Choosing between education and health care - this country is nuts.

I just really don't understand why the USA is so messed up - the medical system here is busted wide open. It's crazy.

In so many ways I want to leave this country - the cost of health care is absolutely prohibitive. And yet there are some really good things about the USA too. At this point, I would love to stay here, but I fear we will have to leave.

I just wrote a post on my blog about the whole issue - it's just so crazy. I can't help but think there has to be a way to fix this system. It's broken. http://familyonbikes.org/blog/2011/09/an-up-close-and-personal-view-of-the-american-medical-system/

 

Hi Nancy. I hear you on the problem, and am so thankful we have good insurance through DH's job. Even then, care can be expensive if you have to meet the deductible first! And preapproval is difficult in emergency situations!!

I wanted to ask how John is doing? How's the recovery going? Did some people come by this weekend and get to work on the house?

Just thought I'd say hi!

MT3

 

It was only after asking questions about the US health care system back in the spring that I was "educated" in how sad your health care system is... Sad because I can't imagine having to stop in the middle of a medical crisis and wait for pre-approval for an emergency surgery. That is absolutely insane. We have our flaws in Canada but thank God we have a health care system that doesn't gouge our eyes out of our heads to pay (lol, though we do pay for it in the form of higher taxes).

I do hope your husband is recovering and feeling a little better. I do wish that I could do something to help.

 

That is crazy. I know health insurance varies greatly through out this country. Every policy I have had in NY (even those requiring preapproval) have the clause that for emergencies you have 24hrs from the point of admittance to notify the insurance company. Maybe that is a NY regulation thing I do not know. I do know that even though I do not like our health insurance from dh's company I know it is not as bad as some. Before looking at leaving the country you might want to check out different states and their health care system and regulations.

Hope your dh has a speedy recovery and that things with the insurance company work out.

 

So what if you have a heart attack, are you supposed to say "Excuse me heart, would you mind stopping this for 24 hours while I get approval for this to take place and then be admitted and then you can have a field day?"

That is ABSURD !!

 

I dont get it. The talk show hosts are always screaming abt how the USA has the best health care system in the world. I'm thinking maybe that's true if you earn millions of dollars a year. The health care itself is very good, I know, but again, only for those who can afford it.
Countries like Canada or the European countries have higher taxes instead of expensive plans, but their system is flawed as well. In Holland, people on welfare (not because of disability, but because of lying their way in) can leech on people who work their butts off.

Any system in the world will have flaws, I guess, but if I had to choose, I'd rather pay higher taxes and be insured health care. Right now we have it through DH's job, but what happens if he gets laid off, and has to get a temp job without benefits?? And then, God forbis, one of us gets diagnosed with some terrible disease? Guess what?? no coverage.

 

Talk shows always say the US is best in everything, even when there's studies showing the opposite. I think it's how they express patriotism.

What really scared me were those audience members at the recent Republican debate shouting, "Let him die!" in response to the question of what should happen to an young uninsured man in a coma. Wasn't there a time when that kind of sentiment would have been unacceptable to air in public? Or were people always this selfish?

 

I do think we have the best health care. Not insurance, but care. There are people from all over the world that come here for services.
I do agree that our insurance issues need some major work, but I do NOT want our government in control of it. They bankrupt every little thing they get their greedy paws on. I'll deal with it myself, thank you very much. If we were to go to a govt ran insurance, there is no doubt our doctors would be dropping like flies, our level of care would drop drastically and there would be long waiting periods to get things taken care of. None of that sounds like a good trade-off to me. IDK.....

 

I think we have the best healthcare available anywhere. The system is both what builds up the quality (capitalism) and tears down the affordability (socialism co-existing with capitalism). It is just not in human nature to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on education, equipment, malpractice insurance, salaries, etc. and then give it away to people. For the system to work ideally, everyone in the whole chain would need to freely give of their ability to care for people (inexpensive education, medicine, equipment, etc.) Everyone has to make their cut, and in so doing, they will eventually cut their own throats.

 

Affordability and access issues aside, as a Canadian, I'm still not at all certain the US has the "best health care anywhere".

The US has more specialists than we do, but that's because they're a huge country with an enormous population. When I went searching for studies, all I found were a lot of Americans claiming to be the best, but nothing to back up their claims at all. I did find some stats on life expectancy and infant mortality which weren't particularly encouraging for the US (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate).

