Glad to hear the happy outcome, David. There will, in my opinion, be no greater folly in retrospect than letting the government re-create health care. It will be a disaster. You, sir, would likely have died in a socialized medicine environment. We need insurance reform, big time, and a 2-tier system. The poor and uninsured would have free, socialized, medicine at government VA type hospitals. Not Stanford, mind you, but free. The rest of us would choose an insure from across all state lines and with serious reform in place.
As for the group in Washington now? I wouldn't let them fix a broken garage door.
Sigh.
So much anger over this subject. Americans fear socialized medicine due to anecdotal accounts that are repeated again and again about some individual who had problems, but without the whole story being told. Here are my own experiences/anecdotes with socialized medicine:
I am an American, diagnosed with diabetes in 1959. I have travelled and lived in Canada and Germany for extended periods (a year or more), and have been treated under the socialized medical systems of both countries. My observations:
In Canada, an appointment for a checkup rarely took more than 10 days to be arranged. In this country, it is at least twice as long. I never had any issues with prescription meds, insulin, etc.
In Germany, my wife and I never had problems. When my three-year old son had blood in his urine, we saw a specialist within 24 hours, and our son received an assessment through lab work very quickly. Fortunately, it was not a serious issue, and he has never had a recurrence (he is now 25 and married).
On another occasion, I took too much insulin, and had a severe hypoglycemic reaction after a meal. An ambulance arrived and gave me a dose of glucagon (or the equivalent) within five minutes of my wife calling.
In both Canada and Germany, our insurance covered absolutely everything--no copayments of any kind.
Recently, on a trip to Germany on business, I left my insulin behind in Stuttgart when I travelled to Munich. Since I was using a pump, I didn't realize I had done so until three days later. I had to get insulin: a local doctor saw me (since I had no insurance I had to pay an out-of-pocket bill of $16--my copayment in the US is $22!). I took his prescription to a local pharmacy. The pharmacist told me that if I could wait 4 hours, she could export the insulin to Austria and then reimport it, and it would cost half as much. So I ended up buying two bottles of Humalog for $30 a bottle without any insurance to cover it. My cost in this country, as a copayment, is $20 a bottle.
My experiences have been positive, and again, I stress that this is anecdotal information. We have repeatedly heard that residents of countries with socialized medicine must wait long time for routine procedures--I have not experienced this. We have heard that we will die for lack of care in an urgent situation--I have not experienced this.
On the other hand, in this country, I have to continually fight battles to get insurance to cover pump supplies (with the infamous "Your request is from an out of network supplier"); I wait 3 to six weeks for an appointment with my own doctor; I have been waiting four months for an appointment for my twice-yearly appointment with my opthamologist. My copayments have tripled in the last three years. And in my last conversation with BCBS, I was warned that my lifetime limit of reimbursements was $1 million (without any further explanation).
Forgive me for my rant on a political topic. Dave--I am pleased that everything worked out for you. Best wishes.
Dear John,
You are so right about the amount of anger over "socialized medicine." When I reviewed Michael Moore's "Sicko" at http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/11069/moores-sicko/ that elicited lots of angry comments from people who don't want to change our healthcare system.
Best regards,
David
nice comment- i don't think the problem is that americans fear- rather, they do what they're told- instead of an adult environment, where the broad societal issue of healthcare is dealt with on a grand scale in canada, or with policy guidance in germany, our politicians are simply corrupted by $millions of insurance industry bribes, which direct the politicians to vote against the public good- i recently golfed with a retired judge- most likely smarter than me- he said he don't want government running healthcare- i suggested he would like the german model, where the vast majority of health plans are run through private insurers- what he and many others don't know, mostly because all they know is industry propaganda, is that the german insurers cannot turn a profit (read stealing $ out of the public health kitty)- this is because the germans and most other adults realize that it is unethical to profiteer by exploiting sick citizens- the irony is that socialized medicine is inevitable- it is the only way to keep cost down- the other option is socialized bankruptcy, which we were pushed towards by the finance industry, which also claimed that we don't want government running banks- cheers
Great and thoughtful comment...thanks for sharing...fear tactics are all we hear in this country, We have a President trying to help people and yet he is condemned .....overheard a lady saying we will all soon be left to die...such ignorance!!
The only worry from the complainers is their pocketbook.
PJ
We are so glad that you receive the care you needed - efficiently!
