worth a try, as long as the patient doesn't die in the waiting area.]
2) Play "catch-up" with the billing of those who have insurance and/or the capacity to pay. (This is how $7 aspirin tablets come to pass.)
3) Shut down- close your doors. (In California, especially [where ilegal immigration is near its worst], this is happening more and more.)
teddy
Duckmeister
Yes, sounds just like England Chi. I have had the opposite experience to Mike and Colin. The NHS wanted me to wait up to 9 months for my heart opp. The hospital in London I attended opperated immediately because they discovered I was waiting " to have a massive heart attack" The insurers wounld not have paid the high costs without justification. My wife hade an opperation for hysterectomy on the NHS and they almost killed her through neglect (multiple blood clots on both lungs). 5 years later she had to have a repair done to counteract the botch on the first opp and 12 years later is still going strong.
NHS care frightens me these days. How can one nurse look after more than 30 patients on her own. Also nursing traing is now done in colledge, not on the ward. Most experienced nurses are of the oppinion than basic nursing skills are nowhere near as good as they were a few years ago. BRING BACK MATRONS.
teddy
NHS care frightens me these days. How can one nurse look after more than 30 patients on her own. Also nursing traing is now done in colledge, not on the ward. Most experienced nurses are of the oppinion than basic nursing skills are nowhere near as good as they were a few years ago. BRING BACK MATRONS.
teddy
marval
New member
To quote Teddy BRING BACK MATRONS. I absolutely agree, there were never the problems we have now with matron in charge. No speck of dirt would be allowed anywhere near matron's hosptal, and she always got things done. I was lucky enough to have an op done at a private clinic, paid for by the NHS. It was amazing, my doctor sent me there, saw the doctor one day, exactly one week later I went back and had the op done.
Margaret
Margaret
JHC
Chief assistant to the assistant chief
Margaret, it seems that different countries have different systems, the only benefit that we have of Health Insurance (private system) is that you get your treatment in a few days at most, as opposed to weeks or months on a waiting list in the public system, from our experience the public system would be the one to choose if you did not have to go on a waiting list
Dorsetmike
Member
Must admit the only 2 hospital visits for me were not the sort of thing to wait for, a Pulmonary embolism and Pneumonia. Straight in no argument both times.