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

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know that you are not dealing with the turn-away system that Moore suggests that you are, because at the end of the day, doctors and nurses are, well, doctors and nurses, and even if there weren't legal protections in place, there is a certain humanity that means they would continue to make sure the really needy were cared for.

But you do have less in the way of caring for the most vulnerable members of the community than you had 100 or 200 years ago. Then you were the great nation of charity hospitals and had endless individuals who would practice private acts of bringing health care to the neediest. In the intervening decades, the churches have maintained a little of this tradition, but, like most of the West, it's moved dominantly to the government. And yours has NOT done the job it could have.

Instead, for ideological reasons rather than best-care plans, it has funneled the money to companies that provide more expensive services for fewer people, and that outrages me.

Remember that I, like most people outside the US, don't rail against things because we hate America, we do it because we love the ideals that America stands for, and remember the few brief moments when your country's government has lived up to them.

You are right that a broad-based health care system will need to be a conglomeration of systems if it's to work in the US (the Australian system seems practicable to my eyes), but the power in the system needs to move away from private corporations. Because the market really is not best at what it does!

And I do not think that the waiting times in the UK at least would have seen you or your husband disadvantaged in your treatment. Waiting lists are for illnesses that can wait. It might lead to people being pissed off or miserable, but if it is going to lead to your death, you are seen straight away.

I have had two friends with leukaemia treated in the public systems in the last five years, one in Australia and one in the UK. My English friend is now three years clear, she went from 'I think I have the flu' and the doctor doing a blood test just to be sure, to hospitalisation and the start of treatment within a week. All of her medications and her bone marrow transplant were covered publicly.

My Australian friend died, but not from lack of care, just through bastardry of disease.

In my own case, I have spent about $8000 on health care in the last 14 years, that's everything including physio, doctors, dentistry, crutches, medicines, etc. I had insurance for the first two years then let it lapse, because it cost more than it would have cost to just do everything privately when you took out the emergencies, and emergencies were all dealt with more than adequately by the public system.

In that time I have been run over and nearly killed, shattered my foot, broken a few sundry toes and fingers through stupidity, and had the flu too many times, as well as a few minor odds and ends and was on the pill for more than half that time. So that's three surgeries, about 50 scans and X-rays, three weeks in hospital, about 50 visits to physios and a few dozen prescriptions, as well as having my three old English fillings replaced with new ceramic ones.

Most of my money was spent on dentistry (which I have to admit is woeful here on the public purse) and medicines (which are retail up to a certain level, then subsidised thereafter, I usually only need the lower-priced things).

I usually go to my private doctor, which is $40 or $70 depending on when I go, and neither of the big cycling accidents cost me a penny (well, $100 deposit for crutches, which I was repaid when I gave them back).

My friend, who has children, did her maths and she has spent $15,000 over the same period, including her insurance costs. Most of that was on dentistry and insurance. Both of us spend more than our annual health budget on books, papers and magazines.

I have American friends who have had to remortgage their homes to pay for medical bills, and that just stuns me.