It's always some American that seems to personally know a ton of people that live in the UK and waited 2 years to have some major surgery. Or know someone that was stabbed and had to wait 36 hours in a A&E waiting room.
I mean don't get me wrong the NHS is stretched very thin under the tories and ambulances especially are pretty fucked st the minute, but when I broke my arm I was stabilised quickly overnight, scheduled for an op in the morning, operated on, given time to recover and 2 good meals and sent on my way withing 24 hours od admission. And then just the other day when I dislocated my knee and tore a ligament I was seen to, stabiled and released within a few hours.
when I was in the uk I went in with an eye infection on Christmas eve as my GP was shut - 8 hour wait
when my appendix went septic - instantly into surgery
people just think they should always be triaged top of the list. yes, it sucks that it hurts, but it's probably not an emergency
My roommate waited 9 months for a specialty surgery, but the surgeon injured themself right before his surgery and he then needed to go on the waitlist for an additional 6 months. He finally got the surgery, but instead of it being in the summer, it was during midterms, which fucked him over.
I fucking hate American healthcare, and I hate the “socialism is when you wait 6 months for a doctor” bullshit that always comes up when socialized healthcare is discussed.
No kidding. 6 month wait to see a PCP for a physical. 3 weeks to see them for an acute issue. Off to the ED to wait hours or walk-in and pay a premium. Maybe you lose your PCP because you changed jobs or your job changed insurance. But you can pay a premium out of pocket to go to your old one.
The republicans got the death panels they were screaming about. They just wanted to make sure they were profitable.
You see, government death panels are terrible.
Corporate death panels to boost profitability, though, are freedom, baseball, and apple pie.
"It takes MONTHS to get surgery in those dirty socialist countries!"
Everyone I know who has taken months to get in for surgery in THIS fucking country:
And the poor people who don't go to the hospital unless they're actively dying because they're living paycheck to paycheck and cant afford it...
Shit, not even "poor" people, not with these healthcare premiums and prices....
Thats exactly what they mean when they complain about wait times in other countries. In their mind, it’s better for other people to suffer and die than to be in front of them in line. Especially poor people.
I called all the local PCPs today. One entire hospital system doesn't accept my insurance (Cigna) due to price negotiations. All the others don't have new patient appointments until December. So I guess in about 11 months, I can find out if I'm healthy!
Imagine sticking up for shitty insurance companies 🤮
But I thought we weren't allowed to compare the US to other countries
Right?
"people wait for MONTHS for non-emergent surgeries in places with universal healthcare"
You mean exactly like how the doctors here schedule grandma's knee replacement for May in January?
There is no non-luxury millionaire concierge medicine plan eventuality here in the US where someone complains about chronic pain, gets a diagnosis that isn't life threatening, and has the doctor pencil in their chronic pain addressing surgery for that afternoon.
Just another empty strawman explicitly made to derail the conversation.
Dude a millionaire isn’t even rich anymore. Any boomer who bought and paid off their house since the 80s-90s in a halfway populated area is most the way there just in home equity alone.
The arguments about "inefficiency" and "bureaucracy" have to be the most baffling ones to me. We already have a system that is an inefficient maze of red tape, lengthy forms, and arbitrary decisions about healthcare availability made by suits without medical training. We already pay high premiums. What "efficiencies" of capitalist healthcare are we so desperate to preserve?
As someone who moved to a country with privatized healthcare and is currently sitting in a 10 minute line to get seen, this meme can shove itself up OPs butt.
Universal healthcare is great, but someone should be able to pay to get seen quickly. I want that option.
No, they should not be able to. The most in need of treatment should get treatment first, period. Paying to get seen quickly is quite literally paying to have someone higher up on the priority list bumped down due to their financial capability.
"Lol sorry mate, yea you're in excruciating pain and can afford a private doctor in 2/3rds of the world, but maybe you shouldn't have done something stupid to wind up this way. Please wait 6 hours."
"Why are all the wealthy people moving away???"
I personally take pride in not giving the Canadian government their absurd tax rate anymore.
As a follow-up, perhaps the issue isn't private vs public healthcare, because both the US and Canada are melting garbage. In any case, I moved to Korea, and the healthcare is to die for (thankfully I no longer need to do that).
