In US healthcare you have to be your own advocate and be willing to push. The system breaks down if you don't have a routine and obvious illness.
It gave me a new perspective on that kind of work. From my/our point of view, I was the most important person in the room and my problems really really matter.
From the doctor or dentists POV, I'm one a long long list of people they're seeing that day. It's a health care production line, and even if they have the inclination to be equally caring about everyone - which is a rare quality, because a good medical professionals are only in it for the money - they just don't have the time.
This is not an excuse unprofessional behaviour. But it made me realise that self-advocacy works because you're asking - maybe demanding - more than the production line gives you by default.
Also, medicine is incredibly complicated. And the research is often very low quality.
And that's not taking into account Big Pharma trying to tout its products, whether or not they're suitable or effective.
The most depressing thing recently has been the professional response to Covid. In the UK countless doctors have aggressively given up masking, even in settings with immunocompromised patients.
It's really made it obvious that some doctors are just in it for the money, a good few are phoning it in, surprisingly many have quite irrational beliefs, and the caring expert professionals are much rarer than they should be.
It’s just “extraordinary”.
People have weird habits, weird diets, are exposed to weird chemicals in small amounts over extended periods of time, etc. There are all kinds of genetic factors where something can be really minor for most people and debilitating for others. There are all kinds or problems or diseases that people can have, and there can be weird combinations that interact or provide an overall confusing array of symptoms. And it's all mixed up with the patient's brain, which may be exacerbating or compensating in all kinds of ways (psychologically or through behaviors that the patient develops).
It may be because they see a wider range of illnesses and this empathy/awareness might not work well with the patients are of varying ethnicity and race but they’re pretty good if you look past the exterior - shabby offices, gruff manner.
That's with 3 different people and a handful of different doctors. They are actually pretty eager to look inside your stomach out here heheh. I'm really sorry to hear that happened to your friend though! I hope they're doing better now!
To be fair, doctors are usually overworked and on a human level I understand that the system is a bit broken, but it's still infuriating when it's your health that is suffering.
100% the same thing on this side of the pond, US healthcare isn’t special here.
Private healthcare is basically broken out the gate, public healthcare can be much better but it still does need to be funded.
Much of Europe went wild assuming that we would always have 5 to 7 workers per person retired to care for, and I won’t be surprised if we get down to 1 to 2 in the next 50 years.
That’s a type of system collapse people aren’t prepared for.
Clearly both systems have benefits and drawbacks.
The main complaint about the UK system that people quote is "it takes a while to see a doctor" but that's true about most people here in the US as well. If you have not top-line insurance or live in a slightly rural area or a million other things.
Not sure if this practice is just shit or if all of them are. They then have the audacity to strike too. I've had absolutely zero sympathy for them since the months long ordeal of being in pain and taking pills that made me feel worse rather than better. Fucking disgraceful is what it has become.
Now dentists...when we had money we went to a family friend. He still totally f'd us and did unnecessary work. It's only now that I have a cash only country dentist that I trust my dentist again. Crazy part is the cash only dentist ends up being cheaper than my previous copay/premiums insurance dentists.
My wife and I have both had to see various specialists. Some had very long wait times, many didn't, and of those that did, we were (fortunately) able to call around to different clinics to find one that wasn't too bad.
The exceptions are part of that data set
Really...
A few minutes research suggests it's not that expensive. (As little as ~2000/year).
However, that is beside the point. Believe me, I hate explaining simple, simple things--but the person I was responding to is probably comfortably middle or upper-middle class and could afford a miserable 2000/year on a doctor. He doesn't have to become "rich enough", and almost 100 percent of the people in this thread don't have to either.
2 k is a lot for even those at the 50th percentile and extremely significant for those below it.
Min wage earners make about 30k, so that 2k is 6.6% of thier income....
I mean, the wait times sometimes are, but they vary by province. More conservative provinces have worse wait times. That is not surprising given that the provincial conservative government are all actively attempting to sabotage public healthcare so we can move to an American style system. A system where we will all pay more, and still see similar wait times anyway.
MAID is not actively proposed as a way to save resources.
This feels like a pretty glaring generalization. If we look at the actual data, the story becomes a little more nuanced [1]. "Conservative" provinces have wait times that are a couple of days to a couple of weeks higher than national average (assuming we call BC, AB, SK and MB "conservative" [2]), but then again almost all of the maritimes provinces (which are considered strongly liberal-leaning) have abysmally bad wait times relative to the average (10-20 weeks worse).
Overall, the average is ~half a year anyways, which is pretty rough regardless.
[1] - https://www.fraserinstitute.org/file/waiting-your-turn-2021-... [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Canadian_federal_election, "Results by province and territory
And nice lies dude. They all have over double the national average!
Don’t use Fraser institute for sources. They are a far right “think” tank. If they posted it, it’s a lie or misrepresentation.
I'm not aware of the reverse (admittedly, that would require more than just $$).
The reason to go to Mexico is price. The reason to go to the U.S. is quality.
How about for Canada vs the U.S.?
If you're a Canadian citizen, Canadian healthcare is cheaper, but generally has much longer wait times.
U.S. healthcare is much more expensive, but much more quickly available, and specialty care (e.g., rare disease treatment) is much better.
She will be able to see a psychiatrist "when one is available in the fall."
https://web.archive.org/web/20230809170345/https://www.thegl...
Getting a routine gynecological appointment for my wife any time in the next six months is impossible. I gave up on trying to get an appointment with an allergist for myself, even after getting a referral. What you describe is common in the US too, even for those with means. I cannot imagine what it is like for somebody who doesn't have money and insurance.
I wanted to get a sleep study done to get to the bottom of my occasional insomnia. My PCP at the time put in the pulmonologist referral (because this hospital network required a referral to get a sleep study done, which is insane in its own right, but that's neither here nor there).
This was in January. His next available appointment? March! For a friggin sleep study! And I have a HDHP + HSA and was going to pay full boat!
(He also prescribed me with an antipsychotic that can double as a sleep aid at low dosages, which I didn't take because five minutes of research into it made it obvious that taking that for extended periods of time is bad news bears. I stopped seeing him after that.)
(For those looking for answers like I was, I eventually stumbled upon Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, or CBT-I. It's essentially a rigid sliding window-style sleep schedule plus challenge therapy to make you rethink how you approach sleep. I've been doing this for six months now and it has been transformational. Best part? No meds!)
[1] Or shit, even a PCP that accepts new patients.
Really, you just engaged in deception and promulgation of propaganda intended to push people toward neofascist ideology.
Shame on you.
Went from nothing/reluctance to popular for some segments of the population