U.S. vs U.K. Healthcare

monkeymania's picture

US vs UK Healthcare. Boris, Trump vs Truth, with Stephen Fry.

Trumptard state media points out that U.K. healthcare is a complete nightmare and the Trump healthcare plan which he has said many times he will release "Very soon" will be a game changer. Dying is already cheaper in the U.S. so it is going to be a huge win.

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GKhan's picture

First, I beleive Trumps new healthcare plan will again support the rich/businesses and not the people. BUT... I have to say I beleive that the quality and attention for medical issues in the US is much better than Canada. The system in the states does make it lucrative enough to allow many specialists to become experts where in Canada there may be only a few specialists and getting a hold of them can take years. Also the government restricts some private medical services, so even if you wanted to pay $$$ to go to a private specialist you are not allowed to and have to wait in the queue. I know this is a problem in the UK as well. I've had a family member from the UK who needed knee surgey and was told to wait +1 year for the surgery but came to Canada and was told it was 22 months to see the doctor then probably another 14 for the surgery. In this case my family member just paid and saw the doctor at 5pm that day and had the surgery in the hospital the next day. The bill was about $4,000 CDN. So a lot but if you have it why wait 3 years for needed surgery.

 

And as for the doctor only looking at their computers and not your eyes comments because they are only thinking about $$$, the GPs in BC are paid like $120K/year and can only charge $40/visit so they are trying to get people through as fast as possible. Yes they make more with hospital time but it's not that much more.

 

There needs to be some middle ground here. Like healthcare for all but do allow a portion to pay for higher quality treatment. I know this sounds unfair but with a larger incentivized component that could fund new technology and procedures, eventually these tech/practices will make it down to the larger pool.

 

One example in BC, the ambulance is $80 whether it is a truck or helicopter. So an incentive not to abuse it but not enough to unfairly treat low income earners.

 

 

 

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monkeymania's picture

Some good points. With the established infrastructure including personnel, I think that middle ground you mention could be successfully reached. In reality, my guess is that any health plan pushed by Trump will make sure the wealthy are taken care of. Everyone else is basically fucked. I'm going to be fine. Number 1 is eating, excersizing, and trying to stay healthy-avoiding doctors as much as possible. Number 2 is having good and very expensive healthcare.

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GKhan's picture

That is one nice thing in Canada, is that we don't worry about it. If you need it, you will get it.

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danmanjones's picture

what you believe about the quality of healthcare in the US is refuted in the video you just watched @ 4:20

and your argument about a middle ground is refuted by your own anecdote about your family member paying for surgery in Canada rather than wait for the free option

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GKhan's picture

Yeah, this video is created by folks with a strong bias so I don't buy those numbers.

As for refuting my own argument, I really don't follow. I didn't say UK or Canada was the middle, I was proposing something new that combined some of the US and some of Canada/UK.

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danmanjones's picture

Canada/UK is the middle. You have the best of both worlds when you have socialised healthcare. You still have specialists & private care if you can afford it. For sure the US will still have the best providers in a lot of fields for those who can afford it but that's not really the point, the point is to raise the minimum standard in order to raise the average.

 

The video is obviously advocating on one side but the stats it uses are legit, coming from the WHO etc. There's no bias in the stats. When you look at the typical metrics for measuring the overall health industry of a country (life expectancy, treatment cost etc) the US does really badly. Again this is measuring for averages, not the healthcare billionaires get.

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GKhan's picture

My point was that Canada does not have the best of both worlds. And if Canada is so great why is it 9 out of 11 on the Health Care System Performance Ranking. Only 2 away from the U.S. :)

 

And I think we are saying the same thing. The US had great healthcare (for those that can afford it). My point was that offering the same healthcare for all is not the right solution. Or at least I beleive it makes Canada lag the US in quality of healthcare.

 

On a bit of an aside, as for the stats being legit. There is ALWAYS bias. The good reports will just tell you what it is and attempt to account for it. The producers still picked those report and the report still picked those 11 countries out of 191. I'm not going to disagree that US is worse but what is Healthcare system performance? That report had 72 indicators in it, so what are we even saying is worse? I quickly went through the report and yes there are areas for improvement, just like the UK but what kills the US ranking are BIG swings from the average on Affordability and Admistrative effeciency. So to say UK is better...maybe that's right. UK offers good more affordable healthcare is more accurate.

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pantysoaker's picture
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the UK can pay for healthcare b/c they completely abandoned dental care

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GKhan's picture

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