In praise of socialised medicine

Warrigal

Warrigal

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Location
Sydney, Australia
Just saw this on Twitter. Nepean Hospital is a large public hospital on the western edge of Sydney, Australia. Medicare is funded by a small levy on income tax. No-one is obliged to do without hospital care for lack of money.

Nice to be home after a week in and out of hospital. Now with four stents. Nothing to pay thanks to Medicare and nothing but praise for the treatment and care at Nepean Hospital.
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Well of course we have the NHS..never had to pay out of pocket for any procedures within the NHS... albeit that prescriptions have to be paid a nominal sum for.. unless you're under 18.. over 60.. or unemployed...

Wages are pretty low in the Uk compared to Australia and the USA... so it would be pretty horrific here for anyone to try and fund medical care out of their salaries.
 

I spent 11 weeks in hospital here in Toronto, after I fell and broke several bones in my left leg. In hospital it was discovered that my Hemoglobin ( red blood cell count ) was dangerously low, which caused my fall. The Cardio staff found my heart was moving from second degree heart block to third degree, so I got a pacemaker put in. I received 5 units of whole blood and 2 of plasma to correct my low Hemoglobin. I was bed ridden for 7 weeks, not able to put any weight on my left leg fractures. I was eventually transfered to a rehabilitation hospital to begin walking again. I was discharged on May the 11th of this year. My fall was on March the first of this year .

So how much did all that cost me, as a patient. Nothing. Not a cent. The Ontario Hospital Insurance Plan covered every thing. Thank God for Canadian medical care plans. Now that I am back home, I have a 2 month free physio therapy credit that I can use at any approved clinic in Toronto. I can only imagine what this long stay in hospital would have cost me in the USA. JimB.
 
Chet said:
You sound very pleased and with good reason.
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I am fortunate enough to be able to afford private health insurance - top hospital cover plus extras - so all of my stays in private hospitals having joint replacements and cataract operations have cost me nothing. My stays in rehab were also covered. I've been in a private health fund all of my life (thanks, Mum). The last thing I intend to economise on is my private health cover.

However, I think it a good thing that we have Medicare as a universal health care system because it means that the overall health of all Australians is taken care of. We are all better off when that is the situation. No-one has to sell the house to pay the hospital bill.
 
jimintoronto said:
I spent 11 weeks in hospital here in Toronto, after I fell and broke several bones in my left leg. In hospital it was discovered that my Hemoglobin ( red blood cell count ) was dangerously low, which caused my fall. The Cardio staff found my heart was moving from second degree heart block to third degree, so I got a pacemaker put in. I received 5 units of whole blood and 2 of plasma to correct my low Hemoglobin. I was bed ridden for 7 weeks, not able to put any weight on my left leg fractures. I was eventually transfered to a rehabilitation hospital to begin walking again. I was discharged on May the 11th of this year. My fall was on March the first of this year .

So how much did all that cost me, as a patient. Nothing. Not a cent. The Ontario Hospital Insurance Plan covered every thing. Thank God for Canadian medical care plans. Now that I am back home, I have a 2 month free physio therapy credit that I can use at any approved clinic in Toronto. I can only imagine what this long stay in hospital would have cost me in the USA. JimB.
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Thank goodness for Canadian medical care! I am alive because of it. I believe if I had been in the US I would have waited a day and I seriously believe I didn't have another day with a bleeding ulcer. 7 days in ICU and 3 more in hospital cost us nothing. Americans will say we pay more in income tax, but that isn't true, it's just our government doesn't spend it all on the military.
 
There are 2 BIG differences between the American and the Canadian way of thinking:

1. American feel they need guns for protection. Canadians can't figure out why anyone needs guns unless they are out hunting.
2. Americans think that Canadian socialized medicine is some sort of sneeky communist plot. Canadians love their medicare and really worry when they have to travel to the US after hearing those terrible stories about folks being in an American hospital for a month and having to pay a bill for $350,000.
 
Packerjohn said:
There are 2 BIG differences between the American and the Canadian way of thinking:

1. American feel they need guns for protection. Canadians can't figure out why anyone needs guns unless they are out hunting.
2. Americans think that Canadian socialized medicine is some sort of sneeky communist plot. Canadians love their medicare and really worry when they have to travel to the US after hearing those terrible stories about folks being in an American hospital for a month and having to pay a bill for $350,000.
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The Uk has that same precise view of the USA..as do many other European countries. Not trying to knock anyone in the US at all.. but the system needs a huge overhaul..
 
mrstime said:
Thank goodness for Canadian medical care! I am alive because of it. I believe if I had been in the US I would have waited a day and I seriously believe I didn't have another day with a bleeding ulcer. 7 days in ICU and 3 more in hospital cost us nothing. Americans will say we pay more in income tax, but that isn't true, it's just our government doesn't spend it all on the military.
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I read some where that the US spends 50% of it's budget on the military. Don't know if that is true but that sure would build a lot of shelters for the homeless and build a lot more schools. Don't know how much Canada spends on the military but it sure isn't 50% of our budget. Perhaps it goes to our First Nations folks. Ha, ha!
 
hollydolly said:
The Uk has that same precise view of the USA..as do many other European countries. Not trying to knock anyone in the US at all.. but the system needs a huge overhaul..
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The actual problem with "socialized medicine" in the US is that, for many decades the US's higher cost of medical care paid for research and development of new treatments, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and facilities. Recently, not so much.

And as socialization of medicine grows, patients pay less and the gov't pays more, the medical companies that have grown fat start funding research and development of new treatments, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and facilities. When that happens, new ideas and approaches become extremely rare at best, progress slows to a crawl, and medicine becomes a business-for-profit business, not a care industry.
 
