We still don’t have universal pharmacare or dental yet but we have it pretty good. My youngest child has pretty severe CP and we’d be living in a shack if we were American with all her care and equipment.
BTW
“have fun storming the castle”
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.
Yes, had the test a year ago, but was negative. Thx for posting, because I will have to check insurance options when I decide to test again.
The lesson I am taking from this (well… one of them) is that when it’s my time for this (and it will be soon), I should probably insist on the full colonoscopy and say no to any suggestion of Cologuard. Yeah a hell of a lot less pleasant but at least I’ll know the first time and won’t have to pay extra.
Lived in Germany for 5 years. Germans will complain loudly when not happy. Never heard a German complain once about quality of or access to healthcare. Not once.
US is a distant last in most healthcare metrics. Only thing it fares well in is interventionist medicine - where there’s profit to be made. That’s what you get when you apply capitalism to healthcare. You also get CEO of United healthcare making $66m income.
I asked my Dr about Cologuard, and he recommended against it for that very reason = false positives
“You’re gonna have to go in anyway”
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The lesson I am taking from this (well… one of them) is that when it’s my time for this (and it will be soon), I should probably insist on the full colonoscopy and say no to any suggestion of Cologuard.//
Well there are even more reasons to go down this road first. Us guys over 50/60/70, there is a good chance of a polyp, and they can at the same time just snip it off. No extra procedure, and if something else looks funky, then a cut and test too. Just seems to me that the quick easy test is really not there yet, and just causes more headaches than it is supposed to avoid…I have had 4 colonoscopies now, one with a polyp, so that is the way I will be going…At least until they perfect that tiny camera you swallow, and just let it go for a ride while filming the whole trip!! Talk about non invasive, except for picking it out of your you know what of course )-;
except for picking it out of your you know what of course )-;
No need for that if they can build in a WiFi chip, connect it to an app (PoopStream) and then broadcast it back to the doc. If we can have a camera on our doorbells we can certainly have this too.
I took the Cologuard test two weeks after an Ironman and it was negative so it certainly isn’t a given that hard training will cause positives. My doctor recommended the test and he has a bunch of Ironman finishes to his credit.
It’s probably worth looking into but I would trust my doctor’s opinion before a story on the internet. We have no idea how common that result is.
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.
Every time i read a story about American Health care i am reminded how absolutely broken that system is. - written by someone who is not american
You don’t know the half of it. Astronomical bills are probably known to you. That we are at an arbitrary whim of insurance companies is too. What the rest of the world probably doesn’t know is that we get multiple bills for the same procedure / same visit, and the bills come 4-8 weeks after the visit. There’s no way to know ahead of time what we are going to receive. One bill, or 3-4 bills from 3-4 different directions. This person could get his $1,200 bill as expected, pay it let’s say, and then get a bill for $150 from nurses, and $100 from the hospital, and then another week later a bill for $15,000 from anesthesiologist because that is not at all covered. It is fucked up beyond belief.
Every time i read a story about American Health care i am reminded how absolutely broken that system is. - written by someone who is not american
You don’t know the half of it. Astronomical bills are probably known to you. That we are at an arbitrary whim of insurance companies is too. What the rest of the world probably doesn’t know is that we get multiple bills for the same procedure / same visit, and the bills come 4-8 weeks after the visit. There’s no way to know ahead of time what we are going to receive. One bill, or 3-4 bills from 3-4 different directions. This person could get his $1,200 bill as expected, pay it let’s say, and then get a bill for $150 from nurses, and $100 from the hospital, and then another week later a bill for $15,000 from anesthesiologist because that is not at all covered. It is fucked up beyond belief.
The story of my life. Due to several pre-existing conditions (several of which I was born with), I have been uninsurable my entire adult life. The only insurance I’ve ever been able to get is whatever group plans were offered by my employers, and some of those were virtually worthless. I just last week finally paid off surgery I had to rebuild my left leg after an accident in 2005, which the insurance refused to cover because I was “in my mid-40s, and didn’t need to do anything anymore”…
Monty,
Good points!!
RE: the DR. knowing of blood in the stool, I learned of the blood stool issue by experience, and also visited this doctor immediately after it occurred to be sure there was nothing sever going on!!! He probably didn’t remember…
In my running group, there are two physicians. They were aware of the issue, both the false negatives and the non-coverage for the necessitated second test. By the way, they no longer suggest this as the “way to go”.
As a physician myself, I can guarantee you he did not remember. Electronic medical records (EMR) have put a large block between patients and doctors (and other healthcare workers). Before EMR, I could recall so many details about my patients…family members being ill, last procedures performed, visiting grandchildren, etc… Now that we are required to use EMR, I truly do have a very hard time remembering the “little thing” about my patients, and will commonly ask “did I do so and so procedure on you 6 months ago?” It’s a bi embarrassing but it’s the way of the world with medicine right now…and it’s going to get worse.
As far as your doc’s advice is concerned, YES he should have told you “if this comes back positive, you will need a colonoscopy”. Also, he most likely had knowledge that some people could face a rather large bill if they need a colonoscopy afterwards so, if i was your doc, I would feel obligated to share that with you as well so you could make an informed consent.
I did the Cologuard test this summer. I felt bad for the UPS guy at the counter, “Here’s my shit - in a box!” A little awkward but at least $700 better than drinking “the mix” and sitting on the toilet for 24 hours. The test came back fine, I have the GI tract of a 25 year old (but alas the prostate of a 66 year old).
I’m a bit torn with the whole medical profession: my dermatologist is kind of a dick but he finds all the bad stuff early and has great surgical skills so I put up with him.
