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Exoddity t1_is3j8s7 wrote

I was in Wales a few years back and my appendix decided it was time to explode. It took 6 hours to get an ambulance (and no cabs around due to it being halloween) and then an additional 6 hours waiting in the ambulance outside the hospital because there were no beds, and then an additional 20-24 hours being shuffled around from bed to bed and ward to ward before I ever saw a doctor, who told me "your appendix needs to come out now" but didn't have anyone available to do it for another 24 hours. The nurses were overworked, underpaid, and had very noticeably reached the "I don't give a shit" mark. Everything was filthy, the sheets smelled, and there were (filled) cardboard bedpans and these weird cardboard sock-shaped piss cups all over the post-op ward, sitting in the sun by the window or lining the walls of the bathroom.

At one point, after the surgery, I noticed I was bleeding pretty bad, and my IV bag (with my pain meds) was leaking onto the floor. I tried using the call button to get a nurse, but no one came. I yelled, I screamed, I tried to get up but could not. Even when I screamed when I heard a nurse walking across the ward, no one came. I finally got my cell phone out, found the number for the hospital front desk and told the person there what was going on and what ward I was in (some welsh word I could barely pronounce) and that finally got a nurse there. The dude sitting in the bed in front of me had been sitting in a puddle of his own piss for hours.

This whole 'starve the beast' shit the Tories love is really working as intended.

edit: Here's a couple pics from the ordeal https://imgur.com/a/0TSbCkJ

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mod_target_6769 t1_is3s89h wrote

Neoliberalism has destroyed the NHS

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CyberGrandma69 t1_is417f6 wrote

Just in time for them to propose privatizing it

Tale as old as time. Gut the resource, privatize it when it inevitably crumbles, make big money picking up those contracts. Canadas political grifters are following the same play.

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KingKudzu117 t1_is4ft5i wrote

Privatizing NHS should be even better than Brexit

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Chippopotanuse t1_is52vk5 wrote

Many folks in America avoid medical care because ambulance rides are over $1k the moment you step inside. Even if the ride is 100 feet. And insurance doesn’t cover it. Even though EMT’s are paid barely above minimum wage.

You get what you vote for when it comes to health care.

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DiceStrike t1_is4swz1 wrote

What did Borris say abit the EU money going to the NHS … oh aye lies

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CyberGrandma69 t1_is7qct1 wrote

And yet hilariously the province I live in ia obsessed with the concept of "Wexit"

If we don't bust up these conservative media monopolies we will lose the rights our forebears fought so hard for and will slip even faster into the weird corporate boring cyberpunk dystopia we are headed towards

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EET_Learner t1_is585j0 wrote

urgg, take them behind the chemical shed. People trying to ruin countries and fuck over people for personal gain.

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Orlando1701 t1_is3xo0v wrote

Neoliberalism destroys everything it touches.

I’m from the US but vacation in Canada semi-frequently and it’s funny how every time I go north I have multiple conversations about how bad healthcare is in the US.

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StewofPuppies t1_is49i19 wrote

Holy shit. As shitty as these medical bills are, this is worse than the states. It has only been this bad where I am during like covid. I'm sure ther are hospitals here just as bad if not worse though.

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CW1DR5H5I64A t1_is56dow wrote

And the vast majority of people in the US have insurance which covers the exorbitant fees that the hospitals charge. The problem with the system the US has is that benefits are tied to employment. Reddit tends to skew towards a demographic that work lower positions or entry level jobs which means we typically only hear the horror stories.

Most Europeans really don’t understand how the US system works or how much it actually costs the patient out of pocket for care. So I’ll just share my health plan costs to put things in perspective.

Enrollment Fees or Premiums $0 (This is not common, most people pay a few hundred dollars a month in premiums)

Deductible: $336 for my whole family. (I will pay the first $336 during the year before insurance starts to pay. This resets at the start of each year so I am guaranteed to pay at least $336)

Catastrophic Cap

$1,120 (This is the most I will have to pay out of pocket for my families care for covered care during the year.)

