Tea Party Membership - Revoked!

[Westside Steve]

Your hospitals seem to be run basically as businesses, with massive costs for things. Which of course means insurance is needed, because nobody pays the massive costs. So then it becomes something of a racket between insurance companies and hospitals, and the prices just keep going up and up and up.

 

Here's where I lean left - healthcare is a basic service required by everybody that should be denied to nobody. Thus, it should be run by the state.

I tried to do a web search to give me a list of the 10 best hospitals in the world, unfortunately every site I found listed 10 us Hospital. I don't know if the search mistakenly thought I only meant the 10 best us Hospital or if the 10 best hospitals in the world are here. I'm not sure but I would guess the latter.

 

WSS

[gftChris]

I tried to do a web search to give me a list of the 10 best hospitals in the world, unfortunately every site I found listed 10 us Hospital. I don't know if the search mistakenly thought I only meant the 10 best us Hospital or if the 10 best hospitals in the world are here. I'm not sure but I would guess the latter.

 

WSS

I'd imagine there's a pretty high number of them in the US, for various reasons*, but how many people get to use them? And how much do people pay in insurance costs because of it?

 

*Reasons:

The aforementioned business-ness of them, they have more money to spend on more things.

There are a large number of hospitals in the US!

There will most likely be a large 'western' bias because western hospitals tend to be better, though there are plenty in developed asia that will be in there.

[Westside Steve]

I'd imagine there's a pretty high number of them in the US, for various reasons*, but how many people get to use them? And how much do people pay in insurance costs because of it?

 

*Reasons:

The aforementioned business-ness of them, they have more money to spend on more things.

There are a large number of hospitals in the US!

There will most likely be a large 'western' bias because western hospitals tend to be better, though there are plenty in developed asia that will be in there.

Well whatever someone might call anti-western bias... Kind of like us bragging that United States baseball teams are the best in the world and other countries resenting that. At any rate as I've mentioned before I can call the Cleveland Clinic and in less than 24 hours have an appointment to see one of the top retinal Dr in the world. When I was in college I also visited the free clinic a couple times were you sit around in a relative dump waiting a long. Of time to see whatever Dr had donated his or her time. When the band was on the road in Canada I took my guys to the medical facility in the city we were in a couple of times. Both times were in actual cities, not out in the bush, and were far below what we've come to expect in the United States.I guess if you grow up somewhere where a specific service is just given to you you might not expect excellence. "Whaddya want for free?" And before you mention it we could probably get along with a lot worse. I suppose in Bangladesh people don't mind walking 4 miles to collect a bag of government provided rice and powdered milk. I personally prefer The Olive Garden.

 

 

Actually we can set up a two-tiered system where there would be facilities like the free clinic I mentioned and the top notch medical centers but you know how Americans are. The people getting the free shit (well more likely the politicians) would start bitching that they deserve what other people have to pay for then the community organizers are off to the races.

WSS

[gftChris]

We have a two tiered system here, but it's very much the norm to go free on NHS. Private healthcare exists but it's usually a corporate perk - I have it, but have never used (needed) it. From what I understand, though, it's a bit of a ball ache to get to see someone about, well, ball ache for example. You need to go see your GP who refers you to a specialist, you have to go to an 'insurer approved' specialist who then decides your course of treatment. For long term things it's probably incredible, but for broken whatevers, for emergencies, it's no different really to NHS.

[Westside Steve]

Yeah I was on a plan similar to that before the ACA pushed it out of existence. Not much trouble because my primary care physician would set me up with a referral for anything I ever needed.

 

And another problem with our free shit is that so many people on Medicaid, who use the system for free, drag the kids to the emergency room for every bout of sneezing or diarrhea.

 

WSS

[gftChris]

We're getting that now, because it takes so long to get in to see a doctor. We have a thing called 'urgent care centres' which are kind of like non-emergency emergency centres. Trying to save Accident and Emergency rooms for real emergencies, they want people to go to the UCC with smaller breaks, twists, sprains, cuts, things like that.