My old GP pronounced me fit as a fiddle on my yearly exam 2 years ago - I had complete heart failure that afternoon and was “mostly dead” like the Dread Pirate Roberts. Off to the ER…
My Cardiologist is a saint, he and my NEW GP are totally awesome. I get to talk and they listen without interrupting.
All of this is now paid for by Medicare and my $300 a month AARP supplement plan. Other than my premium there are no out of pocket expenses for anything, anywhere, with any doctor in the country. The stress reduction is amazing, I wish every American could experience it and vote accordingly for Universal Healthcare.
I wish everyone had universal healthcare but I do not wish for a universal healthcare system. We already have a perfect example of universal healthcare in the US and it’s called the Veterans Administration (VA). The VA is one of the biggest bureaucracies that has ever existed in our government. I can attest to this as a medical professional who has trained in, and worked withthe VA, as well as my father being a patient at several. In order to make sure the veterans are being properly cared for, in a timely manner, the VA has had to rely on the private medical sector to a large degree. Before congress passed laws mandating the vets receive coverage within 30 days, it could take months to get a patient in for surgery. I would try to refer a patient back to the VA for cataract surgery and would be told “it’ll be 4 months before we can get him in for an appointment”. I could refer him to a private ophthalmologist and have the procedure done in two weeks. The cataract surgeons have almost NO incentive to take care of a large volume of patients…they pretty much get paid the same whether they do 4 cataract surgeries or whether they do 10 cataract surgeries. There’s already a shortage of specialists in almost every field. You go to a universal healthcare system, and you will see wait times go thru the roof unless there is a private option to bail the system out.
Every time i read a story about American Health care i am reminded how absolutely broken that system is. - written by someone who is not american
You don’t know the half of it. Astronomical bills are probably known to you. That we are at an arbitrary whim of insurance companies is too. What the rest of the world probably doesn’t know is that we get multiple bills for the same procedure / same visit, and the bills come 4-8 weeks after the visit. There’s no way to know ahead of time what we are going to receive. One bill, or 3-4 bills from 3-4 different directions. This person could get his $1,200 bill as expected, pay it let’s say, and then get a bill for $150 from nurses, and $100 from the hospital, and then another week later a bill for $15,000 from anesthesiologist because that is not at all covered. It is fucked up beyond belief.
100% agree with ya. Even with me being a physician, I get these different bills and shake my head at the absurdity of it all. I have no clue how the “average joe” can comprehend what is occurring. My wife had knee surgery and she gets a bill from the surgeon, the hospital, the radiologist, the anesthesiologist, the nurse anesthetist, and so on. Sometimes, you get a bill saying “this is how much it all costs and this is how much you owe”, and this can be before insurance has paid anything at all. So after insurance has paid, then you get another set of bills saying “insurance has paid this, so now you owe X”.
Our entire healthcare system makes me sick as well, but I have no clue what to do about it because it is so complex. Right now, insurance companies have way too much power, and continue to be a thorn in the side of both physicians and patients.
Unfortunately, all of us think that due to the FDA and other entities that the days of voodoo, witchcraft, snake oil salesmen, and leeches are gone. Nope.
No single policy says that profit cannot be the driving factor for providers or insurance companies.
When you have a profit driven system, you see more of this.
I won’t go further into politicking about it, but these days if it isn’t a basic office visit or basic pharmacy purchase…I ask for a quote on what it’s gonna cost me. And how it goes against deductibles and such.
I’m very happy it’s only your wallet that got lighter.
Just always be on guard asking for quotes. Call your insurance carrier before anything more than an office visit.
It sucks it is that way, but have to protect you r health and wallet.
Our entire healthcare system makes me sick as well, but I have no clue what to do about it because it is so complex.
It’s complex by design, do you think all those companies sending astronomical bills to each other care about complexity? No, that’s how they make money and pay their CEO 66 mil per year. It’s a well rooted ecosystem with a “to big to fail” defense from the financial industry, fear mongering from their political lackeys and resignation from the medical professionals who really just want to practice good medicine. A medical “Deep State” if there ever was one.
The only way to fix it is to make it simple. Stupid simple. Remove the multiple layers, remove the for profit capitalism, fix prices and use personal and corporate taxes to pay for it. Also include a hefty budget for exposing fraud because we Americans love screwing the government and then complaining that government doesn’t work. (/rant)
I wasn’t holding up the US system as this wonderful example of efficiency and economy - rather that when people decry the US system and extol the virtues of “universal healthcare” it seems to me that they look at it through rose tinted glasses. Both systems are broken and both systems currently fail the patient. Further, I don’t believe it is the actual principal behind either system rather it is the inept implementation of each system.
I wish everyone had universal healthcare but I do not wish for a universal healthcare system. We already have a perfect example of universal healthcare in the US and it’s called the Veterans Administration (VA). //
What about medicare, or the coverage that our politicians get?? Seems most of those folks are pretty happy with what they are getting. I agree the VA is completely broken, isn’t there some talk of rolling that into medicare??
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.
In my case it was a two days from the primary care doctor to the specialist. Then it was two days between that specialist to another, and one day to the one that actually specializes in my diagnosis (Multiple Myeloma). My health care insurer covered all of that with the usual deductible, which I maxed out a couple months later so I had about 6 months of zero deductible service. All told the care that I received in 2017 was very prompt, very expensive, and way beyond anything I had ever even thought of before being diagnosed. All told, I only had to deal with $5K out of pocket expenses for more than $600K in treatment costs, so I cannot complain.
The reason for longer waits in other specialties is the low number of doctors in those specialties. Those shortages are usually regional, a long wait in St. Louis might not happen in Tampa, FL for age related care. In my case it was cancer care, which has gotten MUCH better nationwide over the last 20 years.