On socialized medicine

[Mountain Man]

I'm not special, and my insurance isn't exactly a "Cadillac plan". It's pretty average, actually, and all I did was get a job and work hard to keep it, or I could pay for my own insurance if I had to because I manage my money. I haven't done anything that somebody else couldn't do. Which isn't to say that our healthcare industry couldn't be improved, but a government takeover is not the solution. In fact, it's government sticking its nose where it doesn't belong that created many of the problems in the first place.

[Tassman]

Your perspective is not unique. So many organizations rank countries like England and Canada ahead of the US in terms of healthcare, but whenever you hear anecdotes from common citizens, they invariably hate it and have nothing but nightmare stories to tell.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...lthcare-system

And in Australia, whilst private health care is available at a price, the universal health care government-provided insurance can pay for most of the cost of medical treatment and hospitalization. It's not glamorous but it's adequate high quality care and very cheap. And available to all. There are some problems, e.g. there can be long wait times for elective surgeries at public hospitals. The emergency and ICU departments get crowded, especially in a public health crisis such as a recent bad outbreak of flu. But it is available to all and no-one is bankrupted by a medical crisis in Australia as happens in the US

https://www.thebalance.com/medical-b...istics-4154729

[Starlight]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...lthcare-system

The NHS in Britain does fairly regular polling of people's views on it. What they pretty consistently find is that pretty much everyone who has dealt with them was satisfied and happy with the care and treatment they themselves received, but they also find that the public is well-aware of negative stories that private media corporations like to run about the NHS and that this affects people's perceptions of the NHS overall if asked generically to give their opinions of the NHS. Also, polling shows that more than 2/3rds of people in Britain would prefer to pay higher taxes if the extra money went to funding the NHS: So the public apparently likes the NHS enough to want to pay more taxes toward it!

[EvoUK]

That the NHS has been underfunded for the last 10 years due to Tory austerity policies also hasn't helped.

[Mountain Man]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...lthcare-system

And in Australia, whilst private health care is available at a price, the universal health care government-provided insurance can pay for most of the cost of medical treatment and hospitalization. It's not glamorous but it's adequate high quality care and very cheap. And available to all. There are some problems, e.g. there can be long wait times for elective surgeries at public hospitals. The emergency and ICU departments get crowded, especially in a public health crisis such as a recent bad outbreak of flu. But it is available to all and no-one is bankrupted by a medical crisis in Australia as happens in the US

https://www.thebalance.com/medical-b...istics-4154729

Like I said, studies always paint a rosy picture, but whenever you hear stories from "the man on the street", it's rarely good. Even your own defense of Australia's healthcare system reads like a backhanded compliment.

[Watermelon]

I'm not special, and my insurance isn't exactly a "Cadillac plan". It's pretty average, actually, and all I did was get a job and work hard to keep it, or I could pay for my own insurance if I had to because I manage my money. I haven't done anything that somebody else couldn't do. Which isn't to say that our healthcare industry couldn't be improved, but a government takeover is not the solution. In fact, it's government sticking its nose where it doesn't belong that created many of the problems in the first place.

[Mountain Man]

My plan actually has a $2000 deductible, which is a bit high, but it's mostly full coverage after that.

[demi-conservative]

The NHS in Britain does fairly regular polling of people's views on it.

Is this the usual 'our poll about ourselves conducted by ourselves says we are the best'?

[Mountain Man]

Is this the usual 'our poll about ourselves conducted by ourselves says we are the best'?

Probably like the poll I participated in years ago which asked three questions:

1) Are you in favor of raising personal income tax?
2) Are you in favor of raising business taxes?
3) Are you more in favor of raising personal income tax, or raising business taxes?

My answers were no, no, and neither. Of course I was told that "neither" was not an acceptable answer for the third question and that I had to pick one, meaning that no matter how I answered the questions, it could be interpreted as "This respondent is in favor of raising taxes." I was told that if I didn't play along then my answers would be discarded. I told the questioner, "In that case, discard my answers, because you're really not interested in what I have to say."

I wonder what questions were asked for the NHS satisfaction survey?

[rogue06]

The largest real difference between US and other countries like Switzerland is cost, the Swiss receive good health care. And Canada has drawn patients from south of the border, things like favorable exchange rates, coupled with excellent doctors (and their procedures which sometimes outpace American medicine), has Americans looking north to Canada.

OTOH, it isn't uncommon for Canadians to travel to the U.S. when they cannot afford a long delay. And a number of foreign leaders continue to come to the U.S. for treatment and not Canada.

[mossrose]

OTOH, it isn't uncommon for Canadians to travel to the U.S. when they cannot afford a long delay. And a number of foreign leaders continue to come to the U.S. for treatment and not Canada.

Including at least one Canadian former PM that I can think of.

[Mountain Man]

OTOH, it isn't uncommon for Canadians to travel to the U.S. when they cannot afford a long delay. And a number of foreign leaders continue to come to the U.S. for treatment and not Canada.

Mick Jagger elected to come to the US to get almost the same surgery I had instead of depending on England's health system.

[Starlight]

OTOH, it isn't uncommon for Canadians to travel to the U.S. when they cannot afford a long delay. And a number of foreign leaders continue to come to the U.S. for treatment and not Canada.

Estimates I can find, suggest a much higher proportion of Americans travel to other countries to get medical care than do Canadians. Rand Paul recently traveled to Canada for treatment.

[mossrose]

Those who travel to Canada for treatment would have to go to private health care facilities, and if those are less expensive than the ones in the States, that may be so.

But the people coming here from the States are absolutely not coming here for routine treatment, because they would be adding to wait times for the rest of us.

I have also heard, not all that long ago, that the supply of certain prescription drugs are getting low for Canadian citizens because Americans are purchasing more and more. So, guess what, the price of these drugs will increase for everybody, and people who live here could be in danger of not getting some drugs they need because of the short supply.

[rogue06]

Estimates I can find, suggest a much higher proportion of Americans travel to other countries to get medical care than do Canadians. Rand Paul recently traveled to Canada for treatment.

As others have noted a Canadian PM came to the U.S. as did Mick Jagger.