HoustonTri(er) wrote:
Careful what you wish for with Universal Healthcare.
The concept is great but I don’t know of any country where the actual application of it works where the patients are happy and well cared for.
My current example of this is my father - a 70+ man in the UK that has been employed all his life and paid into the system.
For the past three months he has been suffering from a debilitating loss of strength in his arms, legs, and hands - this has resulted in his quality of life suffering and affecting his mobility. Well after multiple visits to the doc who initially blew it off as just aging has now agreed that an appointment is deemed necessary with a senior consultant (UK NHS terminology for a specialist).
Guess how long he has to wait just to see this specialist for the initial appointment - 20 fucking weeks........ during which he is supposed to just deal with not being able to perform day to day normal functions. Last year my mum had a lump in her neck that affected her ability to swallow - again took 12 weeks to see the senior consultant.
The US healthcare system may be screwed up but let’s not pretend that the universal healthcare model (NHS in the UK in my personal examples) should be held up as this wonderful alternative. I’ve lived within both systems and neither model seems sustainable/preferable as they actually function.
I assume you have never had to get in as a new patient to a specialist in the US. Every time I see someone comment like this I go back to my wife. Needed a hip replacement, unable to sleep, walking with a cane, referred to the surgeon in early February, appt with surgeon in mid-May, surgery performed end of October.
You don't get to walk in tomorrow to a specialist in the US, you have to wait, just like a lot of other countries.
I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.