2020 Vision

[eastbound]

You can get some of the very best care in the world in the UK free of charge. The hospital where I do a lot of research is one of the very best in the world, by any standard. You can receive the best treatment in the world there, at the hands of the some of the very best surgeons, and if you are a UK citizen it will be completely FREE at all stages. No paperwork either.

The UK is not different than any other developed country, there is no such thing as "free", you pay for it one way or another, usually thru your taxation.  I'm surprised that anyone still falls for that "free" claim.  Free is not affordable for the people providing that service.  The only people that I know of providing free medical is Doctors Without Borders, are they working in the UK also?  I doubt it.

If you want to get a feel for how “free” the Canadian model of health care is, figure your taxes as if you lived in British Columbia.  Mine went up four fold.  And that doesn’t include the 15 percent sales tax.

up  four fold from what? under what circumstances? what's your marginal tax rate? sales tax 15%? in BC? you mean 12%, dont you? i smell garbage......

i hear theyve got cheap prescription drugs up there!! cuz big pharma owns our congress down here!!

[supthecreek]

Last week, a 71 year old British Doctor living next to me in Portugal, fell down a small cliff and really messed himself up.
Deep, long cut over his eyes, both eyes swollen shut and dark purple.
Arms and legs cut up.
His knee was so badly swollen and painful, that I basically had to carry him.

Ambulance took him to several hospitals the day it happened.

I took him to follow-up treatment so he could get approval to fly home.

I asked how the care was in Portugal.

His answer:
"I am really glad this happened in Portugal, not England"

[Tom]

Last week, a 71 year old British Doctor living next to me in Portugal, fell down a small cliff and really messed himself up.
Deep, long cut over his eyes, both eyes swollen shut and dark purple.
Arms and legs cut up.
His knee was so badly swollen and painful, that I basically had to carry him.

Ambulance took him to several hospitals the day it happened.

I took him to follow-up treatment so he could get approval to fly home.

I asked how the care was in Portugal.

His answer:
"I am really glad this happened in Portugal, not England"

I'm curious, do you know how much it cost him and who paid for it?

[supthecreek]

I don't know about his hospital and ambulance expenses, I wasn' there for that part.

When I was with him:
He didn't have his Euro card or passport cuz he left them in his apartment,
so he had to pay cash up front when I took him.
8 Euros for the Nurse
34 Euros for the Doctor

[SUP Leave]

You mean that he just payed the doctor cash for a service? How can this be?

Doesn't there need to be 15 levels of administration and papers shuffling, computers whirring, to even determine a cost of a medical process? Does not a doctor salary come from some conglomeration of a quasi government bureaucracy? Doesn't the patient need to check in, tell the person at the front desk their job, insurance carrier, normal doctor's name, marital status and what kinds of pets they have, drugs they take? Then wait in another room for the pre-nurse to talk to them, then the nurse, then the doctor can talk to you for 16 seconds while clicking a mouse??

Has to be refreshing.

[Bean]

Yes, except for the fall of course. 

While these are all just individual experiences, it just seems that there are too many to ignore.  Who are we to believe, those that have a vested interest in either a change (or the status quo) or individuals that have no stake other than their own health?

[pdxmike]

Speaking of healthcare, with so many people here doing downwinding, does anyone know if you get cancer from the wind itself, or is it only caused by the noise from the windmills? 

[Tom]

No one downwinds any more, that's the only time you can watch TV.

While on a trip with couples from the US, England, and Australia we discussed health care.  Basically, they were puzzled why any Americans would not want government assisted health care. They each said what the cost of a procedure was such as fixing a broken arm or a doctors visit if you had the flu or a cold. I forget the actual cost but it was quite reasonable and they knew approximately what the cost would be.

They asked me what that would cost in the US and I had to tell them it was complicated and I had no idea. "Well, my wife has an insurance policy which costs $X per month, but it has a deductible so she pays out of pocket until the deductible is met. They will bill her some unpredictable charge that she will have to pay. But the price will depend upon if she goes to an in-service or out of service provider. Some times the Doctor is in-service, but the guy that does the Xrays is out of service and the discounted price and deductible only applies to one of the charges. Now, if she worked for one company, they would pay for some of her insurance and she could chose from a couple of insurance companies that provide different services at different costs. If she worked for a different company, they could offer  different health insurance plans"

[PonoBill]

The administrative cost of US healthcare are probably greater than the cost of the healthcare. While care is still private, the administrative cost, between the insurance companies doing their best not to pay for anything and the government requiring staggering amounts of documentation there simply isn't anything remotely resembling efficiency.

[Bean]

It’s ridiculously high but not quite that high. 

NYT reported last year that the administrative cost over the average overall healthcare cost was about $5700/$19000.

[Bean]

On a second look, I see that the NYT article from July 2018 was actually based upon a 1999 study.  There has to be better data...

[RideTheGlide]

Actually, wasn't one of the first things to hit the insurance companies from the ACA a cap on admin costs? I got a refund check and a lot of others did also, depending on who they had insurance with/through.

[Rider]

We have some younger friends that are members of Medishare. I’am guessing around 6 or 7 years now. They both have had semi serious “issues “. They seem totally happy. Yes it is for Christians, but could the concept work for other groups?

[Rider]

I guess I should add. Semi serious issues were a completely refurbished hip and major inner ear surgery. All bills were paid.

[pdxmike]

On a second look, I see that the NYT article from July 2018 was actually based upon a 1999 study.  There has to be better data...

Things have probably got much more efficient since then.