Health Plan Costs- primary doctor

Network: $16

Non-network: 20%

Outpatient Visit - Specialty

Network: $28

Non-network: 20%

Urgent Care

Network: $22

Non-network: 20%

Emergency Services

Network: $44

Non-network: 20%

Laboratory and X-Ray

Network: $0

Non-network: 20%

Ambulance

Outpatient:

Network: $16

Non-network: 20%

Inpatient: 20%

Ambulatory Surgery (Same Day)

Network: $28

Non-network: 20%

Mental Health (Inpatient)

Network: $67/admission

Non-network: 20%

Mental Health (Outpatient/Partial Hospitalization) - Primary Care

Network: $16

Non-network: 20%

Mental Health (Outpatient/Partial Hospitalization) - Specialty Care

Network: $28

Non-network: 20%

Mental Health (RTF)

Network: $28/day

Non-network: $56/day

Clinical Preventive Services $0

Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, and Medical Supplies

Network: 10%

Non-network: 20%

Home Health Care $0

Hospice Care $0 (Medical equipment and pharmacy are billed separately)

Hospitalization (Inpatient Care)

Network: $67/admission

Non-network: 20%

Immunizations $0

Maternity (Delivery/Inpatient)

Network: $67/admission

Non-network: 20%

Maternity (Delivery/Birthing Center)

Network: $28

Non-network: 20%

Maternity (Home) - Primary

Network: $16

Non-network: 20%

Maternity (Home) - Specialty

Network: $28

Non-network: 20%

Newborn Care

Network: $0

Non-network: 20%

Skilled Nursing

Network: $28/day

Non-network: $56/day

Pharmacy

Generic (Tier 1) - Home Delivery $12

Generic (Tier 1) - Retail Network: $14

Non-network: $38 or 20% of total cost, whichever is more

Brand-name (Tier 2) - Home Delivery $34

Brand-name (Tier 2) - Retail Network: $38

Non-network: $38 or 20% of total cost whichever is more

So with my coverage I have the potential to pay a lot if I go out of network (20%) otherwise I’ll typically pay around $20-$30 for services. Luckily I have a major provider which has most doctors in network.

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mothboat74 t1_is5citb wrote

This is what you expect to happen. In my plan, it says 100% coverage for preventative services. However after my annual physical I get a bill for $200 because there was a lab fee that is not covered. There is always some bullshit charge they claim is not a part of your covered expenses.

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CW1DR5H5I64A t1_is64tn2 wrote

The worst is when a hospital or doctors office is in network, but individual doctors are in separate practices within those medical facilities that are out of network. It’s madness

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mothboat74 t1_is65bij wrote

Yes!!!!! Your hospital, surgeon, etc is all in network. However the anesthesiologist is out of network so you owe us $3,000. Oh, by the way, none of our anesthesiologist are in any network.

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StewofPuppies t1_is5hkjj wrote

And this is where some of thr states that are more expensive and have better policies for healthcsre are better. For example, our state is expensive to live in for the most part but it is easy access to healthcare due to the amount of capital we put into propping up safety nets. I work at a nonprofit and most of my patients are uninsured, undocumented or on the most basic free stuff tied to state not employment.

Florida by all means has as competent Healthcare standards but accessing it is much more difficult for the poor; thus in ranking system Florida drops pretty far in comparison to Jersey.

This doesn't mean people don't get screwed with fees but it tends to be more bearable than others.

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dittybopper_05H t1_is6lghf wrote

Wow. You pay more than I do, for everything. Annual checkups are $0. Other visits are $25. My son's visits are $0, regardless.

I pay $0 for Tier 1 and Tier 2 drugs, and $30 for Tier 3.

For the last 28 years, I've been without health insurance just twice, totaling just a few months, the last two times I was laid off (2000, and 2001). Oh, and for a couple of weeks when I changed jobs almost 2 years ago, because I left in the middle of the month, so the insurance from my old employer lasted to the end of the month and coverage at my new one didn't start until I had been there a month.

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CW1DR5H5I64A t1_is6x95o wrote

I feel like most people from outside of the US assume we are all drowning in medical debt and never get to use our healthcare because it’s cost prohibitive. Reality is most people with stable employment have easy access to medical care.

