another bloody yank

For some reason i was under the impression that people were generally unhappy with the care they recieved from the VA system. It'd be great to find out otherwise.

fatbrit

There is no industrialized country where the government is not required to run something: ergo, governments run things. Instead of saying the U.S. government is incompetent at running things and therefore they shouldn't run anything, you should accept that governments sometimes have to run things and look for ways to make this as efficient as possible. I know this is against the Rove propaganda machine that's been bleating in your ears for the last decade or so that it's better to leave it to corporations, but there are many functioning models to choose from in other countries and they are working much better than over here. Health care is a wonderful example: other countries pay half as much for a better service.

IMO, the main thing lacking in U.S. government-run services is true accountability to their customers. Search, for example, for the word "complaint" on the US embassy site in London and then the UK one in Washington. One has a channel for punters to complain, the other just simply doesn't. Hence if you want a visa to the UK, it'll take days instead of months and the person you deal with will be pleasant and polite to you instead of paranoid and suspicious.

And let's face it, government could be half as efficient at running the health service and still come in cheaper than private industry simply by taking the CEO's salary and shareholders' dividends out of the equation.

Elvira

I didn't think the VA system was brilliant.

But that's because it's for vets who do not have other insurance. It's a step up from being indigent.

Medicare works because it is for ALL retired people.

if there was a single payer system for EVERYONE, the same factors would come into play. *The people who matter* would demand and get decent care. - and so would everyone else

This is one of the reasons why I get so annoyed when people talk about "socialized" healthcare as something that is just for those who cannot afford better.

UNIVERSAL healthcare is for everyone. Yes, some of those with delux healthcare might have to adjust their expectations slightly. But if it means that everyone gets what they actually need in terms of healthcare, and no one has to lose sleep over how they can afford it, surely it is worth it?

xxxxxxxx millions Europeans (+ Canadians and Australians) surely can't be wrong...

another bloody yank

If you had told me this morning that today on BE I would be called closed minded by a Brit for saying that the US Gov't would screw something up, and then Elvira would ring in with something that came awful close to praise for a US institution, I'd have told you where you could go and what you were full of.

Healthcare talk makes for strange bedfellows...

Giantaxe

Actually I called you closed minded for dismissing something that you acknowledged you had no knowledge of

Elvira

Are you taking about angry sex now?

another bloody yank

Might as well, I already find myself in an odd position...

another bloody yank

Just to clarify, I wasn't dismissing the system, or the idea of the system, just the US's ability to implement it effectively.

Sophia_S

I don't know what things are like now,but I spent 6 months in Walter Reed,in Washington DC when I first came over here (1988),the part of the hospital I was in was lovely,very clean and airy,and ALL the doctors and nurses (male and female) that I saw were absolutely wonderful,I could NEVER thank any of them enough for the care I was given while I was there....if it wasn't for the USAF I would've been shoved into a nursing home in the UK and left to rot....I was 31 at the time!

jumping doris

Be careful you don't strain anything. It might not be covered on your insurance.

TruBrit

a nursing home in the uk at 31 yrs old...that would be too young surely

elfman

well when you consider the current US administration you may have a point. However, hopefully it won’t be long before the incumbent gang of ignorant ideologues and cronies are replaced by an administration made up of knowledgeable and competent people, in which case the chances of a successful reform of the healthcare system become infinitely better.

Put it another way, if the US govt can put men on the moon then it can run a few hospitals, but do you think we would have seen men on the moon if Bush’s lot had been running the show in the 60s?

Sophia_S

I don't know how the situation would be dealt with now,but at the time I'd been VERY ill,and rushed to a hospital in London in a coma not expected to live through the night...I was totally paralyzed when I woke up two weeks later,and spent another two weeks in the London hospital,until I was beginning to get some speech and movement back,then I was sent back to Frimley Park hospital in Surrey/Hampshire where the Physio therapist told my husband,in front of me!,that I was never going to get any better,and he needed to look into nursing homes for me the only phsyio she did was to move my arms and legs around and sit on my knees to stop 'footdrop'!,she was obviously VERY professional!!....as luck would have it,my husband was in the USAF and I managed to tell him to get in touch with the AF,and I was medivaced over to Walter Reed,by way of Bethesda Naval Hospital (for 10 days),about 10 days later....thanks to those wonderful people at WR and my own bloodymindedness and VERY hard work,I'm 95% back to the me that I was before the mosquito bit me!!....I KNOW I wouldn't be as well as I am now if it hadn't been for the AF and Walter Reed,I couldn't have coped with being in a nursing home at that age,so I doubt if I'd even be alive today if that had've happened

Elvira

Are you seriously claiming that, in the UK, the decision as to whether someone is put into a nursing home would have been made by a PHYSIOTHERAPIST?

What was the assessment of the Consultant in charge of your case? And if he/she did indeed agree with your physio, did you ever seek a second opinion before giving up and leaving the UK?

dunroving

A sentiment I've expressed on here before, too. Wales just switched to completely free prescriptions for all and a colleague of mine (health economist) is monitoring whether the number of prescriptions will go up as a result. I think I know what he wll find ...