# Comparing Healthcare



## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Living in the UK with a chronic health condition and being from a working/lower-middle class background, I've often wondered how I'd have fared if I were brought up in the same circumstances but in the U.S. Is there an easy resource I can use to find out exactly how my treatment would have been managed, and what the financial impact would have been?


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

I know this may get some people excited, but haven't you seen "Sicko", the documentary by Michael Moore?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386032/

I think under our Canadian system, though your hospital and doctor visits would have been free, your (likely expensive) meds would have been your family's health insurance's problem - most insurers would cover you as you are a full time university student, so you'd only have to dole out maybe 20% of the cost.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I haven't seen the Moore documentary - I don't like his style.

That's the major problem - as a full-time university student, where am I supposed to get 20% of the cost of 4+ operations, endless medicines, rounds and rounds of tests and appointments, and a multitude of scans every year? I think I'd have been ****** being born anywhere other than the UK!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

You'd clearly have been ****** in the U.S. - either going to the large 'charity' hospital if in a larger urban area, and or something similar on a smaller urban scale - where you would have to jump hoops to find out what the programs are, where they are, and likely be treated as a less than second-class citizen and being.

You would have been as well taken care of, at least, in many a European Nation: France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Denmark, etc.


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Well, I don't have any healthcare myself living in the United States. I haven't been to the doctors in nearly half my life because of this reason! My parents haven't had health care for a long time and nearly every penny they bring in has to go towards expensive medication they need to live that is through the roof because of the lack of insurance. They've tried to get some type of help, but the government, as PetrB has specified, makes them jump through hoops and end up with nothing. It is interesting to hear people say they give out these things like candy, but it has been difficult for them and I know they go through rigorous fine-tooth combing with some things. My father was trying to get his social security for years and years, which was difficult with my parents both now being disabled and unable to work, with them stressed out about the unemployment being extended because it was the only means of income. The government workers working on the SS case constantly were spying on our property taking video of our lives in attempt to dismiss the case in court and general things like that. They don't really make anything easy. They are allowed to turn you away unless it is a life-or-death emergency. If something happened to me I would have no choice but to deal with it and not seek medical attention. I know my father needs an operation badly for some issues but he is refused for it, because while it is imminently life threatening, it is not a life-or-death emergency on the spot, leaving the only option to be pay out of pocket, which with no insurance is entirely impossible.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Cnote, only billionaires and corporations are supposed to get money from the government. We are mere citizens. Our role is to work, pay taxes, maybe serve in the military, watch some television, consume some goods, vote for well-funded candidates, and when we are no longer useful to the oligarchs, die. Health insurance would only complicate things.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

To add to CNOTE11 ~ even with the most expensive (private) health insurance, in the land where medicine is supposedly all about 'Preventative Medicine,' the companies, and any 'public' healthcare even more so, are loath to provide or pay for preventative medicine, which if you think about it, is about the least cost-efficient way of going about it :-/ (Is there an 'ironic' smile Smiley?)


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

What kind of medicine prevents you being run over by a car and hospitalised? hmmm. I may badmouth my country now and again, ( which is responsibility of every good taxpayer) but as soon as I feel a bit poorly its " Rule Britannia!" Lol!


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

I think this article on "Romneycare"--Mitt Romney's health care system for Massachusetts--is quite interesting:

*http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...-success-rate-defies-gripes-on-obama-law.html*


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