More on healthcare
Jul. 28th, 2009 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumThe Denver Post has a decent column up, Debunking Myths about Canadian Healthcare
There is also a forum for discussing it.
It's interesting, as one reads the comments (almost 450, at this count) to see the difference between those who think the US system needs to change, and those who don't.
Those who want to see it change cite studies, and polls. Those who don't cite opinion pieces, or make unspported statements (someone blamed Natasha Richardson's death on there being no helicopter; never mind that she refused treatment).
Most of the "rebuttals are things on the order of, "The US is best", and, "We don't want the beauraucrats making decisions". There are also the, "Gov't can't do anything right crowd."
When a Canadian opines (esp. those who have lived both places) that they like/prefer the Canadian system, they are called liars.
But my favorite comment was this one
I'm a Canadian, and I can tell you that we do have American-style care here in certain areas. I went to my medical provider when a member of my family broke a leg. I was astonished by the invoice for the operation: consultation fee, anaesthetic, bandages, various drugs, needles, assistance of three people, specialist- the invoice was three pages long. The total was nearly $1350.00. And I was very interested because I'd never seen a medical invoice before.
When another member of my family broke an arm, there were two operations, three casts, and twenty rehab visits without every seeing a single piece of paper.
Of course, the broken leg was my dog. The broken arm was my son.
You Americans treat your children the way we treat our dogs.
There is also a forum for discussing it.
It's interesting, as one reads the comments (almost 450, at this count) to see the difference between those who think the US system needs to change, and those who don't.
Those who want to see it change cite studies, and polls. Those who don't cite opinion pieces, or make unspported statements (someone blamed Natasha Richardson's death on there being no helicopter; never mind that she refused treatment).
Most of the "rebuttals are things on the order of, "The US is best", and, "We don't want the beauraucrats making decisions". There are also the, "Gov't can't do anything right crowd."
When a Canadian opines (esp. those who have lived both places) that they like/prefer the Canadian system, they are called liars.
But my favorite comment was this one
I'm a Canadian, and I can tell you that we do have American-style care here in certain areas. I went to my medical provider when a member of my family broke a leg. I was astonished by the invoice for the operation: consultation fee, anaesthetic, bandages, various drugs, needles, assistance of three people, specialist- the invoice was three pages long. The total was nearly $1350.00. And I was very interested because I'd never seen a medical invoice before.
When another member of my family broke an arm, there were two operations, three casts, and twenty rehab visits without every seeing a single piece of paper.
Of course, the broken leg was my dog. The broken arm was my son.
You Americans treat your children the way we treat our dogs.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 04:17 pm (UTC)Friend of mine has two insurers. One of them is the first billed. He has a regular treatment. Routinely (as in for years,at this point) the provider will bill the wrong insurer first.
They deny, and the provider bills him because of it.
Then the provider refuses to bill the actual company (in this case Medicare) which is supposed to pay.
Every time.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 08:43 pm (UTC)My mother has optional insurance (she's not in any of the "mandatory" categories) and we have folders full of paperwork for her, both for the standard processes and when the insurance didn't "get" that 200 kg of lead are not an ortheopedic aid, or the hospital sent the bill to the wrong address, or any such fun.