Living in a country (Australia) were there is a tier system for health care
Private which (naturally) you pay for OR
Public which is government provided for those who cannot afford private coverage
I can vouch for the fact that waiting lists and times are long for those without private coverage.......... EXCEPT where it comes to emergencies. IF you are seriously ill, and needs must attend the ER, you are treated carefully and all necessary tests are performed, without cost. If however you see your GP and he/she decides you need to see a specialist (and you are not privately insured) waiting times can be very long indeed. Then IF surgery is deemed appropriate, say for Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, or a Bladder repair etc, a person can wait 12 or more months for hospital admission, because it is considered non essential/non urgent/elective surgery.
Don't be too quick in dismissing the 'faults' of the socialised system please.
God Bless you David. Get well soon.
David My grandmother had the same symptom and refused to go to the hospital and her Dr. was out of town. She lived a healthy, active 80 years. She endured increasing pain during the night and the following day. When I saw her pain, I said she had to go to the hospital by ambulance. She had surgery removing 8 feet of her colon, her intestine had burst in her abdomen, and she died hours later. She waited too long. In her case, scar tissue from a previous abdominal surgery decades earlier had wrapped around her intestine, strangling it. This is actually a more common occurance than you think. Rose Kennedy had it happen at age 90 and survived the surgery. David, I have read your blog for 8 years since I was diagnosed. I left Avandia and went on Byetta because of you! It has worked well for me. Thanks for your effort to educate us. Have a speedy recovery. Sally
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I am so glad to hear that all turned out all right for you! I have read some of the comments about your experience, including the detailed one from the person who experienced health care in the U.S., Canada and Germany.
As you know, I am from Canada. What you didn't mention is what it cost you out of pocket. We also don't know what you pay for health insurance annually. Were you left with any money owing after treatment? Did you get any bills to pay out-of-pocket after your care?
Canadian health care isn't free. We pay a monthly amount unless we are too poor and on social assistance, or Adult Income for the Severely Handicapped and such cases of need. Seniors don't pay a monthly fee for healthcare.
When my husband had his by-pass operation 7 years ago, he did not get a single bill for any costs involved. This included the week in hospital during diagnosis and pre-op preparation in a private room in a ward specially designed for these patients, the operation and four days in recovery, the home nurse's visit, follow-up visit with the surgeon, and rehab. He was moved to the top of the list when another patient was cancelled due to a cold.
He was very happy with the successful and thoughtful treatment during this ordeal. We have heard many similar stories from friends.
I can tell from what I read and hear that most Americans don't understand any other type of health care but what they have available in the U.S. and are afraid of any change to it.
I think that this fear is the biggest part of the problem. And maybe the very well off are afraid that they won't get five-star attention that they are used to in their daily life because they can pay for that attention and service, not because they really need it.
I guess I've gone far enough with this. We are very happy here with our system of health care, where everyone is treated as an equal and given equal access to health care. Every single person has the same access to heath care, regardless of status or income.
Man, you are fast, David! Thanks for your comments.
I asked about the direct cost to you as the cost of health insurance in the U.S. seems to be a very big stumbling block for so many people, as is 'qualifying' and the possibility of the insurer refusing to continue its coverage when people do become seriously ill. All of this information comes from reading articles, newspapers and television shows over the years.
From what I've read, it seems that Americans pay quite high premiums for health insurance. The two of us, between the provincial health care plan and Blue Cross, pay $129 per month.
Alberta residents (where we just moved from) pay no government fee at all. It's a 'have' province, with no provincial sales tax either.
Glad you are OK, but 50 years ago the problem woud have been found by giving you a drink of a fluid with a small amount of barium and watching the fluid pass using a fluorscope, 80 years ago by a well-trained GP physician who knew how and why to palpate the abdomen. Seems like the more medicine "advances" the less skillful the physicians become at basic medicine.
The old adage that Dr's cover their mistakes by burring them has seemed true in the past. Now however it also seems that Guilt over spending money on ourselves is stimulated by politicans running PR campaigns for us not to spend money. So we pass off the niggly feelings that later lead two ways..our demise into unhealthyness that altermitly causes more $$$ to be spent. Or our goodbyes. What a waste.
Last week a friend found out that she has a femeral hernia. For the past five years she has had symptoms, gone to various drs and been given antibitotics. last count x9 doses. Now she knows some of the symptoms shes astounded.
The main Dr of the surgeries she attended has hit the roof. Not surprisingly has dealt with the drs. Just as well he knows her of old. So yes why is time not spent to say hold on a minute may be I do not know why we'll find out. Hers was confirmed by one simple radiological examination. Money we'lkl spent she feels. So do her large extensive family members, the voluntary organisations she assists and her friends and community members near by. Costs are not just the costs of the actual machine and staff. There are community costs which are intangiable. But these losses are never regained on burried.
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So glad to see that you were well treated and diagnosed. It is refreshing to hear a good story which highlights just how fortunate we are in this country with the healthcare we already have.
Laura