"Lee, who works on Wall Street, said: “You not only have to understand the system and how it works – and I still haven’t worked out how my flexible spending account works"

Someone who works on Wall Street but hasn't worked out how a flexible spending account works. If only they'd published his full name so I know never to ask him for financial advice...

Perhaps they just read BE...


Can anyone really say it's not a pain in the arse?? Not relative to anything else, just in and of itself. The whole "not knowing for months and months if this visit/procedure will generate a bill of indeterminate size" surely qualifies...

It is a pain in the rear, and it is a confusing system to figure out, need to be a lawyer almost to really understand some of the fine print in some policies.

I admit the US system took some getting used to...a lot of getting used to. I also admit we seem to have excellent healthcare insurance and lived in the New York Met area.

I like the fact that I can call my primary care doctor or a specialist and be able to see them the next day...or within a few days...or in some cases a matter of hours. I like being able to go straight to a specialist rather than going through my GP/primary care doctor. If I decide on elective surgery...it can be done next week. Sooner if the pre-op tests come back immediately. My doctor gives me a script for a mammogram, bone density test, MRI, CAT scan etc...all those can be done in a matter of hours. I can also see a doctor of my choice...if it's out of network I may have to pay a percentage...but in my experience most seem to be in network. I can also receive treatment from the hospital of my choice...anywhere in the US.

I also realise that there are millions who cannot afford US healthcare. Something that IMO...should be a basic human right.

I just started a course of physiotherapy. The day after my first session, I got a totally impenetrable, legalistic letter from my insurer. One thing the letter said which I did understand, was that I should check whether the provider was in network or not. So I called the insurers, to ask if the provider was in network? The person looked up the physiotherapist, and told me he WAS in network - no worries!

So why did they send me the bloody letter?

The broader data tends to support the thesis. You're engaging in your own logical fallacy of attacking the position because one particular source on the subject is incomplete.

This is more of a man-on-the-street interview, and similar to how focus groups are conducted -- interview a small group of subjects and push for answers. It's not a great way to gather statistical data but it can be a helpful way to find out why respondents believe what they believe.

Luckily we get basically all of the above in British Columbia (provided you don't live in the middle of nowhere where well your not getting good service in the US either in rural regions.) but I can't say the waits I have waited for most things is any longer then it was in San Diego except my GP wait, but it's not really a system issue since he doesn't work full-time and has too many patients, other doctors can easily take you within a day or even same day.

I had a cat scan last week, from the day the doctor sent in referral was only 1 1/2 days, and one of those days the CT place was closed so doesn't really count.

And I don't have to pay anything directly for it, can't complain here.

The specialist thing has never been an issue for me going through the GP, I have no idea what kind of specialist I would need for something, so I have no issue seeing the GP first.

Unless it's an emergency, I don't really see why people care if it takes a few days to get something done.

They are looking to see if they can sue the other person in the accident.

But it wasn't an accident, I just hurt my back gardening. Are you sure you weren't in an accident? No, pretty sure it was just gardening. How about if you were in an accident, can you name the other driver? No, I was gardening. Can you fill in this form to tell us how the accident happened and who the other driver was. I bent down too far and hurt my back gardening, there was no other driver. I see it's six months later and you are still getting physio, were you in an accident?

About dozen random British Expats who expressed an opinion in this thread, agree.

Not just Brits. A US colleague just tried out our company insurance for the first time. Office visit without insurance used to be $85 for her. Today, she only got charged $72

They even do that here to try and push the cost off the medical system and onto car insurance agency or workers comp if they can find a way.

When I hurt my neck and I have no clue how it got hurt, but it was were were you in a car accident, hurt at work, every time I saw a medical person, felt like wearing a sign that said, no accident, not hurt at work, woke up with a neck that would not move, no idea why.

Not one particular area, the entire premise of the article is at best highly questionable. For example, a review of several polls on the matter reveals that 87% of Americans with health insurance are satisfied with healthcare in this country. Since the article only discusses people with health insurance, this would seem to be a relevant, quantitative point to make. Even if we discount the link I posted as it's from 2010 (it was the broadest review of surveys I could find and it's a reputable, third party source), note that the Guardian article doesn't include any similar quantitative measurement on this topic. This means that it's not journalism, it's an editorial.
So, we agree that the article is the very definition of anecdotal?

That's a complete straw man. The Guardian headline is about British expats. Posting a survey that most Americans are satisfied doesn't contradict that. Americans generally have no knowledge of any alternative system, and have used this system from birth.

We got letters like that for about a year after our daughter broke her arm.

In that instance, a kid did push her over but with her hand flapping around her elbow, I wasn't about to chase after the kid or try and find the parent in the park to get details especially as I'd parked almost a mile up the road

Exactly, Americans have used this system from birth to their comparatively early deaths.

Move to Canada and you gain an extra 3 years in life expectancy 82 vs 79.