How does healthcare work in other countries? (Europe, Canada?)

[God]

Can someone from a country other than the USA tell me how healthcare works in your country?

Like:

Do you have to wait on a long list for service? Do you think it works properly? Can you pick your doctor?

I just want to know. We have a debate on healthcare in the US, and I'm just looking for some knowledge.

 

[Sincock]

This has been discussed before somewhere on Ill, I'm sure.

In a nutshell: Public healthcare is completely free in Australia. You go to whatever doctor you wish, some doctors will charge more than is covered by Medicare so the difference would come out of your pocket. Likewise if you choose to use private practitioners or go to a private hospital, you have to pay that yourself, (or get private health insurance). Sometimes waits for what is termed elective surgery can be long and there needs to be more funding in some areas for sure but nobody dies in Australia from not having money or insurance to get proper treatment.
If you don't like public healthcare you can pay for private if you want, (often public offers better care as it's not run for profit so there's not as much cost cutting as goes on in private facilities).
Overall I think it's fundamentally a pretty good system that does have some shortcomings.

 

[Fade]

Canada is basically like Australia's ^^. We have medicare and it's free, but in this province for example (Quebec), if you go to the hospital emergency you will be waiting at least 10 hours just to see the doctor. And if you need surgery (for example a hip replacement) it would be at LEAST a 6 month wait, but probably longer. There's a huge shortage of doctors here in this province, but as far as the whole system, it varies with each province (Quebec being the worst).

 

[Pug]

Word, it really sucks here. Both my previous doctors moved to another province or went into research. So now I don't actually have a family doctor. I'm on waiting lists at a few places for one, and nobody has called me in about two years! So it's awful. Waiting for an x-ray takes hours unless it's a real emergency. If you need an MRI, you have to wait months unless you can afford to pay a few hundred dollars to rush it at a private clinic. So ya, it's free, but it's in shambles at the moment!

 

[Sincock]

Yeah, in some rural areas in Australia it's not so good. Alot of small towns have no doctors at all and the doctors they do have are overworked. But in the city it never gets as bad as what you guys described. waits for some elective surgeries can be quite long, (1 year or more sometimes), but I've never had to wait longer than a couple of hours in emergency, (something life threatening or extreme pain will get you in quicker, of course)..

 

[Sucio]

Would it help here? I don't think so.

Way too many people here...and we'd be paying out the ass in taxes for it.

Of course it gives people who don't have the money a chance to receive health care...but in the poorest neighborhoods, I don't think it would do as much good as people hope.

 

[Sincock]

Sucio - that argument makes no sense. You pay out the arse for your silly wars far more than healthcare will ever cost. Too many people means more people sharing the tax load.

 

[skidflow]

Healthcare care here sucks. For you cats in Canada and Austalia...your healthcare systems has its downfalls also...but atleast its free...in the US, cats have to pay for the shitty service you guys get for free, because in the US, money is made by treating people...not curing them. The Medical Association in this country is like a gang...they make sure they set each other up finacially when it comes to treating sickness.

 

[Sincock]

Yeah, you're right mate. Our systems definitely do have some issues but providing free healthcare to anybody who needs it is not one them. Healthcare is an essential service, not something that should be done for profit IMO.

 

[skidflow]

Yeah, you're right mate. Our systems definitely do have some issues but providing free healthcare to anybody who needs it is not one them. Healthcare is an essential service, not something that should be done for profit IMO.

Yeah its like when a doctor gives you a prescription for something, you don't know if you really need that medicine or is this cat trying to pay off a house or houses...nah mean? I am a veteran so my healthcare provided free through through the veterans administration which isn't better healthcare its just free for me.

In the US, executives in big medical insurance companies get big bonuses for denying treatment..which saves revenue and insures big profits...the downside is people die needing very important treatment that big insurance companies refuse to pay for because of not profiting.

 

[Sucio]

Sucio - that argument makes no sense. You pay out the arse for your silly wars far more than healthcare will ever cost. Too many people means more people sharing the tax load.

I may pay for these wars, but I do not support them one bit.

I do support our troops out there....most of them are just doing their job.... You hear a lot of them saying we're over there dying for nothing. It's a damn shame...

If I had a choice on what to pay for, it would definitely not be for senseless wars for greed.

It doesn't make sense...because the powers that be don't care much for healthcare as they do for $$$$$ in their pockets. Now with this universal health care, people are going to pay more taxes.....more companies will go under because they have to pay these taxes as well......but they will be saved by the government so they could control it.....

