4 replies to this topic

[Mr Serendipity]

Hi, I was wondering what people thought of the healthcare system in their countries. Doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, I just want to hear peoples opinions and experiences if they have any to share.

 

 

Edited by Jesus is King, 21 October 2021 - 06:33 PM.

[Mind]

My opinion of the U.S. "system" is bifurcated.

 

1. The government-led benefits/insurance/big pharma nexus is very poor. Instead of promoting healthy lifestyles, most citizens are overweight with multiple age-related disabilities and are given expensive pharmaceuticals to "paper-over" their conditions. Most of these conditions could be managed very successfully with lifestyle modifications. Instead we have an expensive system that just allows people to become sicker while suffering all of the side effects from taking multiple drugs.

 

2. Surgery in the U.S. is very good. Fixing acute injuries is top notch in the U.S. Private medical options are also very good. 

[jroseland]

I have bottomless ire for the US "Healthcare" system, part of the reason I expatriated. 

 

As an American health-obsessed anarcho-capitalist, I've had innumerable debates with Brits that I've met traveling and I've convinced zero to leave the NHS cult - I wish more Christians believed in their religion the way Brits believe in the NHS! I've long believed that socializing health is one of the most monumentally stupid things that human societies have ever done. BUT I'll admit that my mind changed a little about this when I married a Bulgarian girl - here she gets amazingly affordable and surprisingly decent public healthcare.

[Mr Serendipity]

Brits do worship the NHS like the golden calf here, it was cringeworthy listening to my neighbours clap outside every Tuesday at 8pm because the Government encouraged it last year in lockdown.

 

The biggest problem I see with our system is the lack of proper screening for health problems. Unless you consistently act like a hypochondriac to your doctor, it's hard to get a proper diagnosis, blood tests, or screening for your health problems. My fathers friend went to see the doctor for a really painful toe he thought he'd broken, and the doctor put him on painkillers without even looking at it. This happened on the 2nd visit also, and on the 3rd visit he finally looked at his toe and then told him it was broken; you can't make this stuff up.

 

One recent personal experience was the government is pushing a new midwifery system here. Forget that we hadn't even been able to see our current midwife because of the sheer incompetence of how everything is run here, and we had to jump through hoops just to see somebody for a supposed "right" pregnant women have here in the UK. Anyway this new midwife OPAL team contacts us asking us if we would like to go with them as that's the direction the gov was going for all pregnant women in the UK, and said they do home visits. So we thought, why not, can't be any worse than our current situation. Well she told us the appointment was at 2pm next Sunday, so on the day we're just waiting here for her wondering if she'll ever come, well at 2:45pm we finally get a text from her saying she'll be at ours in 10 minutes (so 55 minutes past the appointment time), with no explanation or apology for being late. I text her back politely saying don't worry, cancel it, we'll go back to our old midwife. Then she text us back saying "sorry for ruining your weekend" as if that's a sincere apology for her tardiness rather than pure mockery of us for not putting up with her being 55 minutes late so it somehow ruined our weekend. And her text continued with some lie about how she tried to email us in our last appointment to tell us she would be running late but couldn't send it. This women's in her mid 40's for pete sake, you'd think they'd be a bit more class or personal responsibility at her age. I'm glad we passed up on her.

 

But I don't think it's just a healthcare thing. I personally feel apathy and the least amount of effort attitude exists throughout Britain as a whole. It's really hard to find people who are really specialised or competent in what they do for a myriad of things, so don't come to Britain for the service, even if you have money, you couldn't pay for decent service here if you wanted to. Because we brits don't complain or make a fuss, and we keep calm and carry on, so we put up with all kinds of shit because that's the polite thing to do.

Edited by Mr Serendipity, 27 October 2021 - 08:56 PM.

[williamwill009]

Your information has been incredibly helpful. Do you have any other suggestions or thoughts about this topic? I would really appreciate any additional guidance you could provide.