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NorthernGent -> RE: Best Health Care in the World... (7/5/2008 1:32:49 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: candystripper
Socialised medicine is no panecea. I've spoken to UK people who are waiting months to get a hip replaced because they cannot afford to 'go private'.
Using the UK as an example isn't wise on the grounds our healthcare system isn't representative of European health care; for example, Germany is an altogether different matter. The difference between the two nations is the German public is prepared to invest in public services, and this manifests itself in politics; the English public are suspicious of public schemes - hence the chronic lack of investment during the Conservative Party's spell at the helm (1979-1997). What we have now is a situation where the health service is creaking under the weight, but we're hardly representative of European health care - largely because the English people hold markedly different political values to the continental Europeans.
Nevertheless, I'll relate two events to you, and you can decide whether or not they measure up to the US system:
My Grandma died around a year ago. Before she died, she was in hospital for 3 weeks. She was weighted on hand and foot and given the care and attention as befitting a dying woman. In terms of the cost of this, it will have been substantial - morphine, food, nurses' care etc....there was no charge to my family over and above the tax that every person in the country pays to maintain the health service.
I was suffering from chest pains around 6 months ago. I made an appointment with my doctor on the Friday morning and he made time for me that Friday afternoon - chest pains and heart problems are taken seriously (as they should be). I went to see my doctor; we had a chat for 10 minutes, and without even asking he phoned for an ambulance to take me to the hospital. Within 5 minutes, an ambulance picked me up and two medics performed a serious of tests on me in the back of the ambulance. Then I was taken down to the local hospital, where I was immediately put on a bed and more tests were performed. At that point, they decided it wasn't serious, but wanted to keep me in over night to understand the nature of the problem. By this time, the ward was full to the brim with people being admitted for heart problems - many were obviously in a lot of distress - most will have been related to smoking. So, as I wasn't serious, I was put on a chair in a corridor while the more serious were looked at first and foremost. I was on that chair for 4 hours - not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but an insignificant price to pay for having my health tended to. Then I was taken to two separate units and all sorts of tests were performed on me. At the end of the day, I was given a meal and a bed and kept in overnight. In the morning, they had me running on tread mills, with more tests being done on my heart. Then I went home and within 2 weeks the results of the tests were through my letterbox. 'All of this at no charge above and beyond the tax paid into the system.
Edited for spelling.
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