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Is Universal Healthcare Worth It?
- Thread starter n00bs7ay3r
- Start date
The whole "long wait times" boogie man is pretty much universally from common conditions that aren't actually urgent, just inconvenient, where the shorter times only really exist if you're rich and can afford to pay extra for quicker treatment (plus have less competition for doctors due to many people just not having enough to afford said treatment at all)
No of course not. Look what they put you through! Fight the power.
Missus has been diagnosed with the same here in the UK and its tough enough here without the financial angst, I cannot imagine what you are going through :(
but those times aren't that dissimilar to the waiting times at the NHS? I think you could say 3-6 months here to see a specialist and the NHS is widely touted as the worst it's even been right now..... ( I think there is some 18 week rule they are trying to keep to atm)
I hurt my knee and was given a $20 elastic brace like you buy at the supermarket (which I was charged $50 for), then another $175 "strapping the knee" charge, and then even more for seeing the doctor for less than 5 minutes. He even initially checked the wrong knee, told me I had a degenerative condition, and tried to get out in less than a minute. I told him it was the wrong knee, he did the exact same thing, told me the same diagnosis. In all, it came to about $450. All because I sprained my knee at work.
Edit: And don't get me started on my $10,000 7 hour hospotal bill I've had before.
Also on disability so I completely understand. Watching millions of Americans parrot Republican talking points against their own self-interest is the most bizarre thing for me.
"Don't want the government in my healthcare," they stupidly repeat, not knowing what it really means.
I'm in Canada and my wife has private insurance through her firm on top of the universal healthcare that we have.
She visits the private clinic once a year for a checkup, and she says it is a lot more thorough than the typical physical from a family physician. They do almost every kind of test required (ultrasound, blood, urine, physical fitness, etc) in order to gather a much better idea of your physical health. She likes the visits as she tends to get anxious about potential physical ailments, so the visits are great to calm her nerves and confirm that she is healthy.
That being said, there's nothing they do that you couldn't get from a general physician in the public space, but in those cases you may need to wait longer for services and some may not be offered unless you have symptoms that suggest a need for the test and a referral from your doctor.
The private sector makes money from every one of those tests, so yes they will do more tests than required, not necessarily following clinical guidelines.
Public healthcare plays a similar game.
They like to give any reason for you to come in for an appointment so they can bill the government.
The better ones would do things like renew scripts by faxing them straight to your pharmacy, but others insist you come in for 5 minutes so they can hand you a sheet of paper.
The post is satire. The implication is that they got a treatment in Canada (a country with a universal health care system) for $20 when in places like the US without them it'd cost way, way more and then joking by saying "but was me And others like me not going into debt worth the cost"
Thanks for the replies, seems like a pretty good system although I'm surprised dental and vision aren't covered by public options in Canada (if I'm reading that right). All of these options are miles better than the medieval system we have in the US
I spontaneously vomited blood last year, drove myself to an ER, waited 9 hours to be seen, got taken back and had blood drawn. Waited on the cot for 3 hours to get the results and was then released. I received a $700 bill a week later.
I have good insurance and am in the US. Universal heath care or not, something has to be done.
I have good insurance and am in the US. Universal heath care or not, something has to be done.
I can verify this - and it's almost entirely reserved to GPs. Specialists are so busy that they can't be bothered to waste an appointment slot on a prescription renewal, so one of their nurses will fill out the paperwork and they'll sign a stack of them to be faxed off.
Your average GP, however, can bill an entire slot to do nothing more than print a piece of paper and scribble on it. Hell, I can't entirely blame them - there is nothing in the system set up to prevent this as it's easier and far more lucrative to simply bill for an appointment and prescription renewal. And they aren't required to give a patient a certain number of refills, so they can get away with giving you a month or three and simply have you back to pad their services, all of which are billable $50-$100 depending on what they did and/or what they feel they can code.
In Australia the public section of the system works pretty well. I get to choose my general practitioner, it costs me nothing at the point of service, no issues at all.