 

Bottom line, though, is that we don't have enough GPs - the old country GP is 50-60, and will retire in the next 20 years, and we're not training enough to take over. So waiting times go up for that, and people go to hospitals.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Don't they still use leeches in the UK?

[Westside Steve]

And I might venture a guess as to why that's happening. I can't think of any professional more scrutinized then a physician. if I want to be a doctor I probably have to work harder than any attorney or engineer or scientist and bear a lot more responsibility. it seems if the way of the world is going toward socialized medicine less of the brightest candidates will want to go into medicine. especially when you see TV commercials and billboards for multi millionaire jerk off PI attorneys. Too bad we couldn't put together some kind of United States Britain compromised medical system.

 

WSS

[gftChris]

And I might venture a guess as to why that's happening. I can't think of any professional more scrutinized then a physician. if I want to be a doctor I probably have to work harder than any attorney or engineer or scientist and bear a lot more responsibility. it seems if the way of the world is going toward socialized medicine less of the brightest candidates will want to go into medicine. especially when you see TV commercials and billboards for multi millionaire jerk off PI attorneys. Too bad we couldn't put together some kind of United States Britain compromised medical system.

 

WSS

health care over here has been socialised for somewhere around 100 years, so I don't think that's putting anybody off.

[gftChris]

Don't they still use leeches in the UK?

[Westside Steve]

health care over here has been socialised for somewhere around 100 years, so I don't think that's putting anybody off.

Yeah? Didn't you just say there weren't enough GPS and the wait time was really long?

[gftChris]

Yeah? Didn't you just say there weren't enough GPS and the wait time was really long?

Yes, but if it were because of socialised medicine, it would have always been like this - it wasn't. Maybe that plays a part, but I don't think we can say it's the only reason.

[Westside Steve]

Yes, but if it were because of socialised medicine, it would have always been like this - it wasn't. Maybe that plays a part, but I don't think we can say it's the only reason.

So how would you explain it? I don't know how many personal injury attorneys you have over there but we have a shit load. easier degree higher earnings potential and very little risk of killing a patient and almost no repercussion for fucking up a case.

 

WSS

[calfoxwc]

Don't they still use leeches in the UK? DH

*********************************************

They used to, a lot, but those are rationed to one day a week, every other week,

and there is only two leeches per hospital.,

[gftChris]

So how would you explain it? I don't know how many personal injury attorneys you have over there but we have a shit load. easier degree higher earnings potential and very little risk of killing a patient and almost no repercussion for fucking up a case.

 

WSS

Another leech in the system. We didn't have the previously, but the last 10 years they've become a lot more prevalent.

 

Why then? Not sure. Money isn't *great* - though it's far from bad. Maybe the young doctors coming through get bored of treating little timmy's sniffles and great aunt doris' arthritis, and want to do something interesting. But, then, GPs do get cushy hours - 9-5, Mon-Fri, with usually a half day on Wednesdays.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

I'm guessing that GP is General Practitioner which is Primary Care Physician here.

[Westside Steve]

I'm guessing that GP is General Practitioner which is Primary Care Physician here.

Well I have heard the term GP my whole life. seems like primary care physician has mostly come about since HMOs.

 

WSS

[gftChris]

GP is the doctor you are 'signed on' with, that is your main point of contact for health care. They know their patients a bit better than generic doctors. You make appointments to see them. They give you your vaccinations when you go on holiday - things like that.

 

So if that's Primary Care Physician, sure.

[Westside Steve]

Here GP is a general practitioner, often an internal medicine guy. ie not a specialist.

My primary care, or family doctor, is an internal medicine guy but before that it was a pediatrician.

WSS

[gftChris]

GP's are not specialists, for sure. I guess they can be from previous training, but they need to be knowledgeable about the whole of the body.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

In the Navy we never had a GP or whatever. Since I've been out I've always heard of it as PCP, never GP.