A side note

[blamebrampton]

Dear Americans,
Outside of your strange, strange country, most of the developed world has this marvellous thing which we like to call health care for all. I'm reading an interesting mpreg (that will teach me not to read the warnings!*) story from hd_hols and the poverty-stricken pregnant one is in despair as his health insurance will not cover it. On the off-chance it was written by someone on my flist, the good for society news is that in the UK, this is not the problem you might think it is! And I have my fingers crossed that in the US, it won't be for much longer, either.

(And if anyone is planning to respond telling me that socialised healthcare is evil, I will LAUGH AT YOU, and then I will QUOTE REAMS OF STATISTICS until you FLEE.)

XXX
BB

* And yes, my dislike of mpreg is not supported by the excellent writing that occurs within that genre and the imaginative plots that many superior writers bring to bear on the concept. But I still don't like it!

Comments

[joanwilder.livejournal.com]

I've friended you so you can read it, if you like. It was written not too long ago.

The point is that I'm not against universal health care, but like many others, our President-elect included, believe that we need to merge what's good about our current system with one that provides especially preventative/maintenance care for the uninsured, who currently have little hope of affording it, unless they're wealthy. And in the U.S., chances are the garbageman or autoworker has better healthcare coverage than the senator--all depends on the employer group.

There's no doubt in my mind that both systems have their weak and strong points, but so far as equality of care here? It's fairly even for essentials, but Americans in general have come to expect that waiting is unforgivable, and don't understand well the term 'elective.' They're hoping a universal plan will solve the latter, but looking at statistics worldwide, there'll be a rude awakening.

[drgaellon]

don't understand well the term 'elective.'

Neither do many surgeons. I've been fighting all weekend with my surgeons who keep writing that my patient needs "elective" gall bladder surgery. No, she doesn't. It's not elective, it's obligatory. It's not emergent, which is the only distinction surgeons seem to make anymore. As soon as they can wait a few days, it becomes "elective," regardless of how life-preserving it is. And that just confuses laypeople further.