I do however hate having private health insurance and would dismantle that entire section of the system if it meant a completely universal public system.
I do however hate having private health insurance and would dismantle that entire section of the system if it meant a completely universal public system.
I have yet to see a compelling argument against universal healthcare, and people not being able to get the care they absolutely need without being in financial ruin does nothing but depress me regarding the pathetic state this country is in.
So yes, it would be very worth it.
So yes, it would be very worth it.
So... why try to make necessary changes in the right, empathetic direction?
I've got insurance through work.
Still pay 100 bucks a month for it.
If I broke my hand, no matter what I'm paying 1300 for my deductible to be fulfilled.
Say it's a 3,000 bill (that's generously low), the insurance will only pay 90% of that remaining 1700.
So boom I'm paying $1470 out of pocket.
Many people have the ability to budget for emergencies. I certainly can.
But it's much easier to budget my finances when I know large out of pocket medical costs aren't a thing.
And if I had to guess, my insurance plan is actually probably considered better than average.
My employer still contributes about 450 bucks a month to subsidize my premiums, too.
Medicare for all. Now.
Still pay 100 bucks a month for it.
If I broke my hand, no matter what I'm paying 1300 for my deductible to be fulfilled.
Say it's a 3,000 bill (that's generously low), the insurance will only pay 90% of that remaining 1700.
So boom I'm paying $1470 out of pocket.
Many people have the ability to budget for emergencies. I certainly can.
But it's much easier to budget my finances when I know large out of pocket medical costs aren't a thing.
And if I had to guess, my insurance plan is actually probably considered better than average.
My employer still contributes about 450 bucks a month to subsidize my premiums, too.
Medicare for all. Now.
No but... that's the implication. If there's a bigger, more effective first step for covering everyone and lowering costs let me know. But collective bargaining to reign in stuff like 20 dollar aspirin, crippling personal debt due to health issues and accidents and clearing some of the obvious fog and obfuscation regarding the costs of health care on a personal level seems like a pretty solid starting point to address absurd costs in health treatment here in the US.
Amen it's worth it!
I broke my leg so bad one that it required surgery to put it back together. The accident happened in the morning, the surgery in the afternoon, and I was back home by dinner time (albeit in a cast and with lots of pain!).
The only thing it cost me was a thank you to the staff at the hospital on the way out.
I broke my leg so bad one that it required surgery to put it back together. The accident happened in the morning, the surgery in the afternoon, and I was back home by dinner time (albeit in a cast and with lots of pain!).
The only thing it cost me was a thank you to the staff at the hospital on the way out.
My statement was that the political will for a universal charge card does not imply a political will for cost reductions. If we got our healthcare costs down to G7 norms the government already spends enough directly to provide health care for every American. -No additional taxation required.
You have the choice between death and financial ruin. That's not a choice.
If you already live in a area like that. You couldn't afford American healthcare costs.
Someone in a similar circumstance here wouldn't even consider going to the hospital for a stabbing. A single stabbing and treatment would cost thousands of dollars.
A life threatening stabbing requiring surgery would put you into a life debt.
The costs of health care treatment will increase, the charge masters at each individual hospital will have insane inflation, and the costs will be so high that they then require lawyers to negotiate to the hospital, in which the hospital will have lawyers to negotiate with the insurers this raising the cost spent for health insurance.
I have never seen a primary doctor in my life and I couldn't afford the insurance and payments just for a freaking checkup without putting myself into debt to do so.
You don't want this.
Having spent the better part of the past year outside of the USA: yes, it is super worth it. You really can't see just how messed up the USA is until you spend a decent amount of time looking at it from the outside.
Yeah I should have specified GPs. I recently left my old one because I'm not taking time off work every month for a refill.
Not all of them do this though.
Specialists are booked months in advance here. Worst thing I've seen is them squeezing too many people in and you get a 5 minute appointment right before their lunch break.
