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Only in America
Featured in: A Patient's Journey
As if getting sick isn't enough of a burden.......This excerpt from a post, by a blogger with ties to the health insurance industry, exposes all too well, how little people are are aware of the problems with the US health care system, until they get sick and need to avail themselves of the system.
They have decent health insurance through the school system but there are out of pocket expenses that will have to be paid by the family. There is also travel to Children's Hospital (about 90 miles from their home), lodging, and so forth.
This is creating a financial and emotional strain on the family.
As if getting sick isn't enough of a burden, now the financial and emotional ramifications of this ordeal, are causing this couple to resort to requesting assistance from others.
This wouldn't happen anywhere else in the world!
So just what exactly does that say about America?
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I have mantle cell lymphoma, and to be so bold as to quote a line from another blogger "it may kill me." Actually it is killing me, albeit very slowly at this point. In the mean time, I'm still able to function mostly as normal, going to work, riding my bike, playing golf and even planning for vacations.
In fact, if it wasn't for that fateful blood test of March 26, 2002, I still might not even realize I am sick.
But that isn't the case, so I decided to chronicle my life from the beginning (not from when I was born, mind you, but from that fateful day), and remembering it's not just about being sick. Even if you've been diagnosed with a terminal illness, that doesn't mean life ends.
We're all going to die, most of us just have different perspectives on when that is going to happen. It's how we deal with the living part of our lives, that makes a difference.
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It's been said that our system has inequalities, and that it is therefore "broken." Indeed, one of our "regulars" is on record as stating that such things happen "only in America." And yet we see the British "system" failing its patients time, after ...
Comments (7)
To quote a line from the X-Files,
"the truth is out there".
You just have to be able to separate fact from rhetoric to find it. Too bad so many Americans aren't yet smart enough to be able to do that.
The time will come though.
Marc
Living with MCL
Canada's system is far from perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for the American one. At least those families didn't have to pay for the airlift to American hospitals.
And contrary to popular belief, if you really want to pay for your health care in Canada, you can. I work in a building that houses a private emergency room/diagnostic center, so if you want that MRI tomorrow, you can get it. Hip replacement surgery? No problem. So, some people choose to pay rather than wait, but the wait lists for many non-essential services are also getting shorter.
Most urgent care is quite good - good quality and timely, at least among all my friends and relatives that have needed urgent care. I don't know of anyone that has an urgent care horror story. If care can't be provided in a timely manner, then people are sent to hospitals that can provide it, and it is covered. Obviously sometimes cases fall through the cracks - no system is perfect. The biggest problem is the wait lists for non-essential services. The biggest benefit is the system is quite fair. And I think that with the profit motivation being removed, and governments wanting to stay in power, there really is a desire to eliminate waste, improve services. The wellness side needs to be looked at to reduce the stress on the curative side though.
Anyway, that's my view from the Canadian side of the line.
Vreni Gurd
Health and Vitality Coach
BPHE, CHEK 3, HLC 2
www.wellnesstips.ca
#4: Thanks Vreni
But I suspect Hank will simply chock up your comment as rhetoric, and ignore it, since it doesn't fit his agenda or beliefs.
What I've always found so interesting is those who complain the most about the health care systems in Canada and Europe, just so happen to be Americans.
I wonder why that is?
Marc
Living with MCL
#5: Um, Marc?
#6: Huh!
According to Wikipedia (your link), projection is defined as
a psychological defense mechanism whereby one "projects" one's own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, and feelings onto someone else
So you're saying I believe what Vreni stated to be rhetoric or false?
And you're saying I believe foreign countries let sick babies die, so they don't have to count them in mortality statistics?
No Hank, as usual you've got it just a little backwards, but why doesn't that surprise me?
I guess you've been trained that the best defense is a good offense, so you try to shift the topic away from the issue at hand, and attack the deliverer of the message.
The topic still remains, why is the US the only country in the world, where on top of being sick, as if that's not bad enough, you are also faced with the possibility of financial ruin.
Please try to stay on topic.
Marc
Living with MCL
"So just what exactly does that say about America?"
Well, what? I mean, what do you think it says about America?
Post new comment
Author: Details
First Name
Marc
Middle Name
L
Last Name
Kashinsky
Degrees
BSMME, MBA
Short Bio
I have mantle cell lymphoma, and to be so bold as to quote a line from another blogger "it may kill me." Actually it is killing me, albeit very slowly at this point. In the mean time, I'm still able to function mostly as normal, going to work, riding my bike, playing golf and even planning for vacations.
In fact, if it wasn't for that fateful blood test of March 26, 2002, I still might not even realize I am sick.
But that isn't the case, so I decided to chronicle my life from the beginning (not from when I was born, mind you, but from that fateful day), and remembering it's not just about being sick. Even if you've been diagnosed with a terminal illness, that doesn't mean life ends.
We're all going to die, most of us just have different perspectives on when that is going to happen. It's how we deal with the living part of our lives, that makes a difference.
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It's too bad you have no clue what you're talking about.
Here's a hint:
Canada
France
Japan
England
To name but a few.