Healthcare Stories?

[AshburnerX]

I need some help. Does anyone have any personal healthcare stories they'd be willing to share? I'm writing a paper for a college course and need some personal accounts of bad experiences with healthcare, mainly regarding difficulties paying it and bad quality of care. I'm primarily looking for US accounts, but ones from Canada, Asia, or Europe would be good too.

If you don't feel like sharing them here, you can send it to me in a PM if you'd prefer. Thanks!

 

[DarkAudit]

Just this. If you're uninsured here, and have to call the county EMS, you're already out $800 before they even get to you.

 

[Officer_Charon]

Wish I could help, but all my experiences with it personally have been stellar.

 

[Jay]

Went to the hospital clinic for a personal problem.
Waited about an hour, THE OUTRAGE.
Got treated by a competent doctor.
Didn't have to pay a thing.
Because Canadian.

 

[phil]

My friend had an infected ingrown toe nail. The way he tells it is that he went to a doctor who prescribed him some new super expensive drug that did absolutely nothing while costing him nearly $1,000 after it was all said and done. One night while still in constant pain he goes to a free clinic and they just tell him to get some penicillin for like 5 bucks and that clears it right up. The guys at the clinic explained that the doctor was probably being paid to recommend that drug to people or something.

 

[CrimsonSoul]

I once had a super bad sinus infection it was so bad the doc prescribed me vicoden and I had to take two of then just to slightly numb the pain. I finally went to the er to hopefully get something stronger after sitting there over an hour in tears from the pain a nurse came out into the waiting room and told me that they couldn't give me anything for it and I was basically sol so we left. A week later I got a bill for over a hundred bucks... I never left the waiting room so I was basically charged money for waiting but not being seen

 

[GasBandit]

My earliest traumatic memory was when I jumped off a swingset when I was 3 and tore open the back of my thigh. My parents rushed me to the hospital, and the doctor gave me stitches. He tried to numb me first, but it didn't work, and I was 3 and couldn't adequately communicate that I was feeling every jab of the needle as they sewed me back together. By the third jab I was just basically pleading "leave me alone! leave me alone!" and I distinctly remember the doctor saying "Ok!" and then jabbing me again. repeat for about 7 stitches. I still have the scar on the back of my left thigh.

As my folks were both military and we went to the military hospital, I'm pretty sure that story didn't have anything to do with difficulty paying, I suppose, but... there you go.

Oh, more recently, I fell in the parking lot and bashed my knee on a brick. It swelled up like a cantaloupe, and they took x-rays, then an MRI... well, that was a fun time blowing through my deductible for the year. All for them to tell me to basically keep my weight off it and take OTC Advil. Shit, for that level of pain and expense, I was due SOMETHING that needed a prescription. Fortunately I had hydrocodone left over from when they tore out my big toenail. To this day, I can't kneel down on that knee.

 

[Frank]

Went to the hospital clinic for a personal problem.
Waited about an hour, THE OUTRAGE.
Got treated by a competent doctor.
Didn't have to pay a thing.
Because Canadian.

Yeah, basically. I've never had much issue.

 

[Krisken]

Went to the hospital clinic for a personal problem.
Waited about an hour, THE OUTRAGE.
Got treated by a competent doctor.
Didn't have to pay a thing.
Because Canadian.

I always hear about tons of wait time in Canada, but god dammit if I don't have to wait at least an hour here too, and it's just a frickin clinic.

 

[AshburnerX]

I always hear about tons of wait time in Canada, but god dammit if I don't have to wait at least an hour here too, and it's just a frickin clinic.

The wait time in the US is because it's hard to find affordable general practitioners in some areas. Speaking as someone who interacts with fellows and doctors on a regular basis, I can tell you plainly that it's because there is no money to be made in general practice. Everyone is going into pediatrics, orthopedics, or other specialties because you just plain make more money doing it.

There is also the fact that none of them want to deal with insurance companies. They have to negotiate their prices with every insurance provider (which is a pain) and any providers that they don't have a deal with are ones they can't use (which means they won't get paid for some procedures and can't treat some patients). Many newer graduates in private practice are simply not accepting insurance at all because of the problems the insurance companies cause for them.

 

[PatrThom]

Coding.

If you're going to write about the situation in the US, you should include something about coding.