As most things in the US, there is little to no safety net. If you are successful you can thrive, but if you fall on hard times and loose coverage than there is nothing to help you out.

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dittybopper_05H t1_isa9tgd wrote

You're only partially right.

You are correct in that yeah, if you've got stable employment you've almost certainly got relatively easy access to healthcare. For some, like myself, it's built into my compensation along with my salary and the like.

For the elderly and disabled, we have Medicare. My father is retired, on a fixed income, and he's got Medicare. That's what paid for his ambulance ride and surgery. He paid very little out of pocket.

The distaffbopper is disabled, and is eligible for Medicare, but she hasn't bothered to sign up because she's covered under my insurance, along with the lifterbopper*. If I were to die right now, she could easily switch over to Medicare.

Back before we adopted the lifterbopper, he was a ward of the county, and I couldn't put him on my insurance back then because he was only our foster child. He was covered by Medicaid, which is like Medicare but it's for people with very low or no incomes. It paid for his medications, and even to have tubes put into his ears because he was getting constant ear infections.

Funny story about that, though: Because he was a foundling left under New York's Safe Haven law, he didn't have a name or social security number. Officially, until the adoption, he was known as "Boy Doe". That's who his Medicare card was made out to. But to the doctor's office, he was known by the name that we called him, but that wasn't made official until the adoption and issuance of a foundling birth certificate.

One day I'm at work and the distaffbopper calls me crying because the pharmacist accused her of trying to commit Medicare fraud, because the name on the antibiotic prescription didn't match the name on the Medicare card. He was new, and didn't know about our unique situation. A call to the head pharmacist at his home ended up clearing that one up, and the new guy apologized, but I could see where he was coming from.

Anyhoo, once we adopted him he went on my health insurance.

Oh, and we also lost WIC (I made too much), and Social Services no longer paid for daycare, nor did we get the monthly checks or clothing allowance.

And it was worth every penny that we lost.

​

​

*Formerly the littlebopper, he's gotten into weight training. And he's in college, so "littlebopper" doesn't seem to apply anymore. Teenybopper doesn't seem right also.

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MimiMyMy t1_is4mokv wrote

Jesus, I’m surprised you didn’t die from having to wait so long to get your emergency surgery. I’m glad you came through ok. I guess I shouldn’t complain so much the next time I have to wait for services. I’ve never heard of it getting this bad in my area during normal times unless there was some catastrophic event that overload the hospitals.

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dittybopper_05H t1_is6jtgj wrote

That's pretty sad.

Here in the US, my father, who is retired and has Medicare, also had his appendix go. An ambulance was at his remote home in the country in less than half an hour after he made the phone call, and less than an hour after they got there he was in the local hospital (well, it's about 25 miles away, over backwoods roads), and he had it removed within less than 3 hours of making the phone call to 911.

It was so quick that I didn't learn about it until he called me from the hospital after he'd recovered from his surgery.

My wife has had a number of health issues over the years. One of them was thyroid cancer. Within about a week of the lump in her neck being checked by her doctor, she'd had an ultrasound, a consultation with a specialist, and she was in surgery getting it removed. And this was during Thanksgiving.

Even myself, when I had my lungs filling up with fluid, and couldn't breathe, I went to the local emergency room and I was quickly seen by a doctor and admitted into a room less than an hour after showing up.

Maybe going full socialist with medicine isn't a good idea.

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joel1618 t1_is42usz wrote

Back when Obama was trying to pass obamacare this was the model they talked about as being amazing.

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Exoddity t1_is4cbde wrote

This is the result of people in the government trying to wreck government programs in order to show they don't work. The tories there, like the republicans here, are the party of "Government never works. Now hold my beer while I make sure government never works"

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deaddonkey t1_is57e9k wrote

No it isn’t, this is a universal healthcare/public model and the only one dems have ever proposed in the US is single payer insurance model which is what Canada has, and which most experienced doctors would agree is a better model

Anyway universal healthcare services can work all the same but not if the govt resents them and actively tries to sabotage or gut them

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