Non-Americans : Please Discuss Your Healthcare

[Franklin Richards]

No. No.


I just wanted to keep the subject matter to Non-Americans and their testimony lest this thread get merged with the other. chaster and I were arguing about reference material. I may have been blunt but I thought my smiley face represented my sarcasm well enough.


Now they sorta seem to be sticking to the subject. Better than I was.

 

[chaseter]

Or in other words, you have no rebuttal. It's okay to just say "I was wrong."

Franklin asked me to quit so I did. I thought you put me on ignore

I can debate all night long, but this was turning into the healthcare thread so I respected his demand. I will rebut those points in the healthcare thread if that is the sorta thing you like or something

 

[Kurosawa]

Franklin asked me to quit so I did. I thought you put me on ignore

I can debate all night long, but this was turning into the healthcare thread so I respected his demand. I will rebut those points in the healthcare thread if that is the sorta thing you like or something

I was referring to Hound55's posts actually. And ignore never lasts long, as curiosity always gets the better of me.

 

[chaseter]

Curiosity killed the radio star.

 

[Kelly]

One of the teachers I teach with is from France, he became a US Citizen last March. I'll ask what he thinks of our health care system compared to that of France and get back with ya'll.

 

[Mister Sinister]

Awesome. I break my ankle, go to the hospital, wait a bit, they take an x-ray, tell me it's broken, plaster me up and send me home with crutches and painkillers.

And it doesn't cost a penny.

And this isn't a partisan thing in the UK, everyone loves the system, sure it's not perfect, but we couldn't see ourselves living without it.

 

[Pink Ranger]

From Canada: our system isn't perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The main thing is that you don't lose your entire life savings just because you have cancer, or just because your parents grow old.

Now, the Canadian system isn't perfect, and is unfortunately as ideologically-driven as the debate going on in the States right now. Any politician who even suggests introducing a private, for-profit, user paid option into the current system is politically dead meat. That I don't understand, as the assumption that somehow a private system existing alongside the public one will somehow destroy the public one is ingrained into Canadian political discourse, but nobody asks why, or to see any evidence that will happen whatsoever.

Still, public health care is sound fiscal policy. I am a conservative: my coworkers call me the "Dick Cheney" of our office and my own mother called me a Nazi once. That stated, a conservative politician should be prompting people to build individual wealth and to save, and a tax-funded program to prevent people from going bankrupt due to illness is a key part of that.

 

[StorminNorman]

From Canada: our system isn't perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The main thing is that you don't lose your entire life savings just because you have cancer,

No, just a greater chance at losing your life.

 

[Kurosawa]

No, just a greater chance at losing your life.

Certain kinds of cancer, it doesn't matter what your health care situation is, it's a death sentence period.

 

[Kelly]

Kuro, I've known you for quite some time.......have you always been the "glass half empty" type?

And, that's not a slam, I have many friends that fall into that category, and I love them to death......but they make me shake my head sometimes....lol

 

[Star]

Canada's healthcare is... alright, I guess. If you have cancer or something like that, I think it's all good (as in paid for)

For example, I had to get a bunch of tests done for some stomach problems I had awhile ago and I didn't have to pay anything for any of them. Or whenever I go to the walk in and get blood work or urine tests, etc, it's all free...

But sometimes when I get medicine I have to pay for it, but only sometimes? It's weird.

 

[Franklin Richards]

How long are your waits usually, Star?

 

[Star]

For what? Appointments and such?

It really depends. If I phone my doctor and I have something wrong with me, I usually get in to see him in a few days

However if I'm just making a checkup I usually have to wait a month or two.

As for waits for surgeries, I have never had one, but I've had two ultrasounds (for non-pregnancy related issues) and I think I had to wait a month or so.

 

[Franklin Richards]

I assume if you broke your leg you'd be seen that day.

Correct?



Seems reasonable to me.

 

[The Englishman]

You just give enough of a **** to post you don't give a ****?

Yeah thats all i give a **** about...

 

[Kurosawa]

Kuro, I've known you for quite some time.......have you always been the "glass half empty" type?

And, that's not a slam, I have many friends that fall into that category, and I love them to death......but they make me shake my head sometimes....lol

Personally, my older brother had gastric cancer and died 3 months later earlier this year. That and several other kinds of cancer are just not treatable by the time they are discovered.

Politically, Obama's total failure to be a strong leader has soured me on the Democratic Party and the political process in general. I don't see any answers for the mess we are in from either party and I don't see things ever improving. I think the US in finished.

 

[chamber-music]

Ok I'm a British my Grandmother and Aunt where nurses so I'll if I can help. I'm only talking from my experience and I'm a 23 year old pretty healthy male.

While watching Sicko, I heard that UK doctors get more money for talking their patients in healthier lifestyles. i.e. eating better... stopping smoking... things like that.

Is that true UK?

I don't know if doctors get money but they do offer patients incentives to stop smoking, exercise and live healthy lifestyles.

You get free perscriptions in Scotland. You have to pay for some persciptions in other parts of britain.

How do you know the waits are ridiculous in Canada? Are you Canadian? Did you see that stat on Fox News?

Can we get some real Canadians or Europeans in here and tell us how long the wait is?

The wait really depends on where you live and what you need really. My next door neighbour is a 70 year old widow and she had cancer 2 years ago. She got treated and shes been fine ever since she hasn't got anything bad to say about it.