Health insurance and payment is all based on how it is coded, and using the improper codes (even if they're the ones recommended by the insurer!) will bog you down and cause you to have to make people look again for proper reimbursement.
Example: Two years running, I had to find out why I was being billed for Kati's yearly physical. The first year, it was because she had had an examination which included a Pap smear. The fee for the pap smear was denied because the insurance company said we could only have one pap smear per year. Well, we had only done the one pap smear. Turns out the code for pap smear and the code for "yearly physical" were the same, so the insurance company thought she'd had two yearly physicals on the same day, and they were only willing to pay for one of them. Nevermind that both were at the same location, by the same doctor, etc. The second year, the office had just switched over billing systems, so the physical was submitted under one system but rejected because by the time it had cleared through all the hurdles at the insurance agency, it got denied due to being for the wrong doctor's office. Actually, it was the same office, they'd just changed contact info during the interim.

And the capper was for an two-part procedure (same procedure, just two parts) for Kati. They paid for the second procedure but denied the first. Why? Because the surgery center where part 1 was performed was non-affiliated, but the one where part 2 was done was...even though both procedures were done by the exact same person. So basically even though the entire process (pre-exam, consultation, prescriptions, proc1, follow-up, proc2, follow-up, more prescriptions) was done by one man (over several weeks), we had to pay for the first procedure out-of-pocket because he happened to be at building B that day.

I swear, the idea of negotiating my own rate looks better and better every year.

--Patrick

 

[Terrik]

The wait time in the US is because it's hard to find affordable general practitioners in some areas. Speaking as someone who interacts with fellows and doctors on a regular basis, I can tell you plainly that it's because there is no money to be made in general practice. Everyone is going into pediatrics, orthopedics, or other specialties because you just plain make more money doing it.

There is also the fact that none of them want to deal with insurance companies. They have to negotiate their prices with every insurance provider (which is a pain) and any providers that they don't have a deal with are ones they can't use (which means they won't get paid for some procedures and can't treat some patients). Many newer graduates in private practice are simply not accepting insurance at all because of the problems the insurance companies cause for them.

That's pretty much it. Medical school is more or less hell. My brother is currently 4th year medical. Most med students line of thought comes down to "Why be a GP if I can go to school for a couple more years and make an additional 200K a year?" If you're going to invest 6-10 years in education, this is a fair thought.

 

[Jay]

I always hear about tons of wait time in Canada, but god dammit if I don't have to wait at least an hour here too, and it's just a frickin clinic.

It depends where you go.

If you go to a hospital with a mild emergency the odds are, you'll wait a few hours to get treated when more severe cases get priority. It's common sense. If our medical staff would stop leaving Canada to go work in the US for a bigger payday, it'll be faster as staff is hard to find.

If you go to the clinic, it's more of a first come, first serve. The wait CAN be long, particularly in the winter months where you may wait a few hours. As of 10 years ago though, I switched to a private clinic and never waited more than 15 minutes. You pay for it but my work insurance covers it. But the option is indeed there for the majority of people.

IMHO, private sector IS cheating but I'll be damned if I have to wait a few hours to get 5 minutes of a doctor's time.

For example last year, I caught the flu and after 2 days suffering at home I couldn't take it anymore and call my doctor at 8 AM when the clinic opened for an availability. Receptionist tells me, a doctor is available at 9:15. I say sure. I go there and at 9:15 exactly, my name is called. At 9:30 I'm done with the doctor with my free prescriptions already in hand (they have a pharmacy). Total cost = 0$. I was in bed by 10 with my meds and woke up around 2, feeling better.

As for operations, they can wait awhile. The same concept applies. Urgent? Done quickly. Less urgent. Wait longer. Find another way to get it done, maybe at your own cost if insurance/needs are there.

 

[Krisken]

Coding.

If you're going to write about the situation in the US, you should include something about coding.

Health insurance and payment is all based on how it is coded, and using the improper codes (even if they're the ones recommended by the insurer!) will bog you down and cause you to have to make people look again for proper reimbursement.
Example: Two years running, I had to find out why I was being billed for Kati's yearly physical. The first year, it was because she had had an examination which included a Pap smear. The fee for the pap smear was denied because the insurance company said we could only have one pap smear per year. Well, we had only done the one pap smear. Turns out the code for pap smear and the code for "yearly physical" were the same, so the insurance company thought she'd had two yearly physicals on the same day, and they were only willing to pay for one of them. Nevermind that both were at the same location, by the same doctor, etc. The second year, the office had just switched over billing systems, so the physical was submitted under one system but rejected because by the time it had cleared through all the hurdles at the insurance agency, it got denied due to being for the wrong doctor's office. Actually, it was the same office, they'd just changed contact info during the interim.

