Originally Posted by Lynn R

I'm very sorry to hear of your daughter's illness and the financial problems she will experience as a result. I really don't understand why so many people in the USA seem implacably opposed to "socialised medicine".

I live in Spain, which has a publicly funded healthcare system much like the NHS, except that we have co-payments for prescriptions. On Sunday 1 September I experienced some alarming symptoms so went to see my doctor the next morning (no difficulty in getting same-day appointments here). She gave me an urgent referral to a gynaecologist at our local hospital. The next day I got a call from the hospital giving me an appointment with the specialist on Thursday 5 September. The gynaecologist did an ultrasound and took samples for a biopsy (said something was showing up on the ultrasound which could either be a polyp or a tumour). I was given another appointment for yesterday to get the results of the biopsy. At that appointment I was told I have a small tumour (Grade 1, thankfully) and will be having a radical hysterectomy. I was given an appointment to see an anaesthetist on 30 September and told to await a call from the hospital with an appointment for an MRI scan, and put on the surgical waiting llst as an urgent case. I will get a blood test done at our local health centre on 16 September. The call re the MRI scan came 2 hours after I got home, with an appointment on 17 September. As a patient, all this, plus the surgery itself and aftercare, costs me precisely nothing other than the small amount I pay in taxes.

We do have private health insurance, but for something like this the public system is actually better and faster. I once had a biopsy done in the private sector here and the results took 2 weeks to arrive, twice as long as this latest one. I will have to share a room and bathroom with one other patient in the hospital, but the newer public hospitals here are all built with individual private ensuite rooms.

Originally Posted by carcajou

Have you ever lived in the United States?

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise

What's that got to do with anything?
No survey ever puts US healthcare at the top.
I am also surprised that Americans are so opposed to changing their health care system. I guess years of propaganda from all parties making absolute fortunes has done that. Have you ever noticed how "socialised" is used to scare people? Go and take a look around, anything that was a change for the better for the nation was first toted as "socialised".
If I ever got sick, I'd be on the first plane back to France. Even paying full whack would be a teeny percentage of what it would cost me in the USA.
I know of a young woman who went to high school with my DD. She's 24 and absolutely crippled with student debt and medical debt - she will eventually need her leg amputated below the knee but in the meantime is having surgeries to remove tumours as they appear. In France, she would be receiving the best care in the world ( look at surveys), she would have no student debt and no medical debt.
US medical care is not the envy of the world.

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise

What's that got to do with anything?
No survey ever puts US healthcare at the top.
I am also surprised that Americans are so opposed to changing their health care system. I guess years of propaganda from all parties making absolute fortunes has done that. Have you ever noticed how "socialised" is used to scare people? Go and take a look around, anything that was a change for the better for the nation was first toted as "socialised".
If I ever got sick, I'd be on the first plane back to France. Even paying full whack would be a teeny percentage of what it would cost me in the USA.
I know of a young woman who went to high school with my DD. She's 24 and absolutely crippled with student debt and medical debt - she will eventually need her leg amputated below the knee but in the meantime is having surgeries to remove tumours as they appear. In France, she would be receiving the best care in the world ( look at surveys), she would have no student debt and no medical debt.
US medical care is not the envy of the world.

Originally Posted by Shard

This is what confuses me and the reason I started the thread. The Michael Moore documentary painted a grim picture of public healthcare in the US, and confirmed many outsiders' prejudices, yet up thread there are various explanations of an established public healthcare system. Why do some people (perhaps many people) slip through the net?

Originally Posted by Shard

This is what confuses me and the reason I started the thread. The Michael Moore documentary painted a grim picture of public healthcare in the US, and confirmed many outsiders' prejudices, yet up thread there are various explanations of an established public healthcare system. Why do some people (perhaps many people) slip through the net?

Originally Posted by carcajou

Have you ever lived in the United States?

Originally Posted by dc koop

I believe my healthcare is better than that of the NHS. No six bed hospital rooms. Sharing with another perhaps but by far mostly a room to myself. No waiting for non emergency surgery. I could for example have knee surgery done within two weeks after initial consultation. I need to take three prescriptions regularly. No charge for any. I get free gym membership with my health plan. Standard physical check ups include EKGs and full blood work. No charge. No waiting in crowded rooms. If the appointment is for ten I get called either on time or at most five minutes afterwards The Medicare deduction from my Social Security check goes directly to the private health company.
I once talked to a Canadian friend about our health plans. He seemed to be having some difficulty in getting a couple of treatments approved which in the US would have been approved without any problem.

Originally Posted by dc koop

I believe my healthcare is better than that of the NHS. No six bed hospital rooms. Sharing with another perhaps but by far mostly a room to myself. No waiting for non emergency surgery. I could for example have knee surgery done within two weeks after initial consultation. I need to take three prescriptions regularly. No charge for any. I get free gym membership with my health plan. Standard physical check ups include EKGs and full blood work. No charge. No waiting in crowded rooms. If the appointment is for ten I get called either on time or at most five minutes afterwards The Medicare deduction from my Social Security check goes directly to the private health company.
I once talked to a Canadian friend about our health plans. He seemed to be having some difficulty in getting a couple of treatments approved which in the US would have been approved without any problem.

Originally Posted by dc koop

I believe my healthcare is better than that of the NHS. No six bed hospital rooms. Sharing with another perhaps but by far mostly a room to myself. No waiting for non emergency surgery. I could for example have knee surgery done within two weeks after initial consultation. I need to take three prescriptions regularly. No charge for any. I get free gym membership with my health plan. Standard physical check ups include EKGs and full blood work. No charge. No waiting in crowded rooms. If the appointment is for ten I get called either on time or at most five minutes afterwards The Medicare deduction from my Social Security check goes directly to the private health company.
I once talked to a Canadian friend about our health plans. He seemed to be having some difficulty in getting a couple of treatments approved which in the US would have been approved without any problem.

Originally Posted by dc koop

I believe my healthcare is better than that of the NHS. No six bed hospital rooms. Sharing with another perhaps but by far mostly a room to myself. No waiting for non emergency surgery. I could for example have knee surgery done within two weeks after initial consultation. I need to take three prescriptions regularly. No charge for any. I get free gym membership with my health plan. Standard physical check ups include EKGs and full blood work. No charge. No waiting in crowded rooms. If the appointment is for ten I get called either on time or at most five minutes afterwards The Medicare deduction from my Social Security check goes directly to the private health company.
I once talked to a Canadian friend about our health plans. He seemed to be having some difficulty in getting a couple of treatments approved which in the US would have been approved without any problem.