If I want to see my doctor I can see him either that day if its really serious or the next if its not but I like in a quite suburb of London so its probabley easier for me. If you live in a densely populated are of East London for example your waits gonna be a bit longer

In some cases if the Health Service can't help you with a treatment or surgery for some reason they will pay for you to have it done in a private hospital.

The EU is also looking at doing a program wear you can have the treatment done in other european countries and the health service will pay for that too.

Some of the scare stories in the American media about the British National Health Service are at best humours and at worst flat out lies and basically an insult to every doctor, nurse and hospital worker in the UK who spend their lives helping people.

The NHS is not perfect no one is saying it is in this country, its poorly managed, its far too centralised by Goverment control when the control should be with the hospital, too target driven and so on but its not too bad.

There is a canadian comedien I saw who joked about how awesome the NHS is because they leave you with your own Morphine supply.

Seeing all those drug companies on American TV freaked me and my friends out because we had never seen stuff like that before its like they where drug dealers or something.

Sounds like they want people to go tell your doctor what meds you want instead of the other way around.

 

[Kelly]

Personally, my older brother had gastric cancer and died 3 months later earlier this year. That and several other kinds of cancer are just not treatable by the time they are discovered.

Politically, Obama's total failure to be a strong leader has soured me on the Democratic Party and the political process in general. I don't see any answers for the mess we are in from either party and I don't see things ever improving. I think the US in finished.

Ok, well, I certainly understand where you are coming from....I have to say, that my idealism of a better country have also been soured quite a bit.

 

[voyzovrezon]

Sounds like they want people to go tell your doctor what meds you want instead of the other way around.

That's what the pharmaceutical companies are banking on, literally. Another one of the pitfalls of American health care system. It's big business and profit driven.

 

[Kurosawa]

That's what the pharmaceutical companies are banking on, literally. Another one of the pitfalls of American health care system. It's big business and profit driven.

See, I wouldn't have really realized that if I hadn't spoken to people from other countries where their doctors don't double as prescription drug pushers.

Suspected maybe, but not seen real proof.

 

[hippie_hunter]

From Canada: our system isn't perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The main thing is that you don't lose your entire life savings just because you have cancer, or just because your parents grow old.

Now, the Canadian system isn't perfect, and is unfortunately as ideologically-driven as the debate going on in the States right now. Any politician who even suggests introducing a private, for-profit, user paid option into the current system is politically dead meat. That I don't understand, as the assumption that somehow a private system existing alongside the public one will somehow destroy the public one is ingrained into Canadian political discourse, but nobody asks why, or to see any evidence that will happen whatsoever.

Still, public health care is sound fiscal policy. I am a conservative: my coworkers call me the "Dick Cheney" of our office and my own mother called me a Nazi once. That stated, a conservative politician should be prompting people to build individual wealth and to save, and a tax-funded program to prevent people from going bankrupt due to illness is a key part of that.

Well you have to take a look at the Canadian budget and the budget of the United States. Canada's budget has a much smaller deficit and is much smaller in general than that of the United States.

While it may be sound fiscal policy in Canada, it isn't in the United States.

 

[Marlboro Man]

This thread is quite frivolous. You're asking people from other countries, with different political systems, different budgets, and different cultural standards to comment on how their systems are working. So then the supporters of universal health care in the U.S. can point to those successes and say, "well, the system works in New Southwesterland, that means it will work in the United States." Completely ignoring all the reasons why it won't work in the United States...

 

[Kurosawa]

This thread is quite frivolous. You're asking people from other countries, with different political systems, different budgets, and different cultural standards to comment on how their systems are working. So then the supporters of universal health care in the U.S. can point to those successes and say, "well, the system works in New Southwesterland, that means it will work in the United States." Completely ignoring all the reasons why it won't work in the United States...

I am at the point where I could care less if it works or not. I'll never have coverage, and the only people whose lives I can immediately influence is my own and my wife's. If we live long enough to get Medicare, then fine (if Medicare still exists), if not, tough **** for us. And too bad for anyone else who isn't covered. You get the government you want. You want a government that lives to serve insurance companies and the wealthy, then don't complain when your medical issues go untreated since you can't afford insurance.

We're not getting a universal health care plan here, ever. It's just another of our many failures as a nation and we're racking up on them. That's just the way it is. I just wish that once China passes us and becomes the #1 country in the world that they can come close to what we were back in the 20th Century as a nation and as a civilization for the good of the world.

 

[Marlboro Man]

I am at the point where I could care less if it works or not. I'll never have coverage, and the only people whose lives I can immediately influence is my own and my wife's. If we live long enough to get Medicare, then fine (if Medicare still exists), if not, tough **** for us. And too bad for anyone else who isn't covered. You get the government you want. You want a government that lives to serve insurance companies and the wealthy, then don't complain when your medical issues go untreated since you can't afford insurance.

We're not getting a universal health care plan here, ever. It's just another of our many failures as a nation and we're racking up on them. That's just the way it is. I just wish that once China passes us and becomes the #1 country in the world that they can come close to what we were back in the 20th Century as a nation and as a civilization for the good of the world.

So, why don't you just move?

That's what you tell everyone who has a problem dishing out more of their paycheck to pay for this system that is full of holes and designed to ruin the private health insurance market.

 

[Hound55]

I was referring to Hound55's posts actually. And ignore never lasts long, as curiosity always gets the better of me.

Care to expand on why..?