The Case For Some Sort Of National Healthcare

[dairygirl4u2c]

well, they say in canada that you have to wait etc etc. and it compromises choice etc. i am not sure if its' true, i'm just giving the benefit of the doubt, that there might actually be something practically wrong with socializing all of it, other than just because government is involved in and of itself makes it wrong despite all the benefits.

i mean, the profit motive alone, should make peole realize insurance isn't something that is naturally done more efficiently by the private sector. if they're not making at least their 10 percent returns, the investers will go somewhere else, and so it's not like competition will run down the prices etc.
or look at how much people pay for even non-catestrophic insurance, 200 per month etc, for the 50k income level plans. etc. it's simply wasted money, spent on nothing but the insurance company pockets.

the gov on the other hand is the ultimate insurer, if you pay into it, it does't matter the details, they can pay for a problem you have.

that link says gov wold be more efficient, for a reason.

insurance is a very very bad thing, any way you cut it. it's a necessary evil though, in a country so intent on no government. (and it might be better than socializing it all, again i'm not sure)

Edited May 21, 2008 by dairygirl4u2c

[dairygirl4u2c]

[quote]You can choose to go to a private (non-NHS) doctor here and get private health insurance if you like, but I've yet to see a need for it.[/quote]

you're probably right that there's not as much doom and gloom to the socilization of helath care. i'm just throwing the conservatives here a bone, who insist it's somehow evil despite everything...

[CatherineM]

I haven't had to wait to see a doctor. My doctor is weird and doesn't take appointments, you just show up, and the longest I've ever had to wait was an hour, it's usually about 30 minutes. I've had to wait that long or longer in the US when I had an appointment. The blood work place is the same, usually 30 minutes. I got in to see a high risk OBGYN in 3 days, the orthopedic doctor in 5 days, and 4 days for a mammogram. I used to wait about 6 months in Florida for a mammogram. My mother, aunt, and both great-aunts had breast cancer, so I practically have them every 6 months. I've been in the ER 5 times in 2 1/2 years, and only had to wait more than 2 hours once, and that was a Saturday night. Once for a nose bleed that wouldn't stop, once for food poisoning, once for a dislocated knee, once for a possible heart attack, and once for the flu. The flu trip was the one I had to wait on, and I expected to, but was dehydrated and needed an IV.

The only thing I had to wait what people would consider to be a long time was for a psychiatrist that deals with PTSD. I waited a year to get into his program, but he is the only one in Edmonton who is doing the new CBT therapy for PTSD, and it was worth the wait. There are a lot of refugees here, and he has torture survivors and soldiers from Afghanistan, so his list is pretty long. I was surprised I got in that quickly actually. It was probably because of who my husband is that I got pushed up on the list. That's not supposed to happen, but this is like anywhere else in that regard.

I'm sure wait times are longer in more rural areas, but that's the case in the US in rural areas. I just haven't had a wait time issue, but I don't know if that is because we get special treatment, or if I just haven't needed anything major done. The only real procedure I have had done is an angiogram, and I waited about 20 minutes because it was in the middle of the night. Maybe when it comes time for some knee surgery, I'll start complaining about the wait time. It could also be that I was expecting it to be horrible, so I had lower expectations.

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='dairygirl4u2c' post='1536090' date='May 21 2008, 03:49 PM']you're probably right that there's not as much doom and gloom to the socilization of helath care. i'm just throwing the conservatives here a bone, who insist it's somehow evil despite everything...[/quote]
I understand that.

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1536107' date='May 21 2008, 04:50 PM']I haven't had to wait to see a doctor. My doctor is weird and doesn't take appointments, you just show up, and the longest I've ever had to wait was an hour, it's usually about 30 minutes. I've had to wait that long or longer in the US when I had an appointment. The blood work place is the same, usually 30 minutes. I got in to see a high risk OBGYN in 3 days, the orthopedic doctor in 5 days, and 4 days for a mammogram. I used to wait about 6 months in Florida for a mammogram. My mother, aunt, and both great-aunts had breast cancer, so I practically have them every 6 months. I've been in the ER 5 times in 2 1/2 years, and only had to wait more than 2 hours once, and that was a Saturday night. Once for a nose bleed that wouldn't stop, once for food poisoning, once for a dislocated knee, once for a possible heart attack, and once for the flu. The flu trip was the one I had to wait on, and I expected to, but was dehydrated and needed an IV.[/quote]

Yeah, I haven't seen much difference between here & FL. The only time we've experienced waits were once when I went to a walk-in clinic on a Sunday with mastitis, and when my husband had to have his appendectomy. Actually, he didn't have to wait to see a doctor, just had to wait a few hours to get into the operating theatre, since they had to get prep work done & make sure he hadn't eaten in a few hours, so don't guess that counts. He didn't have to wait much longer than he would have had the operation been scheduled.

[quote]It was probably because of who my husband is that I got pushed up on the list. That's not supposed to happen, but this is like anywhere else in that regard.[/quote]
Yeah, that does happen everywhere.

[dairygirl4u2c]

it's nice having people from england and canada here, cause now i can tell people i've heard these things from them, making me sound much more credible, and cool

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='dairygirl4u2c' post='1536679' date='May 22 2008, 01:16 AM']it's nice having people from england and canada here, cause now i can tell people i've heard these things from them, making me sound much more credible, and cool[/quote]

Glad to help you out, Dairy.