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also, “long wait times”, at least in Canada, are often a result of gutting being done to the healthcare system at the provincial level by conservative governments in an effort to convince people to privatize, and some idiots always fuckin fall for it.
It’s also exaggerated, in my experience.
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I never meant to imply that there can’t be long wait times, just that they are, in my opinion, exaggerated. I have had to wait for things as well, but having experienced health care in the USA, I could not really complain.
Canada definitely could improved, but it’s still night and day better than what’s south of the border, imho.
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I just said that I believe it could be improved. My bar is higher than the USA, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m thankful that it’s better than the USA, having experienced both. They are not mutually exclusive sentiments.
The strategy is called “starve the beast”.
If you intentionally break something while telling everyone it’s broken, you are technically correct, but still an idiot.
It’s usually done under the guise of reducing taxes or reducing the size of government.
Usually done by our Republican (Conservative) Party spouting generalities like “taxes are too high”, “government is wasteful”, “private company could do better”. Somehow they always skip the part where the functionality is important and the private alternative is worse and costlier (but at least their buddies get to profit)
Apparently voters fall for it, without consideration for what is being cut or whether it really needs to be
And somehow we also keep falling for “reduce taxes” even when that only benefits the wealthy, and when that’s actually the biggest source of debt
Same in Italy, hospitals don’t get enough found because the government (which is usually right wing but rarely center-left too) does not give enough money to hospitals and then (stupid) people say “look at Switzerland!! They do way better than us, we must do like 'em” or as some said a few years back “look at USA!!! With their private healthcare! They are doing good”
Yeah, good my ass, now they are suffering
No need to wait at all when for-profit insurance tells you it’s just not covered! So efficient. Best system ever.
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They don’t give a shit how long you wait here, just that having to wait there is why we shouldn’t do it
What’s “universal” is that it’s fast if you have enough money and connections
What’s not necessarily universal is the “poverty via medical bills”
Luigi is a motherfucking American hero. Make sure you donate to his legal fund if you can!
He didn’t even do anything, I was playing chess with him at the time of Brian Thompson’s murder
For real, I was there we were taking turns!
Is “playing chess” what they’re calling it these days? Giggity.
Over 90% of Democrats want universal healthcare, along with over 60% of Independents and even 30%+ of Republican voters.
So, a huge majority of people in the USA want the same healthcare as Canada, UK, Japan, Poland… (huge list of dozens of civilized countries).
The Democrats have used this issue to win elections since the 1990s. The USA gives billions of dollars to people around the world, most of whom have universal healthcare themselves.
We’re the wealthiest of these nations by far, but unfortunately, the wealth is top heavy, and those wealthy people are paying US reps a gigantic pile of money to keep things as they are, so that they can make even more enormous piles of money.
That’s it, it’s pretty simple. IF ONLY we lived in a republic with representatives that work for their constituency!
That would be neat.
I just had to wait for 3 weeks to get a refill on my daily asthma inhaler, one and a half of them without my meds. There was some sort of supply issue with my regular one, so had to get a new one prescribed. I had to deal with going back and forth with the pharmacy, doc office, and insurance company to finally get the approved brands/prior authorizations figured out. I’m glad my asthma isn’t too bad right now despite being allergy season.
I’m taking a wild guess here, but I’m guessing that folks in places with universal healthcare don’t have to deal with this sort of bullshit.
Kind of. I’m in Germany (but from the US), and while it’s leagues and leagues better than the US, I recently had a similar issue. I was prescribed a daily generic medication that comes in increments of 100, which had some supply issues. The name brand version comes in increments of 30, so I had to get my prescription rewritten for 90 pills instead of 100, because they couldn’t just dispense less medication than I was prescribed.
I ended up going two days without my medication, but it was still better than in a non universal healthcare system. I used the same medication in the US, and regularly had to skip a day or two around refills (once it took over a month to actually get my refill), plus I was only able to fill one month at a time and had to pay way more. In the US, I had to pay for: a monthly doctor’s visit, a drug test to make sure I was taking my medication, and a high prescription cost ($50-$330/month, depending on whether I’d reached my deductible and whether it was a generic or not). In Germany, I pay 8.50€/month for the brand name or 10€/3 months for the generic, no cost for doctor’s visits and no required drug test.
Luigi should have sparked a revolt. It’s a shame it fizzled out without even starting.
They were like “we can’t encourage copycat crimes” and i was more like “we should be so lucky!”
In the American system you don’t wait because insurance just denies you instead.
I agree with the message, but why did you need gemini to make this?
You have to wait under the current system, too. I’d rather not be paying $500/mo for the privilege.
Well if you wait, they still get the money each month. Win for them.
Yes. Right now, you wait AND pay for the privilege of waiting! An absolute win!
I once had a conversation with a coworker who was complaining that he couldn’t afford to go to the Dr for a fucked up back, I brought up how most 1st world countries have health care for everyone.
Dude said " yeah fuck that, I don’t want to wait to see a doctor"
It’s just so fucking stupid.
Or is the biggest lie “death panels” that will deny you help. Let’s ask Luigi
The only reason wait tines would possibly be lower in for-profit health care is because there are fewer people in the system because more people can’t afford it.
And we’re told that’s a good thing?
For-profit healthcare has an incentive to minimize costs
Public healthcare can have incentives like less wait time …. As long as we decide to pay for it
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Edit: maybe I assumed too much context since everyone is reading the opposite of my intended meaning
For-profit healthcare has an incentive to [maximize profit, typically by] minimize costs [to them].
They will pay medical providers as little as they can, which increases wait times. They do not have incentives to reduce wait times
Public healthcare can have incentives like less wait time …. As long as we decide to pay for it
Without the profit motive, public healthcare can choose to pay for better service , reducing wait times. Typical approaches for similar services would be setting standards on things like the max number of patients a physician can support. They probably won’t, because Conservatives, but they could
Rather than just downvoting you, let me explain why you are getting downvoted. It’s because that isn’t true. For-profit healthcare will both want to increase the cost as well as decrease the cost depending on where within the chain they are and where the money comes from. Are you billing the government through medicare/medicaid? Max that shit out and stack codes. Are you the provider trying to claw money from the insurance pool? You are forced to minimize everything or risk being rejected and not paid anything for services already rendered.
This notion that our for-profit system saves money and is somehow more efficient instantly breaks down the second you compare how much we spend on the same services compared to universal or single payer systems. The USA pays approximately triple per capita for Healthcare while also receiving poorer outcomes on average.
Not only that, if our system incentivized lower prices, then why is medical tourism a thing that Americans do to other countries? Like going to Canada to buy your prescription drugs or Mexico for dental work?
If you spent even one minute looking up the cost of American Healthcare compared to other comparable countries, you would have known how false your statement was.
Medicare and medicaid can and will reject you too tbh. In any case, they’ll bill the maximum they think will stick with the particular payor. Denied claims can be resubmitted with charges if necessary.
For-profit healthcare has an incentive to minimize costs
lol
the exact opposite is the truth
There is an incentive to lower overheads but when they can simply raise prices to compensate the incentive isn’t as appealing as the simpler, easier option.
Probably more doctors too since they’re paid ridiculous sums in private practice.
Per capita the US has fewer doctors to patients compared to OEDC countries with public healthcare.
Had to look it up since that seems like a reasonable argument but the stats don’t seem to line up
Huh, that’s actually surprising but I guess explained by how expensive the degree is over there and how many people don’t want to get into debt over it
I think that is the trade off. The filter of the risk is greater then the potential in reward. Which is also probably why the reward is so high for the few that do make it to there and choose that route.
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