I have had so many ultrasounds and bloodtests in the last month or so for inevitable miscarriage, the most I've paid is my time and maybe $5 sign up fee for some online access to results because I didn't want to wait to hear from doctor a few days later. Thanks, Canada?
Anyway, yeah it's worth it. Mostly had a good time lol.
Anyway, yeah it's worth it. Mostly had a good time lol.
Not sure if serious...
To give an example, my dad got diagnosed with cancer in November, got the surgery in December and now in April he's going for radiotherapy. That's FAST. And I mean it, in the span of a month he got the tumors removed. Plus he's taking a lot of drugs, and he'll be on medication forever. The cost of it all is zero, literally (he doesn't pay drugs because he's retired). Well if you don't count our hospital parking and eating costs lol
Of course it's fucking worth it
To give an example, my dad got diagnosed with cancer in November, got the surgery in December and now in April he's going for radiotherapy. That's FAST. And I mean it, in the span of a month he got the tumors removed. Plus he's taking a lot of drugs, and he'll be on medication forever. The cost of it all is zero, literally (he doesn't pay drugs because he's retired). Well if you don't count our hospital parking and eating costs lol
Of course it's fucking worth it
Put it this way. My wife is an NHS nurse in the UK. We also have private hospitals here in the UK and sometimes nurses move between hospitals (My wife hasn't though). She has spoken to many nurses and doctors who have worked in private hospitals where the more affluent in the UK would go for checkups etc and they say the standard of care is way worse because they need to think about the cost to the patient whereas in the NHS all they think about is the best way to make someone better.
So for tax (which I believe is comparable to US) we get better healthcare with no additional payments to abhorrent insurance companies and live stress free.
I'd say universal healthcare is worth it and then some.
So for tax (which I believe is comparable to US) we get better healthcare with no additional payments to abhorrent insurance companies and live stress free.
I'd say universal healthcare is worth it and then some.
Er, you do realise that the post that you replied to was 100% sarcasm, yeah? :)
In the UK we have repeat prescriptions which a doc will give you on initial assessment then will sit in the pharmacy until you don't need it anymore. In Scotland even the prescription is free. GP surgeries here only want to see sick people.
I think there's private insurance in every healthcare system in the planet. No country forbids private care, they just provide a public system.
I can talk about Spain, here the entire public system is publicly run. Pretty much like the NHS in the UK, only since 2002 each autonomous community (Think states in the US) runs its own healthcare system with the national healthcare system doing some coordination. Everyone pays for it with their taxes, has their health card, and so on. If you want, you can pay a private insurance for a number of things, for instance, most dental work is not covered by the public system (Something I think is a mistake and might change in the future) so you might want a dental insurance. Or maybe you want to have your own private GP, so you pay for that. The biggest annoyance with the public system is that in order to go to a specialist, your GP has to refer you to them first. (For instance, now I have to go to the dermatologist, so I booked an appointment with my GP for tomorrow who will then appoint me with the dermatologist, which is absurd) So, some people pay for that.
Of course, the moment somebody has a cancer, surgery for life-threatening ailments or anything like that, they often end up going to the public care for that.
- Much faster time to see a doctor and be addressed. Faster time to get surgery done.
- More treatment options depending on how much you want to pay using the latest technology and medical procedures.
- Better drug options. Perhaps using well-known brand names.
- If you have to stay in hospital then you'd get your own room instead of being placed in a ward. Probably a dedicated nurse.
- Better food and furniture/electronics/entertainment in the hospital.
- Better visiting hours??? Not sure about this.
- Better support after you are discharged
Of course, you understand that this all comes at a cost because its private. You either pay for what you want or you pay a monthly fee to the support.
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The very first point is the one that's actually a substantial improvement though. The rest range from debatable, to mild improvement. And at least in Spain if you need a serious life threatening procedure they send you to the public hospital even if you pay private. That's because most private doctors are also in the public system but that's another beast...
Yes indeed you are correct. The only substantial improvement is the reduced waiting time to be addressed/get surgery done. Essentially, you are paying to cut the queue.