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For many countries who nominally have free healthcare, the service is so abysmal that people would rather pay the expensive private healthcare than possibly die

For many countries who nominally have free healthcare, the service is so abysmal that people would rather pay the expensive private healthcare than possibly die due to worse treatment

spacedcowboy 4y ago
I've had the misfortune to be knocked off a motorbike in the UK, when my knee just .. burst apart on impact, and also knocked off an e-bike in the US. I drive a car now :) Both were pretty much the same in terms of treatment. The UK had a harder job patching me back up because I was more broken, but they did it very well indeed, and the after-care/rehab was far more in-depth - because it was more needed, of course, I only broke an arm in the US. A few things stick out as memorable. - Running around checking insurance for all the post-event stuff (I had bruising on a significant chunk of my body, there was a lot of "fixing" that to do) and making sure various doctors were in-network was a major frigging hassle in the US. Not particularly what I wanted to be focussing on... - The (probably overworked) Dr in ER asked me if I was allergic to anything while he cut my clothes off, and I replied "cars, apparently" - thinking that it might be useful to show I wasn't dazed and could still think properly. No, that was a mistake - I got a 5-10 minute lecture on how this wasn't funny, this place was a hospital etc. etc. I just shut up, we all have bad days - I wasn't having a great one myself that day. But the quality of actual medical care was pretty much the same, maybe with the slight edge to the UK because of how well they fixed up the mess that was my knee - sufficiently so that it doesn't even "ache in the rain", and cycling was something I could do without thinking twice.. The experience though - that was much nicer in the UK. No worries about anything... Need an ambulance when I couldn't walk ? No problem, one was sent. Have a nurse pop around to do some physio for the months afterwards when I was out of the wheelchair ? Great, we'll do that. And of course, no paperwork, or chasing/arguing with people whose job it is to prevent you getting care, because that costs money. So, no, the service is not "abysmal". The service is fucking excellent. The US could learn a thing or two...
- cuteboy19 4y ago
  I'm taking about India, not the UK. There are more places than two
  - spacedcowboy 4y ago
    As far as I'm aware, the UK is a country, and therefore falls into the group you identify with "For many countries who nominally have free healthcare". If you want to restrict replies to your comments, then you ought to be more specific with your comment in the first place and identify India by name, otherwise your statement is a bit of misnomer. I have no idea what the state of healthcare is in India, I've never been there; the problem, of course, is that there are lots of other countries (eg: dotted around Europe) with free-at-the-point-of-need healthcare, and most of it is excellent.

For many countries who nominally have free healthcare, the service is so abysmal that people would rather pay the expensive private healthcare than possibly die due to worse treatment

spacedcowboy 4y ago

I've had the misfortune to be knocked off a motorbike in the UK, when my knee just .. burst apart on impact, and also knocked off an e-bike in the US. I drive a car now :) Both were pretty much the same in terms of treatment. The UK had a harder job patching me back up because I was more broken, but they did it very well indeed, and the after-care/rehab was far more in-depth - because it was more needed, of course, I only broke an arm in the US. A few things stick out as memorable. - Running around checking insurance for all the post-event stuff (I had bruising on a significant chunk of my body, there was a lot of "fixing" that to do) and making sure various doctors were in-network was a major frigging hassle in the US. Not particularly what I wanted to be focussing on... - The (probably overworked) Dr in ER asked me if I was allergic to anything while he cut my clothes off, and I replied "cars, apparently" - thinking that it might be useful to show I wasn't dazed and could still think properly. No, that was a mistake - I got a 5-10 minute lecture on how this wasn't funny, this place was a hospital etc. etc. I just shut up, we all have bad days - I wasn't having a great one myself that day. But the quality of actual medical care was pretty much the same, maybe with the slight edge to the UK because of how well they fixed up the mess that was my knee - sufficiently so that it doesn't even "ache in the rain", and cycling was something I could do without thinking twice.. The experience though - that was much nicer in the UK. No worries about anything... Need an ambulance when I couldn't walk ? No problem, one was sent. Have a nurse pop around to do some physio for the months afterwards when I was out of the wheelchair ? Great, we'll do that. And of course, no paperwork, or chasing/arguing with people whose job it is to prevent you getting care, because that costs money. So, no, the service is not "abysmal". The service is fucking excellent. The US could learn a thing or two...

cuteboy19 4y ago
I'm taking about India, not the UK. There are more places than two
- spacedcowboy 4y ago
  As far as I'm aware, the UK is a country, and therefore falls into the group you identify with "For many countries who nominally have free healthcare". If you want to restrict replies to your comments, then you ought to be more specific with your comment in the first place and identify India by name, otherwise your statement is a bit of misnomer. I have no idea what the state of healthcare is in India, I've never been there; the problem, of course, is that there are lots of other countries (eg: dotted around Europe) with free-at-the-point-of-need healthcare, and most of it is excellent.