And the capper was for an two-part procedure (same procedure, just two parts) for Kati. They paid for the second procedure but denied the first. Why? Because the surgery center where part 1 was performed was non-affiliated, but the one where part 2 was done was...even though both procedures were done by the exact same person. So basically even though the entire process (pre-exam, consultation, prescriptions, proc1, follow-up, proc2, follow-up, more prescriptions) was done by one man (over several weeks), we had to pay for the first procedure out-of-pocket because he happened to be at building B that day.

I swear, the idea of negotiating my own rate looks better and better every year.

--Patrick

YES YES YES. My coding classes single handedly convinced me that I would rather gouge out my own eyes than work at a health care facility doing coding.

Edit: If what I'm hearing is true, it sounds like Canadian private care is faster than the U.S. care for the most part. Here we make appointments and still can wait hours before we can see our doctor.

 

[Terrik]

It depends where you go.

If you go to a hospital with a mild emergency the odds are, you'll wait a few hours to get treated when more severe cases get priority. It's common sense. If our medical staff would stop leaving Canada to go work in the US for a bigger payday, it'll be faster as staff is hard to find.
.

But is that not a failing of the system? It's not attractive enough to keep the actual experts. I don't blame anyone for expecting a higher salary after a decade of school. You work 30 hour shifts in residency at slave wages--there had better be light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[blotsfan]

TIL Jay thinks private healthcare is a superior system and brings in the best doctors.

 

[Jay]

TIL Jay thinks private healthcare is a superior system and brings in the best doctors.

Wrong John Scott.

Assumption was best doctors, intent was "any doctor". Money makes people in the health care system go either Private or to the US. Huge shortage of nurses in Canada because of this.

Mostly because compared to the US, shit, we're paying them pathetically.[DOUBLEPOST=1380204431,1380204333][/DOUBLEPOST]

But is that not a failing of the system? It's not attractive enough to keep the actual experts. I don't blame anyone for expecting a higher salary after a decade of school. You work 30 hour shifts in residency at slave wages--there had better be light at the end of the tunnel.

Absolutely, the system is far from perfect and it's a shame the governement isn't putting more focus on that. But that's a whole political conversation on its own with terrible government party issues. I'd rather not go into it since Politics isn't my thing on these forums nor do I care to hijack this thread.

The point is simple, "it is what it is". OP be pleased.

 

[Bowielee]

Went to the hospital clinic for a personal problem.
Waited about an hour, THE OUTRAGE.
Got treated by a competent doctor.
Didn't have to pay a thing.
Because Canadian.

But, but, socialized medicine results in incompetent and horrible treatment.

I was told by Fox news.

 

[Eriol]

But, but, socialized medicine results in incompetent and horrible treatment.

I was told by Fox news.

Oh I've had both ends of the spectrum personally. And believe me, "incompetent and horrible treatment" is alive and well in the Canadian Health Care System.

On the one end, stuck my hand into the propeller of a model airplane (not deliberately), was actively bleeding. Drove myself to a small-town hospital, and was in and out WITH stitches in 15 minutes. Small town hospitals don't tend to have a lot happening at them.


On the other end, I had an incorrectly diagnosed disc herniation in my lower back for 9 months (I was in university at the time, and living at home). This is for something that can cause paralysis. PERMANENTLY. I was lucky and that didn't happen, but still. They kept saying it was just a pulled muscle, or inflammation, or etc, etc, etc. The numbnuts even did a CT scan once because they suspected it, but I'm f'n huge (6'7") so the techs didn't get the right area of my back (they scanned too high), but the doc "thought" he could see the right area and it "seemed" fine. Took pulling serious strings with contacts (my Dad worked with the Health Authority and my Mom's an RN) to get ANOTHER CT of the correct area, which the doc (different one, a good one they both knew personally) looking at it and correctly diagnosing.

