Hello there friends from across the pond!

[MyManGoofy!]

You know I think that it is not so much "socialized" medicine that Americans fear - it is the administrative incapability that our government has demonstrated repeatedly over the years. They just wrap it up in the socialist label because that has a nice derogative sound. And Americans have really been taught to fear certain labels without really knowing what they mean. (Liberal being another one of them!)

I wonder - if it were to be presented to the American public as some kind of "Administration Renovation" or other safe label that is not so politically scary to the US meainstream - would that make any difference?

 

[carolfoy]

administrative incapability is exactly right. there are many ways the NHS wastes thousands of pounds a year. I can only imagine the U.S government would also waste ridiculous amounts of money.
Every week I do rail tickets for the administrative managers of the largest hospital in Plymouth to travel to London for their meetings, these are consultants and professors, each ticket is £230 whereby they could get them for £62 should they book them a little further in advance.
I have stayed on student campus in Bristol and seen the waste of energy in the dorms, every heater and light is left on practically 24 hours a day, probably a pittance on the long run but I'm sure few hundred wasted on these rail tickets each week could pay for a veritable army of cleaners.

Now I stand by what I say that the strength of our health service is what makes us Great but I also agree with the fact that its over subscribed. We are letting people in at the rate of tens a day, its not going to be there much longer.

 

[hildasmuriel]

I have a friend here in Orlando whose son was very sick. She took him to the hospital where he had to be admitted for 6 days and now she has to find a way to pay almost 20 thousand dollars of medical bills because she had no insurance. ( I bet she wishes she lived in the UK!)

This is the bit that would scare me - to have the treatment and then have to worry about repaying it. In fact a couple of years ago as we waited in the ER to have my daughter's arm plastered (broken in 2 places) I said to my husband "At least we're not sitting here worrying about if our insurance will be covering this cost"
I do think of the strangest things at times.

 

[almburr]

the health care system here in the US is crap.

had our DS by c-section cost $30,000. friend had twins $60,000.

I didn't have insurance for that pregnancy. had to file it with the state.

niece needs teeth capped and cant find dentist who will do it on state card.

things need to change here. people dont get the care they need, and die.
costs way to much for insurance.

 

[Kristina]

the health care system here in the US is crap.

had our DS by c-section cost $30,000. friend had twins $60,000.

I didn't have insurance for that pregnancy. had to file it with the state.

niece needs teeth capped and cant find dentist who will do it on state card.

things need to change here. people dont get the care they need, and die.
costs way to much for insurance.

I am an American living in Sweden, have done for the past 13 years now. There are two reasons why I moved, one being that having been over loads of time as a child with Mom who's Swedish, I both missed all my relatives and loved the idea of living here for a while. The other is that my Mom has MS and I knew that with the safety net over here she would be well cared for just in case anything should happen to me. So here we are and everything is great, except that I miss the US something fierce, all the time! Now the health system here works really well most of the time. However there are the cut backs and the shortness of nurses just like in the UK. Emergency rooms closing in some areas because of lack of funds or whole surgical departments.

A few years ago my Mom got sick and they thought she had a cancerous tumor in her pancreas. The doctor said it was quite large and that she would have to have surgery. When I asked? Well soon, in about a months time, he said. Could it take two, I asked? Well, yes, he said. Three? Not more than three, he said. It did take three months but that is perhaps because they thought she wouldn't make it, I'm not sure but you we do read of cancer patients put on a waiting list. Regarding my Mom however, she had some unbelievable luck because they had read the x-ray wrong and she had a swollen gland laying over her pancreas, due to gall bladder disease . No cancer at all, it was the best day of my life !

Also back when I lived in LA, I worked as an dental assistent for an Oral Surgeon who had a very busy practice and quite a few patients came in with the state card for office treatments but he only treated maybe about half due to the really low payback he would get from the state. I believe at the time it was 6 dollars for an extraction which cost otherwise 110 dollars. He felt that it cost more for him to file the forms but also with every surgery he opened himself up to a possible malpractice claim. He did treat anyone who had an emergency situation though, no matter if they could pay or not. He was a nice guy with a heart but also perhaps he would be leaving himself open if he denied care to someone with an emergency.

 

[Kristina]

Sorry, double post !