Looking up "medical tourism" I learned that California's Blue Shield health plan actually sends American patients to hospitals in Mexico! The US is clearly not the only country people travel to when they're looking for health care. In fact, it appears the US is one of the last places people choose to go, due to the expense and the availability of comparable services elsewhere.

I'm sure many American doctors are excellent, and the Mayo clinic is world renowned. But Canadian medical schools are well respected, too, as are European ones. And Cuban doctors have excellent reputations, as well. So I rather doubt any claims of "best doctors in the world" - at least until I see some scientific evidence to the contrary.

For an example of non-American medical success: These Sudanese conjoined twins were just successfully separated at a British hospital. (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Good_News/2011/09/18/18703631.html)

 

The US has more specialties available because of the format of their healthcare system and the ability to charge out the ying yang for those services (because here in Canada there is a "cap" to what the government will reimburse for their services) HOWEVER, if I were in need of those services I think I would probably pay the price for it.

I appreciate our system in that I don't have to worry about out of pocket expenses to pay for care BUT it baffles me to have to wait indefinately to access the services I may require... there's good and bad with both systems I'm sure.

 

I dont' believe we have the best healthcare system.

Our infant mortality rates are NOT where they should be, and are beaten by many other countries.

Our life expectancy is great, but NOT the top.


It goes back to that special from the 'Give me a break' guy (brain fry.. name escapes me...). US kids were ONLY top on the national education standards in confidence. We BELIEVE our country is the best because we are trained to believe that.

I love my country. I REALLY do. But I confess a number of times I've contemplated moving to a deserted island somewhere. I find many of our current political practices unbelievably scary. I shouldn't have to censor myself on the telephone. I shouldn't have to feel watched.

Around here, we always worry if someone has to go to the local hospital. The last 3 people who died under sixty that I know had hospital/doctor related complications: one had a drug interaction that killed him. Another contracted a staph infection that was untreatable and it killed her. The third had a heart attack, drove himself to the hospital, seemed to be fine while we were visiting (and joking about bad coffee). Yet he was dead the next morning. (ok, maybe it wasn't the blood thinners and faulty operating techniques, but who knows). Our bigger hospital 45mins away is very good. The local one? not so much.

 

:lol: my best friend sent me a link to a blog he and some friends have been writing on lately (his means of being able to escape himself lately) and it's these matters and this way of thinking that they've been writing about. The idea of believing what you hear, etc. It has become their purpose to research the daily headlines and to bring out the truth of the matters at hand.

Being from a different country it has been an eye opener for even me (who admittedly knows very little about the political system in which you guys live). I shake my head in awe at some of the things you guys have to deal with because your "law makers" say so.

 

No, you have 24 hours AFTER to report that you had the heart attack . (Because that is exactly what is on your mind during those first 24 hours :roll

 

Oh my gosh not infant mortality rates again.

http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA547ComparativeHealth.html

 

If we were #1, we would be #1, no matter who was counting what. We aren't.

I wasn't saying that our healthcare is deplorable, just that we AREN'T the best.

 

:lol: and cause for another one I'm sure

 

No after you are admitted you or a loved one is supposed to contact the insurance company to let them know you have been admited. If you are unconcious or there is no one with you the hospital can send in paper work so you will be covered. They can not deny it because you are unresponsive.

 

"Waiting for Superman", I think that movie was called...Yeah, I saw it recently, about how the US is 9th (?) on the list of educational standards. Basically the movie showed how good charter schools are. Again, it boils down to the same thing as with healthcare. If you're super rich, you will have the best care and education possible.

I'm not anti-capitalism, but to all those who say they have worked hard and made their millions, and thus have earned all the luxuries they own, I say: yes, absolutely, you earned it. Good for you! But really, not everyone can reach that standard and some people really will work 2 jobs forever, and still only make enough to barely get by. What are those people to do???

I dont think we can ever devise a perfect system, because that would require the impossible: perfect humans.

 

Yes, thank you for the correction

I agree- JUST working hard imho isn't enough anymore. You have to have a talent, a brilliant idea, a leg up from family money, or something else working in your favor. Seems a bit unfair to Mr. Average, who will always scrape by because he's working hard, along with 700 other people in the company, and will be lucky to just reach the top of his payscale.