And then the next stage of terribleness. Even after that though, the surgeon required an MRI, which originally was going to take another 6 months on top of that to get scheduled for. Keep in mind I've been in constant pain for 9 MONTHS at this point. But it doesn't stop me from going to school (though I did have to quit a summer job over it, labor aggravated it), so it wasn't "serious" enough to get in quickly. Back to the story, luckily we pulled some more strings and got an earlier MRI (I only had to wait 1.5 more months rather than 6). So 11 months after initial symptoms, I went in for back surgery.

And woke up in pain. So I asked the recovery room nurse, moved around such, and then started screaming. The stupid recovery room people weren't advised that I was not to move my back for a while. But I wasn't told that, and neither were they, so I had worse pain for about a week post-surgery. Oh and it gets better about the bed they provided me with. Remember how I stated I am 6'7" tall? When the surgery was booked, we specifically requested an extra-long bed, and the doctor agreed that I'd need one. It didn't happen. My feet were sticking about 8"-10" off the end. They actually wheeled over a stool and put a pillow on it. That was extremely "not good" and the doctor realized it, but nobody could find an extra-long bed for me to use. In the entire hospital. In the largest city in the province (Calgary, over 1M people). Seriously. Basically, because my Mom is an RN, the doctor discharged me sooner than he usually would because he knew I'd get good care, and the bed was literally agony for me to lay in. So I made my way home, and had a decent bed, and my Mom took some time off of work to care for me.

So in summary on that one, I waited 9 months for a diagnoses that may have been LONGER if I wasn't related to somebody in health care. I would have waited 6 MORE months for treatment (surgeon required an MRI) if again, I hadn't known people. So let's say somebody else had the same thing, they would have waited a year and a half or longer, and may have ended up paralyzed or worse if still undiagnosed.


As for the clinic experience, typically waits at walk-in clinics are 2+ hours. I'm not talking about emergency rooms here. Also, in the city where I live now (Kelowna, a really small tourist city) the Provincial registry for family physicians accepting patients has been EMPTY for over a year. Yes you can not get a family doctor in this city. And it's been like that for a year. Hence why I know how long the wait at the walk-in is. I actually eventually broke down and went to the next community over. Still not far, but still very odd to even need to do that.


In Canada we don't have a right to free health care, we have the right to stay in pain/agony/die (yes I know where this happened too) while on waiting lists. I could give more stories from my friends and family on this one, but that one above is ME, and I have seen no indications it has gotten any better in the meantime. Single-payer may have benefits, but single-provider (government only for hospitals) results in what we have above. Not to mention the Diagnostic Imaging (DI) backlog that means people are in pain/agony for months or YEARS at a time. The real tragedy is that people have gotten so used to it. People don't expect prompt diagnoses and trying to figure out what's wrong with you up-front, and THEN prescribe pain killers, or whatever. You're ALWAYS on pain drugs for MONTHS because they don't actually diagnose you. It's expected to suffer for months (or years) on end. And that's the saddest part of all.


Your system sucks in the USA. No doubt about it. But don't look to Canada.

 

[blotsfan]

Actual serious question for Jay (or really any canadian), how does private healthcare work there? I thought that just wasn't allowed in canada, hence richer canadians coming to the US for quicker healthcare.

 

[Eriol]

Actual serious question for Jay (or really any canadian), how does private healthcare work there? I thought that just wasn't allowed in canada, hence richer canadians coming to the US for quicker healthcare.

It's "kind of" not allowed. There's really a few ways of looking at it.

1. Private doctor's office: This is like where an individual doctor (or a few) have a practice together, and have their roster of patients. Everything is paid for by the government according to a fees schedule. People make appointments and such, but anything covered by the Canada Health Act (anything non-optional) isn't paid by the patient. Optional things (mostly cosmetic surgery, Botox, etc) the doctors can charge the patients directly for.
2. Hospitals: 100% run by the government. You can buy "supplementary insurance" which can pay for things like a private room (if available), the "better" hip replacement, and some other types of "upgrades" but generally, the government pays for and administrates it all.
3. Private clinics for the elite: this seriously exists. There's a few private hospitals across the country that only if you're super-rich and/or powerful (top politicians) you get to go to. And get great care. And pay for it. Here's one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouldice_Hernia_Centre Jack Layton, deceased head of the NDP, the paragon of "no private health care" in Canada, used himself. There are a few others, but the media don't talk about them, because they're not in Alberta, and the politicians they like go to them. Not to mention the "natives only, unless you have money" private hospital which is going to be built shortly in West Kelowna. No, I'm not joking.

