If I were powerful, rich and famous, it would be different. For sure.

[Blessed]

I think it is not so much the doctors fault and it is our health insurance companies. IMO, if a doctor thinks a test or surgery is needed it should be covered by the insurance that you have paid for over the years. These days almost everything has to go through the insurance for approval. They don't care what is going on, they hope you and the doctor gives up the battle. They will keep the money, denying you the care you need. The insurance companies will try to get you thrown out of the hospital the day after major surgery.

It is hard to believe, when my husband was ill starting 2006, it was much easier to get the care he needed. If there was something special we had an answer to the request the same day, none of this waiting for weeks for a referral or a test. I don't think this is a failure of our healthcare system. It is a failure of insurance companies that have driven the system into failure.

 

[Capt Lightning]

Some years ago I needed a minor hernia op. It took a couple of months to see a hospital doc and then 4 months to get a date for the op.
I enquired about other hospitals in the area, and strangely they all had the same waiting tine - strange I thought. The admin was appalling and I had to travel for tests that I was told I didn't need and sent home again.

When I did have the op, I mentioned my tale of woe to the consultant who said, you should have come straight to me. I run my own private list.
Many docs and surgeons do not work full time for the National health, but also work privately. Back in England, I would have paid privately for the op, but the private clinics were too expensive in Scotland. I should have asked the consultant how much she would have charged.