 

[mono]

In Germany we have compulsory health insurance. Every employee has to be member of either one of the standard insurance companies (rate of contribution is 15.5% of your income then, 7.5% you, 7.5% your employer), which provide coverage for basic health care like health checks, dental filling, hospitalization, ambulant treatment, appendix surgery etc. The state pays for you if your unemployed.
Or you can pick a private insurance company, which are more expensive but they also provide a wider spectrum of coverage. F.e. you can choose higher quality material for dental fillings in back teeth, while standard insurance companies only cover amalgam filling, the difference you have to pay yourself.
Its def better to have private insurance with chronic or more serious diseases.

Problem with our system is, doctors can only assert a fixed amount from treatment of "non-private" patients, while there is no such limitation for the ones with private insurance. So a two-class health care system is corollary. Patients with private insurance are usually forwarded immediately, others have to wait as long as it takes.

You are always free to choose the doctor you like, but you have to consult a general practitioner and get a referral before going to a medical specialist.

hope this helps

 

[God]

First, I want to thank you for the information. It is extremely helpful and I thank you all for the input. Feel free to add more.

Yeah its like when a doctor gives you a prescription for something, you don't know if you really need that medicine or is this cat trying to pay off a house or houses...nah mean? I am a veteran so my healthcare provided free through through the veterans administration which isn't better healthcare its just free for me.

In the US, executives in big medical insurance companies get big bonuses for denying treatment..which saves revenue and insures big profits...the downside is people die needing very important treatment that big insurance companies refuse to pay for because of not profiting.

Skid, I agree with your sentiment. Especially when you read articles like these:

Harvard Medical School in Ethics Quandary
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/business/03medschool.html?em

and

The ongoing child bipolar diagnosis controversy
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/03/19/the-ongoing-child-bipolar-diagnosis-controversy/

You sometimes wonder... who's really in control? The drug companies or the doctors?

 

[Relic]

Dr's imo are whores for the drug companies, and pimps for the pills.

Its sad because you trust these people but you dont know if you can trust these people.

Guess thats why its called a hippocratic oath!

 

[2GooD Productions]

Here in the UK the healthcare isnt entirely free.
Its paid for through National Insurance deductions from our wages.
Its a sort of tax on top of income tax.
For that payment we get very long waiting times, terrible hospital hygeine and cost cutting at every level.
A few days before my mum died, I was there at the bedside and dropped my hat.
It was a black hat, but when I picked it up the whole side that was on the floor was grey with dust.
The big pharmaceutical players like Smithkline Beecham, and Merck Sharp & Dohme etc..
are just as powerful financially as the oil men. This is how you get heads of pharma companies becoming secretaries of defence.
GP's and the whole medical industry is the shopfront for the pharma companies. And they are making a killing, literally. Overpriced drugs to cure invented "diseases" like ADHD. Using the populace as human guinee pigs for their eugenics experiments.
Most nurses and doctors are in it to do good for people, but the pharma companies dont want us well, that isnt good for profit. Doctors are just as brainwashed as we are about the quality of some of the drugs. Like mercury in childrens vaccines, and the giving out of ssri anti depressants to children, now banned And here lies my problem with profit driven ventures... it brings the worst out of mankind for the sake of a buck.

 

[5th Sequence]

And here lies my problem with profit driven ventures... it brings the worst out of mankind for the sake of a buck.

Totally agree. It's sickening to think about how many people have either died or have needlessly suffered because of the profit driven creedo's of big pharma. You don't have to be a humanitarian to recognize something inhumane.

It may just be a sign of the times ifor global society though, I mean we still haven't fixed several major and crucial problems in the world like safe drinking water or food for everyone in the world, let alone decent health care. We have come along way but still have much further to go in many areas.

 

[MagnaOpera]

Can someone from a country other than the USA tell me how healthcare works in your country?

Like:

Do you have to wait on a long list for service? Do you think it works properly? Can you pick your doctor?

I just want to know. We have a debate on healthcare in the US, and I'm just looking for some knowledge.

In canada:

Everything is free. ER visits take anywhere from 4-6 hours (unless it's really serious- they'll rush you if you're really fucked up).

You can pick your own doctors, however if you opt for the "walk in clinic" route, the doctors that work in those things tend to be extremely dismissive, making half-assed diagnoses, disregarding pertinent medical history... etc.

In my experience, if you go out of your way to find good health-care professionals and stick to them, yes, public health care does work.

I have however chosen the "walk-in clinic" route, and I must say that after contracting pneumonia and 2 lung infections in the last 6 months, my trips to the walk-in clinic were so disparaging that I actually walked out of the place on every occasion talking (as loudly as possible) about how privatizing health care would be a hell of alot better than that bullshit.

We have a shortage of doctors and nurses in my province as well, I believe they usually migrate south (Amerikkka) or to other provinces that provide better pay/benefits for medical professionals.


On the other hand, last summer I had to sit with my main squeeze in the ER for 7.5 hours so she could find out that she had some intense-ass ulcer from drinking too much.

I'm torn, I wouldn't say that the health care system here is great, but it is free. lol.