I know we have kicked this around before but this panel has taken an interesting sudden death shoot out look at which country has the best healthcare system. A few of the Drs in the house might be interested/amused.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/18/upshot/best-h…
Ant
ps - not sour grapes but they seem to have misrepresented a fundamental fact in the Singapore review.
One of the voters in Britain vs. Canada said Britain has great access to care? That may be the funniest most ill-informed statement I have ever seen about healthcare spoken by anyone, anywhere about any healthcare delivery system… what an idiot. The government HC system in the UK is atrocious with wait times to see a specialist that can exceed 12-18 months… but they are on the list aren’t they so that counts? Good grief. God knows the US system isn’t perfect but I’ll get another profession if anyone ever tries to model ours after the UK. I know of a situation where a surgeon left the OR to go have lunch while the patient remained under general anesthesia. He came back and finished the surgery when his lunch break was over. Appalling…
MC
One of my clients was a private healthcare practitioner in Britain so I know something about the British system.
First of all, the NYT has a well known bias. Pick the “experts” to predetermine the outcome. The 4-1 in favor of Britain (more government) vs. Canada (more private) rating sounded a bell.
One million patients a week cannot get appointments with GPs, amid the longest waiting times on record, new figures show.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/06/one-million-patie…
New plan abandons target for hospitals to carry out 92% of non-urgent operations within 18 weeks and cuts surgery of ‘limited clinical value’
Patients will face longer delays for operations after the NHS decided to shelve one of its most important waiting time targets as part of its ambitious survival plan, which will also result in hundreds of thousands of people being denied surgery.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/31/nhs-surgery-…
One important feature I had to implement was the 18 week report, patients who had not received medical attention for 18 week or more after requiring it. I highlighted “as part of its ambitious survival plan” because as well meant as it might be, the British system simply is not self sustaining. When they run out of other people’s money they leave the sick to rot.
Sorry but the NYT is TRASH!
Denny Schlesinger
this panel has taken an interesting sudden death shoot out look at which country has the best healthcare system
And not one word about the effectiveness of the treatment…
<<<The government HC system in the UK is atrocious with wait times to see a specialist that can exceed 12-18 months…>>>
In the United States, I had heart surgery done, with the daVinci to repair an issue within 3 months of discovery of the problem (well 4, I had to wait a month as my insurance company left the my state and i had to wait a month for the new insurance company to kick in). This included multiple pictures from echo to MRI sort of thingy (I was in a tube), and all the necessary tests, and if it had been a more severe emergency they would have gotten to me much quicker.
I went from my GP to a cardiologist to a renowned heart surgeon (a pioneer in the daVinci as he actually worked on the robot prior to it even being FDA approved).
Out of pocket…$5,000. I believe the gross billings were around $125k.
There may be hassles with insurance (as I had some as described above, and had to hassle in regard to other expenses they were suppose to cover and messed up) but all in all, and this was an average healthcare plan in my area (silver level - but not on the Obama exchange, I bought it privately outside of the system - and it cost me much less than in the Obama exchange system) I doubt there is a medical system in the world with that sort of access, combined with the care and efficacy of the treatment.
My experience. The only issues I have had over the last decade with healthcare has been some pre-existing issues with my children (that have been remedied by legislation) and trying to get approved for some optional medications such as growth hormones (takes a lot to give sufficient proof for the need for a child). Ah, the boy is still 2 years behind everyone else in growth, but I was small when young, and he may sprout up. There is always Napolean…
Tinker