It's also illegal to pay for your own "required" care. Or to get insurance to do so. Even if for outside of the country. Though that has had some developments in Quebec, with a court striking it down, but nothing has happened there since 2005. So who knows.

Basically, if you're rich enough not to need insurance to pay for it, and you have an issue, you go to the USA so you can get it done the next week, instead of "sometime" in the next year. Or 2. Or who knows when?

 

[Bowielee]

Oh I've had both ends of the spectrum personally. And believe me, "incompetent and horrible treatment" is alive and well in the Canadian Health Care System.

On the one end, stuck my hand into the propeller of a model airplane (not deliberately), was actively bleeding. Drove myself to a small-town hospital, and was in and out WITH stitches in 15 minutes. Small town hospitals don't tend to have a lot happening at them.


On the other end, I had an incorrectly diagnosed disc herniation in my lower back for 9 months (I was in university at the time, and living at home). This is for something that can cause paralysis. PERMANENTLY. I was lucky and that didn't happen, but still. They kept saying it was just a pulled muscle, or inflammation, or etc, etc, etc. The numbnuts even did a CT scan once because they suspected it, but I'm f'n huge (6'7") so the techs didn't get the right area of my back (they scanned too high), but the doc "thought" he could see the right area and it "seemed" fine. Took pulling serious strings with contacts (my Dad worked with the Health Authority and my Mom's an RN) to get ANOTHER CT of the correct area, which the doc (different one, a good one they both knew personally) looking at it and correctly diagnosing.

And then the next stage of terribleness. Even after that though, the surgeon required an MRI, which originally was going to take another 6 months on top of that to get scheduled for. Keep in mind I've been in constant pain for 9 MONTHS at this point. But it doesn't stop me from going to school (though I did have to quit a summer job over it, labor aggravated it), so it wasn't "serious" enough to get in quickly. Back to the story, luckily we pulled some more strings and got an earlier MRI (I only had to wait 1.5 more months rather than 6). So 11 months after initial symptoms, I went in for back surgery.

And woke up in pain. So I asked the recovery room nurse, moved around such, and then started screaming. The stupid recovery room people weren't advised that I was not to move my back for a while. But I wasn't told that, and neither were they, so I had worse pain for about a week post-surgery. Oh and it gets better about the bed they provided me with. Remember how I stated I am 6'7" tall? When the surgery was booked, we specifically requested an extra-long bed, and the doctor agreed that I'd need one. It didn't happen. My feet were sticking about 8"-10" off the end. They actually wheeled over a stool and put a pillow on it. That was extremely "not good" and the doctor realized it, but nobody could find an extra-long bed for me to use. In the entire hospital. In the largest city in the province (Calgary, over 1M people). Seriously. Basically, because my Mom is an RN, the doctor discharged me sooner than he usually would because he knew I'd get good care, and the bed was literally agony for me to lay in. So I made my way home, and had a decent bed, and my Mom took some time off of work to care for me.

So in summary on that one, I waited 9 months for a diagnoses that may have been LONGER if I wasn't related to somebody in health care. I would have waited 6 MORE months for treatment (surgeon required an MRI) if again, I hadn't known people. So let's say somebody else had the same thing, they would have waited a year and a half or longer, and may have ended up paralyzed or worse if still undiagnosed.


As for the clinic experience, typically waits at walk-in clinics are 2+ hours. I'm not talking about emergency rooms here. Also, in the city where I live now (Kelowna, a really small tourist city) the Provincial registry for family physicians accepting patients has been EMPTY for over a year. Yes you can not get a family doctor in this city. And it's been like that for a year. Hence why I know how long the wait at the walk-in is. I actually eventually broke down and went to the next community over. Still not far, but still very odd to even need to do that.


