Opinions On Gov. Sponsored Health Care Outside of the USA

[JimmyHAD]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I reside in the USA where as you may know there is an initiative to have some form of government sponsored health care going through our congress right now.

Whether this will succeed or not remains to be seen. I am posting this poll along with a request that ONLY people living outside of the USA who live in countries where the govt is the health care provider participate.

If you are in the above category how do you like that arrangement ?

[majurey]

I voted yes, but it needs qualifying.

I'm very proud of the NHS -- despite some of the tabloid headlines that are trotted out, I believe it can provide excellent healthcare, and certainly funds unparalleled research.

However, it has been and continues to be criminally mismanaged. By idiots. And gutless politicians whose 'long' view stretches no further than the next general election. As a result, the NHS is being ground down and its lifeblood sucked dry.

What New Labour introduced under the guise of efficiency through an 'internal market', is now looking like the beginning of the end of the NHS. My wife started her NHS practice 10 years ago and she put blood, sweat and tears into it. It has now grown to a 4-partner practice. They are all completely dedicated to the idea of a state-funded health system. My wife would never dream of working privately -- as far as she is concerned, if another human being needs treatment, be it chronic or acute, her role as a physician is to do that. Money is not her concern, and certainly she is not going to refuse, or downgrade, treatment based on someone's ability to pay.

Which makes the state of the NHS all the more heartbreaking for her. My wife's practice is on the edge of the City of London, so her demographic is incredibly varied: rich city types, poor eastenders, young immigrant populations, oldsters who remember WW2 and the bombs raining down on them, she see's the whole gamut of inner city London life. And she provides top quality care, the best she can, for every single one of them -- there is no differentiation between them in her eyes.

And that's what makes me so proud of the NHS. It's something we take for granted over here.

[Chimensch]

I live in Italy and I am very happy with the healthcare. Plus, since I'm an American expat, I can make some direct comparisons based on my own experience.

I was always covered under health insurance from work. I developed type II diabetes around age 50. A year later, I and another diabetic were fired. I think my age and medical history were a factor but I'm not a litigious person and had better things to do. Long story short, when my COBRA ran out, I could no longer purchase private health insurance. Blue Cross/Blue Shield and everyone else will refuse coverage if you have a chronic disease. I got into the State of Illinois insurance pool and was paying close to $900 a month for insurance with a $2,500 deductible and 80% remimbursement.

Now that I live in Italy, I am covered by the NHS. My doctor's visits are free and my medication has a very small co-pay. By the way, when I first got here and wasn't covered, I had to pay cash for my meds and, guess what, they cost less here, without insurance, than they did in the US with insurance. Think about it.

Anyway, the care is comparable to what I had in the US. Fortunately, I haven't had a major illness so I can't speak for the wait times for operations, etc. but my wife practices alternative medicine (colorpuncture according to Peter Mandel) and so I've met a lot of people with serious health problems (lung cancer) and I haven't heard anyone complain about the care. By the way, colorpuncture supplements traditional healthcare so it is not in any way in opposition.

I think the National Health Service in Italy works and even if its not perfect, it's a lot better than what a lot of people have in the US.

[ChrisL]

Thanks for thinking of this post, Jimmy. And thanks to everyone who lives outside the U.S. that will weigh in here. I'm also very interested in hearing about other's experiences with healthcare in their countries.

Chris L

[chee16]

i live in Canada and feel that my health care system works great for me. BUT i rarely get sick and keep myself in good shape, so the extent to which i use it is fairly limited (the last time was to get 6 stitches on my hand and it was fine).

i voted other though as i think that though our system has a lot of potential and for most people is a good working system, it has its downfalls also. these are mainly long wait times and lack of cutting edge treatments (this has been covered in the news so i am obviously not the first to realize this ). if you are really sick then things can be not so great.

my other problem with our health care system (and this probably has nothing to do with what type it is) is that they in now way educate people on prevention as they see most illnesses as bad luck. they tell people that they were probably genetically prone to having heart disease or diabetes instead of telling them what they have been doing to cause these things. it takes all the responsibility off of the person, and who else's fault could it be. when you abuse your body it will eventually react and not in a positive way. people don't know this because they aren't told this, they are told to trust their doctor or they might lose them.

i also have a problem with the way everything is based around pharmaceuticals. i absolutely recognize that they have their place and uses and are very valuable. but they don't cure everything and the companies that make them are about profit so the more people they get on drugs the more money they make. this is simply wrong to me. JMO

[xman]

I saw the results of a study (which I of course cannot find now) which was broken down by income bracket. They asked people with varying degrees of care how they liked the care that was available to them. Overwhelmingly, those who were in a lower income bracket were happy with almost any level of care provided while those from higher income brackets were less satisfied no matter how much coverage they could access.

Interesting, no?

X

[Mandrake]

In Spain we have "universal cover" (well, kind of, I am a lawyer and I am somohow excluded, but that is a long story...), I do access to the public system through my wife insurance, but we have also decided to have a private insurance, which it is not very expensive, at least by USA standards, some 150€ a month for me, wife and 2 small kids....

The public system is quite good, although it could be better managed, but for the stories I have heard from the USA (an uncle of my wife lives in Boston), I think this is a better system than the current system in the USA...

Regards

[jockeys]

Overwhelmingly, those who were in a lower income bracket were happy with almost any level of care provided while those from higher income brackets were less satisfied no matter how much coverage they could access.

Interesting, no?

X

rich people are pickier than poor people? whoulda thunk it? next you'll be telling us the sky is blue and the pope wears a big hat.

[hoglahoo]

rich people are pickier than poor people? whoulda thunk it? next you'll be telling us the sky is blue and the pope wears a big hat.

Another way to say it is that the rich can afford to discriminate, while the chronically poor are mostly doomed to be victims of circumstance

[gratewhitehuntr]

and the pope wears a big hat.

surely you aren't making fun of the pope !!
God will smite you !!





























(he's- a cookin sumptin up-a)