Your health care system

Do you guys really like it ?? Or would you rather have the freedom to chose your own health care insurers ?? Our new lord and master his highness old big ears Obama (who forgets he's not the fucking king) seems bound and determined to cram a similar system down our throats if we want it or not.. To be honest all I hear are horror stories about long waiting periods to see a doctor or get treament.. And picking and choosing who will and won't get treated dependent on age and ailment.. Now most of these stories come from Canada, cause they border us, but it's the same system..

Peace

 

We have the freedom to choose our own healthcare providers. Having free universal healthcare doesn't mean you can't choose to pay privately if you are able to...

In some ways the NHS is excellent and in some ways terribly overstretched, but the principle is to provide free universal healthcare for all, which is better than having to choose between either having to pay, or dying. This seems a rather less good kind of choice than either paying, or waiting a bit longer and not paying.

 

What Ian said

 

*The NHS has achieved the shortest waiting times since its records began, the Department of Health said today.
It also said it had met its “18 weeks” waiting time target, whereby patients referred from a GP for further treatment start that treatment within 18 weeks. The target became the operational standard for the NHS from January 1 2009

How can I find out about waiting times at particular hospitals?

On NHS Choices it is possible to compare hospitals on many criteria including waiting times for particular treatments. Look up the treatment in Health A-Z, and then click “Compare hospitals”. Putting in your postcode will give you a list of hospitals in your area, which can be compared on a range of data.
What can I do to ensure I am treated quickly?

• Exercise your right to choose which hospital your GP refers you to using the process described above to compare hospitals.
• Be prepared to consider hospitals other than your local one if a shorter wait is available elsewhere.
• Keep any appointments you have, or let the hospital or clinic know as early as possible if you can’t attend or need to rearrange your appointment.
• Think about how you might improve your lifestyle, for example stopping smoking or losing weight, so that you will be fit for treatment.

**I think these chaps give guidance on who/what treatment people recieve in the NHS http://www.nice.org.uk/

The US health care system could end up like the NHS circa 1983.
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081015125613AAhIitK

 

My problem is not so much with the health care system, but the system which cause most of the illnesses in society in the first place.

 

^ I don't have any problem with falling off a cliff, it's hitting the ground that bothers me

 

^That's not an analogy, that's a banality.

 

Yuh huh

 

i get everything free cas i was a single father for a year once in tghe system alwys in the ststem--my last hosp bill ws125',000 and that vdidnt include monthlu dr visits nd free meds--plus an mri ct scan and liver biopsy--plud numerous blood tests and4root canls--and waiting for approval for my hep my hepc tretmrnt

 

I don't think many people in the UK have much of an understanding of the US healthcare system at all, let alone how Obama wants to reform what there is... We just think it's astonishing that in a wealthy, developed democracy there isn't already a decent system of universal social welfare ... we've had ours since 1948

 

.

 

And where do people hear those 'stories', the US media of course,like Fox etc.--I know this is about the NHS,however look at France. France has perhaps the number 1 healthcare system worldwide,and they spend less than one half what the US spends,per person.I think the US healthcare system is now ranked around 37th worldwide.--I will say this though, for socialized medicine to work well,it has to be done properly.And I don't know if the US government is capable of pulling it off.

 

What ???? did you lose some fingers somewhere along the line too ?? Geeeeeez...

Peace

 

Hahahaaaaaaaaaa,, the US government has spent $600 for toilet seats, and $400 for a hammer.. Yes we are in good hands..

Peace

 

I don't even understand how the US healthcare system works anymore or what Obama+Co want to do.I just know that it is run by insurance and big pharmaceutical companies which is absurd and UNacceptable.And I do agree that it's astonishing that the so-called richest country in the world the US is so backwards in this and many other areas too these days.

 

The NHS is not perfect, however it's one of the best things about Britain. If Obama wants to replicate it he'll be remembered for a long time. You may put a few people's noses out of joint, which is a price worth paying. Aneurin Bevan had opposition to the plan in 1948.

 

Yeah,the smart thing would be to copy the NHS or a similair system that works well.Instead of trying to re-invent the wheel copy what already works.Medicare(which is basically socialized medicine) which covers senior citizens healthcare in the US has been a big success.Before it was introduced in the mid 1960s it had alot of opposition.

 

"My aim is to provide universal healthcare for every American by the end of my first term in office"

Genuinely progressive political leadership, that's rare... I actually like this guy:cheers2:

 

I'm immensely proud of the NHS. It has its flaws, but it is a fantastic achievement. America would be well served with free universal health care for those who cannot afford to pay. Unless you see restricting health care to those who can afford it as a form of natural selection, helping to kill off the poorest in society. Health care is a human right. Whatever else one might argue should be left to market forces, our health is not one of them....

 

Didn't you take that figure from a film about aliens destroying the White House before getting pwned by Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum? Not exactly the most reliable source....