In Canada we don't have a right to free health care, we have the right to stay in pain/agony/die (yes I know where this happened too) while on waiting lists. I could give more stories from my friends and family on this one, but that one above is ME, and I have seen no indications it has gotten any better in the meantime. Single-payer may have benefits, but single-provider (government only for hospitals) results in what we have above. Not to mention the Diagnostic Imaging (DI) backlog that means people are in pain/agony for months or YEARS at a time. The real tragedy is that people have gotten so used to it. People don't expect prompt diagnoses and trying to figure out what's wrong with you up-front, and THEN prescribe pain killers, or whatever. You're ALWAYS on pain drugs for MONTHS because they don't actually diagnose you. It's expected to suffer for months (or years) on end. And that's the saddest part of all.


Your system sucks in the USA. No doubt about it. But don't look to Canada.

I think the issue isn't really how the system is funded, more than it is that there are bad hospitals/doctors in both systems.

 

[Eriol]

I think the issue isn't really how the system is funded, more than it is that there are bad hospitals/doctors in both systems.

There's just not enough DI resources (which are ALL centrally purchased), so doctors don't try and get you IN for those unless they're really really needed, and thus you continue on in pain based on "guesses" of doctors for considerable amounts of time. And you have no option but to A) Take the pain, or B) be rich enough to pay for it yourself in the USA, since it's illegal to do so in Canada.

Oh this IS about where the funding comes from. For how the infrastructure is done at least. I could see single-payer and many-provider work, but that's also banned in Canada. Private hospitals are a no-no (unless, as I cited above you're a Native Tribe, or you're an influential politician).

 

[Bowielee]

The thing is, I've heard just as many horror stories about the US and Canadian health care systems to come to think that neither country is doing it right.

 

[Eriol]

The thing is, I've heard just as many horror stories about the US and Canadian health care systems to come to think that neither country is doing it right.

THAT I agree with.

On that note, John Green on health care costs:


Fascinatingly, Canada also spends a crapload on healthcare (first graph in the video, only about 25s in), and still gets crappy results. Not as bad as you, but pretty bad.

 

[strawman]

I think the issue isn't really how the system is funded, more than it is that there are bad hospitals/doctors in both systems.

tl;dr: A lot of that does go back to how it's funded.

Spoiler: It's long and stupid, don't know why I wrote it

If you told me I'd have to wait 6-12 months in the US, I'd say you're crazy and I'd find another doctor/facility. It may not hurt you if one patient does that once in awhile, but if you are regularly losing customers, then you're going to be losing money particularly since the load of people you have to care for but won't get paid for isn't going to change due to bad customer care, just the load of people who are going to pay for their care.

I have 4 different hospital groups (and over 5 hospitals within those groups) within 30 minutes drive time. Sure, I prefer to go to the one that's only 8 minutes from home, but if my preferred care or practice can't see me in a timely manner or provide the care I believe is best then I'm not going to wait, I'm going to go elsewhere. There are 32 MRI's in the US for every 1 million people, 8 in Canada for every 1 million. For non-emergency cases, there is a 32 hour wait in the US and 39 days in Canada. (Sources 1, 2) There are fewer machines per capita in Canada for most diagnostic machines. The gov't has its actuarial tables that tell them what they have to spend to maintain a given level of care, and they utilize the machines they have very heavily. They are doubtless paying less per scan than doctors in the US are paying, and healthcare is cheaper. But it comes at a significant cost in terms of time and customer service.

Further, I can choose my doctor. When we had a 6 month old with a broken bone that looked like the break went through the growth plate of the bone, we did some research and we chose to go to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon rather than the regular orthopedic surgeons being recommended. There's only one in southeast Michigan, and we certainly wouldn't have ended up under her care if we let someone else determine our path. We didn't have to wait more than 24 hours to see her either, and our insurance is accepted throughout all these hospital groups. There are out of pocket costs and deductibles, but all these places offer interest free payment plans so that's simply not an issue.

Yes, our health system is costly, and overburdened, but I'm thankful that it's still affected by free market forces and I can pick and choose according to what I believe I, and my family, need. The stories I've heard of problems in government managed healthcare systems, though not as common as some make them out to be, are chilling to me. If the break in my infant's bone years ago was slightly worse than it turned out to be, and we had to wait more than 24 hours for treatment, it would have knit incorrectly leading to a lifelong leg deformity in the best case.

If I had to choose between a broken healthcare system where if I work harder I can get better care, and a broken healthcare system where I have no control over it no matter how hard I work, I'm going to choose the first, even if it's more broken than the one that I can't personally direct.

