3 ms·
The first two lines of that tweet: > The healthcare system in the US is a failure. > You have to do it yourself. You have to research things yourself. You hav
by ohazi 5y ago
The first two lines of that tweet:
> The healthcare system in the US is a failure.
> You have to do it yourself. You have to research things yourself. You have to hunt for doctors & specialists yourself.
It is pretty scary.
It's not a matter of whether you're going to need the healthcare system to work for you, it's when. Everybody gets older, everybody starts to lose function in various ways, and everybody dies.
The US healthcare system is an unmitigated disaster.
- sebmellen 5y agoI think this is also, to a lesser extent, the case in other first world countries. A family member of mine in Germany who had a serious incapacitating health issue needed to be advocated for for almost a year to get a life-saving surgery.
- cryptofistMonk 5y ago> You have to do it yourself. You have to research things yourself. You have to hunt for doctors & specialists yourself. That's true everywhere, though. Just because basic stuff is paid for in Canada doesn't mean we've got crack teams of doctors tracking down your diagnosis.
- sneak 5y agoStandard principal-agent problem. It can be somewhat mitigated by hiring better agents (finding doctors that are more interested in patient outcomes than their OV/day stat). Unfortunately this usually means private physicians who don't usually take insurance; the costs are usually 2-10x higher. Quality customized personal service from highly trained professionals costs Real Money, something I've not yet found a good workaround for. Insurance for catastrophes can mitigate it for unexpected outcomes but in the long run insurance for something everyone needs (basic medical attention and care) is going to approximate 100% of the actual costs of hiring those vendors. Finding extremely good personal services vendors (attorney, accountant, doctor, dentist, trainer) is one of the most important investments in oneself that anyone can make. It can literally make or break you.
- cryptofistMonk 5y agoYeah that's something I definitely need to do... Most people really can't afford it though
- quonn 5y agoBut wouldn‘t your main doctor refer you to the specialist if you want to?
- cryptofistMonk 5y agoIf you even have a main doctor (many Canadians can't find one) sure - then you wait 6 months to see the specialist who may/may not know what to do. My wife was recently in a car accident and waited 3 months to see a podiatrist who said "maybe your foot's broken, go get another x-ray".
- heavyset_go 5y agoIt's even horrible for some of the most common ailments people are diagnosed with.
- ergot_vacation 5y agoNot just the healthcare system. Everything in the US is like this: Government bureaucracies (especially the ones the poor need to use), the legal system, the tax code, the educational systems. It goes on and on. Everything operates on the principle of "you better be able to fight for yourself, because no one else is going to." I'm always shocked when I encounter the rare instances when people in these positions actually help the people they're supposedly being paid to help, instead of putting in the absolute minimum of effort and cashing their paycheck.
- SZJX 5y agoIn what country would one consider the healthcare system to not “be a failure” though, regarding these aspects or when somebody faces the same issues that the OP has? Sounds like an inherently hard problem given how things are structured now.