4 ms·

> Coming from a country that has this, there should be caution It's big world - without knowing which country, this is of little help. I'd like to see a compar

> Coming from a country that has this, there should be caution It's big world - without knowing which country, this is of little help. I'd like to see a comparison of people forced into debt, bankruptcy or death due to the respective medical systems This hits home because I have a friend that got cancer with "good" U.S. insurance and if he did not fight the insurance company he'd be in debt for 1mm+

chrisseaton 4y ago
I'm from the UK, which is basically fully free-at-point-of-use healthcare (you pay a nominal fee for prescriptions, dentistry, optician) and is often championed as a great option. Reality is it's pretty grim. Don't know if I'd recommend it to other countries to be honest. Be careful what you wish for!
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > Reality is it's pretty grim. Don't know if I'd recommend it to other countries to be honest. As someone who's never experienced the UK health care system, and only know one person who has (as a foreigner, so they paid out of pocket and said the experience was positive, but otherwise not a good data point) ... I'd like to hear a bit more detail about how it's pretty grim, if you're willing to elaborate.
  - chrisseaton 4y ago
    I'd love to get you to listen in to a phone call where I try to get an appointment with my doctor. You'd have to be up at 0800 on the dot, while I desperately try to get into the phone queue. Then you'll hear me beg with the world's rudest receptionist for an appointment, which I won't get. There's no incentive for these people to be helpful or polite, because they get paid anyway and there's no market, so they aren't. My American colleagues see a doctor every year for a checkup to catch things like cancer before they're fatal. The NHS would laugh in my face if I said I wanted to see a doctor for a checkup, unless I literally had an arm falling off.
    - monocasa 4y ago
      You don't have a yearly physical with your GP under NHS? Also, I just spent a total of seven hours last week making calls just to get insurance to even process my prescription that they had previously approved.
      - chrisseaton 4y ago
        There's no way in hell an NHS GP would agree to see me just for a physical without some very specific major problem actually in evidence. If you never want to see your GP again then yeah petition for the UK system.
        monocasa 4y ago
        What does a "check up" mean? There's no way my insurance would pay for random "I don't think anything's wrong but I want to look for something anyway" outside of yearly physicals either.
        chrisseaton 4y ago
        > outside of yearly physicals Yearly physical == check up. Same thing. Going to the doctor once a year for a general check that you aren't developing any issues that you weren't aware of yet and to monitor your health. I don't have either. I haven't seen a doctor for about five years I think, under the NHS system. If I phoned my NHS GP and said 'it's been a year I'd like you to generally check my physical health' they'd tell me to fuck off.
        jmckib 4y ago
        Looks like the official NHS policy is that you get a checkup every five years if aged 40 to 74. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-health-check/nhs-health-check/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-health-check/nhs-health-ch... I'm not a doctor but that doesn't seem often enough for an older person. I'm an American in my 30's and I just had a checkup, and my doctor told me to come back every two years. Of course the American system is pretty awful in its own ways, especially for those who are uninsured.
- fzeroracer 4y ago
  I'm from the US born and raised, so I could talk at lengths about how the healthcare system here bankrupted my parents and nearly forced me into generational poverty. Or how poor the care is despite being under decent corporate healthcare. Or how misaligned the incentives are resulting in doctors suggesting nonsensical treatments like holistic care rather than actual treatment. Most people don't encounter this stuff until it's too late, which is partially where all the praise comes from for the American healthcare system in my opinion.
  - chrisseaton 4y ago
    > doctors suggesting nonsensical treatments like holistic care Did you know that until 2017 the NHS literally funded homeopathy? I'm not even joking.
- colinmhayes 4y ago
  UK does not have single payer, their system is nationalized. Big difference, especially with capitated plans that medicare is championing. Competition is what makes capitalism great, single payer is the best way to accomplish it among medical providers.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- deergomoo 4y ago
  The NHS is about the only thing this country has that I am even remotely proud of. It is far from perfect—made substantially worse by the last decade of Conservative austerity and piecemeal attempts at privatisation—but the idea that you’d be so disparaging is crazy to me. I had cancer five years ago, spending the better part of six months receiving inpatient treatment, during which I couldn’t work. I had recently moved jobs beforehand too—I have literally no idea what I would have done under an American-style system. It’s bursting at the seams (through no fault of its own), and yet still we never bankrupt people with life threatening illnesses, we don’t bill people for ambulances, we don’t force seriously ill people and their families to do battle with blood-sucking insurance companies over byzantine coverage terms. It’s the last damned thing this nation has actually feels like it exists for the common good of the people. I would recommend it to other countries—wholeheartedly.