And I think a lot of that does come down to how it's funded, and isn't merely because there are bad doctors and bad systems. That's without even considering that in some systems you can't get away from the bad doctor or system due to the gov't monopoly.

 

[AshburnerX]

Well... my father went to the hospital today because of some serious pain in his leg and a redness all over it. Turns out he has a septic infection.... but we only know this because the nurses gave him antibiotics based on THEIR observations. He's been there since 7:15 am (It's now 5pm) and he STILL hasn't seen a doctor, so we have no idea if that is his only problem or if something else caused it.

What's the fucking lie about private healthcare being faster and more efficient than public healthcare?

 

[Zappit]

I had a hell of a time paying for my COBRA after I aged off my parents' plan. The monthly payments took nearly 80% of my take home pay, and that's after cutting a number of options for coverage. I had insurance with a big insurance provider whose name begins with A, and is a tremendous A. Getting insurance through my job was a godsend, as the town I work for has a generous contribution to payments. I'd be totally destitute without it.

I'm pretty sure my primary care doctor dropped the ball and missed diagnosing my kidney disease, as I'd had a number of warning signs over a year before. I was in pretty bad shape when things were finally figured out.

When I was hospitalized, aside from an incompetent phlebotomist, (Drawing blood should not take nearly three minutes and inflict excruciating pain.) I was well taken care of. Four days, many bags of fluids, and a bunch of tests only cost me a thousand bucks. It could have cost me far more under my old COBRA plan. That happened just a few weeks after getting my new, greatly improved insurance.

Got a lot better thanks to an incredible Renal specialist, and am in remission, rebuilding the savings account emptied out by the big A.

 

[Eriol]

What's the fucking lie about private healthcare being faster and more efficient than public healthcare?

In Canada he'd probably have died in the waiting room, unlikely to have had his leg looked at by ANYBODY at all. When they queue you up at emergency up here, they ask you what the problem is, some basic history of it, and then you wait to go into a curtained area, where typically you wait some more.

Your father likely would have been in the "very not serious queue" and not even looked at by anybody trained, not even a nurse. Kudos to the nurses in your hospital for recognizing the seriousness of what your father has. Up here they wouldn't have even had the opportunity to do so unless your farther looked like death and/or extremely pale when being questioned prior to being queued.

So your situation ducks, but it could always be worse.

 

[Frank]

In Canada he'd probably have died in the waiting room, unlikely to have had his leg looked at by ANYBODY at all.

Oh bullshit. I had a cut turn into a cellulitis, which only looked like a rash, and while in a busy emergency room, it took a few hours before I was seen but I was seen and treated. He wouldn't have died there.

There are outliers that happen (in any country), but it's not the norm.

 

[Krisken]

Oh bullshit. I had a cut turn into a cellulitis, which only looked like a rash, and while in a busy emergency room, it took a few hours before I was seen but I was seen and treated. He wouldn't have died there.

There are outliers that happen (in any country), but it's not the norm.

Sorry, I felt that there needed to have more attention drawn to it.

 

[Shakey]

The question is, what's the outlier and what's the norm.

 

[Frank]

The question is, what's the outlier and what's the norm.

Outlier = Someone dying in a waiting room

Norm = Someone not dying in a waiting room

 

[Shakey]

Outlier = Someone dying in a waiting room

Norm = Someone not dying in a waiting room

I'm sure @Eriol was being a bit over the top. I doubt many people actually die in you waiting rooms.

Actual numbers on how well treatments are handled and how fast would be nice though.

 

[Eriol]

I'm sure @Eriol was being a bit over the top. I doubt many people actually die in you waiting rooms.

Here's one from July this year: http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/09/20130927-112839.html
One from 2010: http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/10/19/15746351.html
Here's one from 2008: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/emerge...t-inquest-into-winnipeg-man-s-death-1.1427305

Headline: Longest Emergency Room waits in the Developed world: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...om_waits_in_developed_world_survey_finds.html
Ya that's Canada.


I wish I was being over the top. I'm seriously not. I'm not saying that socialized medicine cannot work, but it is NOT working in Canada right now. Look elsewhere those from the USA. Canada is how NOT to do it. How you're doing healthcare in general also sucks, but don't look here either. You're exchanging certain horrific problems for other different horrific problems.