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> Healthcare in the US is completely broken. > Primary care physicians should be required to spend more time with patients and not be punished for it. If issue

> Healthcare in the US is completely broken. > Primary care physicians should be required to spend more time with patients and not be punished for it. If issue is difficult they should be allowed time for research, but that doesn't make money....seeing patients does. Healthcare in the US is not perfect but I often wonder about comments like yours. I'm an expat and have had to use the medical systems in a number of countries and the idea that Americans are being short-changed in terms of doctor time is curious to me. Instead of giving you some horrible examples of truly broken healthcare systems, let's take the country I'm currently a resident of, Taiwan. It has a single payer system that's well-regarded. As a resident, I am a part of this system and have had to use it more in the past year than I would have liked. The system is very cheap compared to the US and efficient. It's structured in a way that gives patients a lot of choice. I can see a doctor at a clinic (for a few bucks) or I can go to a hospital and see a physician of my choice (even a specialist) for no more than around $20 USD. But primary care doctors here see way more patients on a daily basis than doctors in the US do. Go to a hospital during peak hours and it's not uncommon to find the halls packed with people waiting to be seen. Doctors can easily see upwards of 50 patients in a half-day rotation. I've never had a basic internal medicine appointment here last more than 5 minutes. Even with a specialist, I've never had an appointment here go beyond 10 minutes. From what I've seen among friends, quick prescription writing is common with a lot of head scratchers, namely antibiotics for suspected viral (cold and flu) infections. In the US, my primary care appointments are rarely shorter than 10 minutes, and I've had appointments with specialists last upwards of 30-45 minutes. Additionally, many health systems in the US let you email your doctor, which provides the opportunity for correspondence and research, something that I've never seen available in Taiwan. I've also never been prescribed antibiotics in the US for cold or flu symptoms.

avgDev 5y ago
I actually wrote a paper on the US healthcare some time ago. I didn't look at Taiwan but looked at European nations. US outcomes were poorer and the care was more expensive. I don't know any other first world nation, where managing medical bills can take this much time. After we had a child, I spend 40 hours on a phone trying to untangle insurance mix up made by the hospital. I have an EU citizenship and did use healthcare in Poland. While imperfect my parents were never worried about cost. People in US do not seek care to avoid spending money, which drives the cost even higher. I could go on and on, and maybe I can dig up the paper. Make some updates and make a post about it.
- LurkingPenguin 5y ago
  > I didn't look at Taiwan but looked at European nations. US outcomes were poorer and the care was more expensive. But that's very different from the statement than "healthcare in the US is completely broken" and the suggestion that patients in the US are being short-changed when it comes to time with primary care physicians. Even if European nations have better outcomes at lower cost wouldn't inherently mean that US healthcare is "completely broken." > I don't know any other first world nation, where managing medical bills can take this much time. When I was in the US, I was a member of one of the largest HMOs. I never had any issues with medical bills. Of course, HMOs are very different than PPOs, but that too makes me question the "healthcare in the US is completely broken" sentiment. I think a less hyperbolic and more accurate statement would be "healthcare in the US is big and complex and one's experience and outcomes can vary greatly based on a wide range of factors."

avgDev 5y ago

I actually wrote a paper on the US healthcare some time ago. I didn't look at Taiwan but looked at European nations. US outcomes were poorer and the care was more expensive. I don't know any other first world nation, where managing medical bills can take this much time. After we had a child, I spend 40 hours on a phone trying to untangle insurance mix up made by the hospital. I have an EU citizenship and did use healthcare in Poland. While imperfect my parents were never worried about cost. People in US do not seek care to avoid spending money, which drives the cost even higher. I could go on and on, and maybe I can dig up the paper. Make some updates and make a post about it.

LurkingPenguin 5y ago
> I didn't look at Taiwan but looked at European nations. US outcomes were poorer and the care was more expensive. But that's very different from the statement than "healthcare in the US is completely broken" and the suggestion that patients in the US are being short-changed when it comes to time with primary care physicians. Even if European nations have better outcomes at lower cost wouldn't inherently mean that US healthcare is "completely broken." > I don't know any other first world nation, where managing medical bills can take this much time. When I was in the US, I was a member of one of the largest HMOs. I never had any issues with medical bills. Of course, HMOs are very different than PPOs, but that too makes me question the "healthcare in the US is completely broken" sentiment. I think a less hyperbolic and more accurate statement would be "healthcare in the US is big and complex and one's experience and outcomes can vary greatly based on a wide range of factors."