chrisseaton 4y ago

I'm from the UK, which is basically fully free-at-point-of-use healthcare (you pay a nominal fee for prescriptions, dentistry, optician) and is often championed as a great option. Reality is it's pretty grim. Don't know if I'd recommend it to other countries to be honest. Be careful what you wish for!

rootusrootus 4y ago
> Reality is it's pretty grim. Don't know if I'd recommend it to other countries to be honest. As someone who's never experienced the UK health care system, and only know one person who has (as a foreigner, so they paid out of pocket and said the experience was positive, but otherwise not a good data point) ... I'd like to hear a bit more detail about how it's pretty grim, if you're willing to elaborate.
- chrisseaton 4y ago
  I'd love to get you to listen in to a phone call where I try to get an appointment with my doctor. You'd have to be up at 0800 on the dot, while I desperately try to get into the phone queue. Then you'll hear me beg with the world's rudest receptionist for an appointment, which I won't get. There's no incentive for these people to be helpful or polite, because they get paid anyway and there's no market, so they aren't. My American colleagues see a doctor every year for a checkup to catch things like cancer before they're fatal. The NHS would laugh in my face if I said I wanted to see a doctor for a checkup, unless I literally had an arm falling off.
  - monocasa 4y ago
    You don't have a yearly physical with your GP under NHS? Also, I just spent a total of seven hours last week making calls just to get insurance to even process my prescription that they had previously approved.
    - chrisseaton 4y ago
      There's no way in hell an NHS GP would agree to see me just for a physical without some very specific major problem actually in evidence. If you never want to see your GP again then yeah petition for the UK system.
      - monocasa 4y ago
        What does a "check up" mean? There's no way my insurance would pay for random "I don't think anything's wrong but I want to look for something anyway" outside of yearly physicals either.
        chrisseaton 4y ago
        > outside of yearly physicals Yearly physical == check up. Same thing. Going to the doctor once a year for a general check that you aren't developing any issues that you weren't aware of yet and to monitor your health. I don't have either. I haven't seen a doctor for about five years I think, under the NHS system. If I phoned my NHS GP and said 'it's been a year I'd like you to generally check my physical health' they'd tell me to fuck off.
        jmckib 4y ago
        Looks like the official NHS policy is that you get a checkup every five years if aged 40 to 74. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-health-check/nhs-health-check/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-health-check/nhs-health-ch... I'm not a doctor but that doesn't seem often enough for an older person. I'm an American in my 30's and I just had a checkup, and my doctor told me to come back every two years. Of course the American system is pretty awful in its own ways, especially for those who are uninsured.
fzeroracer 4y ago
I'm from the US born and raised, so I could talk at lengths about how the healthcare system here bankrupted my parents and nearly forced me into generational poverty. Or how poor the care is despite being under decent corporate healthcare. Or how misaligned the incentives are resulting in doctors suggesting nonsensical treatments like holistic care rather than actual treatment. Most people don't encounter this stuff until it's too late, which is partially where all the praise comes from for the American healthcare system in my opinion.
- chrisseaton 4y ago
  > doctors suggesting nonsensical treatments like holistic care Did you know that until 2017 the NHS literally funded homeopathy? I'm not even joking.
colinmhayes 4y ago
UK does not have single payer, their system is nationalized. Big difference, especially with capitated plans that medicare is championing. Competition is what makes capitalism great, single payer is the best way to accomplish it among medical providers.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
deergomoo 4y ago
The NHS is about the only thing this country has that I am even remotely proud of. It is far from perfect—made substantially worse by the last decade of Conservative austerity and piecemeal attempts at privatisation—but the idea that you’d be so disparaging is crazy to me. I had cancer five years ago, spending the better part of six months receiving inpatient treatment, during which I couldn’t work. I had recently moved jobs beforehand too—I have literally no idea what I would have done under an American-style system. It’s bursting at the seams (through no fault of its own), and yet still we never bankrupt people with life threatening illnesses, we don’t bill people for ambulances, we don’t force seriously ill people and their families to do battle with blood-sucking insurance companies over byzantine coverage terms. It’s the last damned thing this nation has actually feels like it exists for the common good of the people. I would recommend it to other countries—wholeheartedly.