England & Canada question

[Medusa]

I emailed my friend who lives in England and asked about the quality of care there as opposed to here. I met her in Sedona, AZ and she was diagnosed w/anal cancer and was treated in the U.S. for it. In the second paragraph she answered my question about long waits to be seen by a doctor. Here is her email back to me that I copied and pasted:

"hey Mary, well the quality of care is the same the only difference is that in USA the docs order all kinds of tests like CT MRI etc cos the insurance company picking up the bill whereas here its the NHS so they are reluctant to go on a fishing expedition and only order the appropriate test they feel is needed. The one superior thing here is aftercare once you are released from hospital there is another side to the NHS which is based in the community we call them district nurses and community doc (GPs) they come round (Nurses) once or twice a day depending on your circumstances to administer any care such as drugs/ wound care etc and then there the Carers who come round to do your personal care such as washing you etc. As well as all that there are national charities that specialise in illnesses (such as mine Marie Curie Cancer) who supply nurses for that specific illness and my charity does this only at night so whoever is looking after you can go to bed and get some rest. There are different ones for every illness imagineable and they operate free of charge as well.
So I would have to say that over here is much better as it is more specialised in areas and of course it is all free."

"No there are people that have this concept that you have to wait, it used to be the case before this government changed it now if you need say a hip replacement you have to be seen by I think it is 2 months or something like that, age is not an issue, because it is one party that has improved it the oppositiion party try to manipulate the figures, you know how it is with politics. They may have had their operations a while ago when they did have to wait. I went down to my docs office the other day Thursday and got an appoiuntment for the next day. They make the referral to the specialist and then you get a letter from them telling you when and it has to be within a certain time frame or if they cant fit you in within that then they have to offer you a private specialist and the NHS picks up the bill"

[Laura's Babies]

I'd like to know more about the system in France - as they have the highest quality healthcare.

Those answers could be right here, depending on what it is you want to know.
http://www.soulcast.com/post/show/11...a,-and-England

[Medusa]

My concern is that for every link that we read for health ins. reform, we can read a link that's against it. For every person that says socialized medicine is good, there's another person who says it isn't. How are we supposed to decide for ourselves? Plus, if the bill is 1000+ pages that hasn't even been read or understood, how could they possibly implement it? My biggest gut feeling tells me that if they're trying to rush it through, it's probably w/good reason and not in our favor.

[Killearn Kitties]

My concern is that for every link that we read for health ins. reform, we can read a link that's against it. For every person that says socialized medicine is good, there's another person who says it isn't. How are we supposed to decide for ourselves?

I feel that this can be said about every political issue on the planet. There are a lot of vested interests and they all have their own agenda.

[Medusa]

I feel that this can be said about every political issue on the planet. There are a lot of vested interests and they all have their own agenda.

I don't disagree except for what I said in the rest of my post.

[Randi]

What KK and Medusa's friend described, is pretty much how it works in Denmark too. There can be short waiting lists for things that are not life threatening, like a hip operation. If the patient requires immediate attention, he/she will be referred to a private hospital and NHS will pay the bill.

Like in UK, everybody here is entitled to healthcare through the NHS (National Health Service) funded through taxation. The individual does not pay for operations, treatment, hospital clinic, or doctor’s appointments. However, we do pay for dentist treatment.

If someone need a lot of prescription medicine, they pay the full amount for it the first time, and after that, the amount is deducted with a certain percentage for the following purchases for one year, so that you pay less and less. It starts all over again after a year.

[Laura's Babies]

That is VERY informative. And again leads me to ask...why aren't these facts a part of the discussion?

At first we panic... that nasty ole word "CHANGE".. I paniced too, then I wanted to dig deeper than what information is being passed around BY the paniced. Like I said before, what I have read of the bill is so vague that people interpret it different.

The hurried way they are trying to pass it is what is panicing everybody. It needs to be fully explained in every day terms and just give us time to do some investigating to satisfy ourselves that it is not/or really is, something to be afraid of. WHAT IS THE RUSH? We have done it our way this long, give us time to read it, investigate it and them have someone to explain it, there is no need to hurry and shove it down anyones throat..

What I want to see is a debate on TV like the presidential debates, THAT is what I think they need to do to satisfy people and answer questions that people have.... FOR ALL to see! If there is nothing to hide... why not?

[Edwina's Secretary]

Those answers could be right here, depending on what it is you want to know.
http://www.soulcast.com/post/show/11...a,-and-England

Thank you Laura. That is VERY informative. And again leads me to ask...why aren't these facts a part of the discussion?