Don't take offence, Myrtle. We are just sharing and comparing.

I was quite concerned way back in 1985 when Hubby and I toured US for 2 weeks, driving ourselves around in a few western states. We made sure that our travel insurance covered hospitalisation and the cost of being flown home to Sydney.

I'm not sure that we would even have been allowed to leave US if we had clocked up a huge hospital bill that we could not cover without taking out an additional mortgage.
 
Warrigal said:
Don't take offence, Myrtle. We are just sharing and comparing.

I was quite concerned way back in 1985 when Hubby and I toured US for 2 weeks, driving ourselves around in a few western states. We made sure that our travel insurance covered hospitalisation and the cost of being flown home to Sydney.

I'm not sure that we would even have been allowed to leave US if we had clocked up a huge hospital bill that we could not cover without taking out an additional mortgage.
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I think anyone traveling out of country needs to check their health care coverage. I can't imagine any country giving free health care to a tourist, I don't think that's just a U.S. thing.

(Unless you want into the US across the southern boarder, then we'll fix you up for free.)
 
C50 said:
I think anyone traveling out of country needs to check their health care coverage. I can't imagine any country giving free health care to a tourist, I don't think that's just a U.S. thing.

(Unless you want into the US across the southern boarder, then we'll fix you up for free.)
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Actually here in Canada, a visitor WILL be treated FIRST, and billed once they are better. No one here would be denied care, based on what country they are from. I spent ten years working for the largest city run Ambulance Service in Canada, here in Toronto. We never cared if the patient was a Canadian citizen, a Permanent Resident, or a tourist from some other part of the world. Treatment and transport to the closest Emergency Department was our concern, not how they were going to pay for our services, or that of the hospital we brought them to. JimB.
 
hollydolly said:
The Uk has that same precise view of the USA..as do many other European countries. Not trying to knock anyone in the US at all.. but the system needs a huge overhaul..
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Hey, Hollydolly, I am also not trying to knock anyone's view of medical care. I am just trying to present 2 views. I know what my fellow Canucks think as I have lived here 77 years. I know what the Americans think as I have spent 2 winters down in Texas and have stayed with many American families on my way there and back. Many Yanks are really scared of Medicare. I could never understand that. I love it and would never want to lose it!
 
Packerjohn said:
Hey, Hollydolly, I am also not trying to knock anyone's view of medical care. I am just trying to present 2 views. I know what my fellow Canucks think as I have lived here 77 years. I know what the Americans think as I have spent 2 winters down in Texas and have stayed with many American families on my way there and back. Many Yanks are really scared of Medicare. I could never understand that. I love it and would never want to lose it!
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oh yes I knew you weren't attacking the USA..or it's people.. and yes for some very odd reason those who don't have socialised care are very afraid in many cases of it here also. Granted the NHS is in a bit of trouble at the moment, it's highly frustating for us, long waits for operations etc... but long before this happened I saw countless reports on American TV spouting one lie after the other about socialised care... and maybe that's what's frightened people
 
The aversion to socialized medicine in the USA is due to Wall Street corporations entrenched in our system that is good for the wealthy and bad for the poor. The powerful wealthy have twisted the situation so that they pay little and instead through their politicians and media have gotten the government to pay for the uninsured poor by taxing the working class. They have a whole army of ignorant citizens on the right that have come to hate the notion of socialized medicine but don't understand why except that anyone that supports such is labeled a commie.

So corps are all for letting in endless poor immigrants since they don't pay for their emergency room visits and those immigrant poor also put pressure on housing availability of low wage blue collar workers that then are forced to pay way more for limited low cost housing, that then puts pressure on our middle class workers that end up buying and renting housing at high cost levels they would never choose if given a choice. And the poor and homeless? Get the middle class to pay to put them in hotels. See its a game with we in the middle class the stupid prey.

Of course the wealthy and corps love how easy it has been for their puppet politicians to manipulate our stupid voting public. But when Medicare rose up during the Obama years, a whole lot of their supporters that began using public medicine became confused that caused many politicians to hide lest their supporters start asking questions they don't want to talk about.
 
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I know one fellow who is disabled and gets a lot of med care, including stents and injections evey 3 weeks for high cholesterol. Back issues, feet issues, etc. He said he's not spent a dime on it.
Think it depends on what coverage you have -and income... we have Medicare and Medigap supplements. We've not had any issues and thank God have been healthy.

He is low income and disabled.
 
Packerjohn said:
2. Americans think that Canadian socialized medicine is some sort of sneeky communist plot. Canadians love their medicare and really worry when they have to travel to the US after hearing those terrible stories about folks being in an American hospital for a month and having to pay a bill for $350,000.
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I'll respond to part 2 on my wife's need for emergency care.

I guess it depends on age & & coverage. Since she was employed & paid into the Medicare system she has her own Medicare advantage plan.

She had a UTI. The hospital did a complete exam including CT scans & blood work to determine the cause. The hospital billed Medicare a little over $42,000.00 Medicare didn't pay that amount. The out of pocket cost to my wife for prescribed meds & the complete exam was $00.000.

I had my cervical spine completely rebuilt awhile back The total bill for everything involved was a little over $800,000.00 my cost was $50.00 co pay.

I have no complaints about care.
 
Warrigal said:
That must be a US problem. We don't seem to be suffering from lack of progress in Australia.
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Oh, the US makes progress alright, but the problem is that private pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies profit from their own research, innovations, and greasing the palms of policy-makers, so there's a huge conflict of interests.
 


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