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Question for the Aus, UK, French & Canadians (pg. 4)
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| Sunsnail |
| Yeah I'm sure it's happened a lot, but they're doing it wrong |
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| Lilith |
UK health care is quite horrid in my opinion in terms of the quality, haven't been there for 2-3 years, I do remember mum spending a small fortune on my teeth when I was little. US healthcare scares me, no one in their right mind travels there without insurance or you're just in so much trouble its not worth considering, I got sick in NY a few years ago with a mix of food poisoning, flu and slightly depressed from the cold, that was a pretty pricey venture I must say! :eyes: Excellent facilities if you can afford it but doesn't seem to be much in the way of 'middle of the road', though there probably is, I didn't venture there though...
Australian health care is still quite good overall, the basics are covered for the most part and I've been in and out a couple of times for a busted knee, broken head, the odd car accident and a bit of elective some time back.
I'm not dead, so its not too bad!
But likewise, I don't mind paying a little extra for my private health care on top as Sushi mentioned to also cover loss of income if for whatever reason I can't work for myself and anything else that needs beating into shape 'right now' in terms of electives. |
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| Moral Hazard |
The Canadian system is pretty fantastic. It has some problems; particularly with regard to wait times for non-priority procedures; however, I'll accept that for the assurance that getting injured or ill won't destroy my families financial future and that every Canadian is able to receive the care they need.
No, I would never even consider trading it for a private system (if fact, through my employer I have access to one of the few private full service health care providers allowed to operate in Ontario, which I have turned down on ideological reasons). |
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| jonSun |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
I'll accept that for the assurance that getting injured or ill won't destroy my families financial future and that every Canadian is able to receive the care they need.
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I can understand that. I have a customer who's son had his appendix removed & his son experianced some complications from the surgery. After his son recovered fully in the hospital, he was hit for a bill of over $120K. He did not have the money so the hospital went after the equity in his home, so he was forced to sell and was still left with $40K in debt. |
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| Moral Hazard |
| quote: | Originally posted by jonSun
I can understand that. I have a customer who's son had his appendix removed & his son experianced some complications from the surgery. After his son recovered fully in the hospital, he was hit for a bill of over $120K. He did not have the money so the hospital went after the equity in his home, so he was forced to sell and was still left with $40K in debt. |
I handled a claim several years back for a man who rolled his tractor trailer while his arm was out of the window, which resulted in a degloving of his left arm. He required a bone graft, nerve graft, muscle graft and skin graft to the elbow. This happened on a Saturday morning... the hospital (in Philadelphia) would do nothing for him other then clean and bandage the wound until they were able to confirm he had insurance coverage with us on the Monday morning. When I advised that he had $100,000 CND medical coverage (this is an auto insurance policy) I was advised that it was not enough. On compassionate grounds I agreed to cover the whole $193,000 US for the surgeries and hospital stay. I asked the hospital rep I was dealing with what would have happened if I hadn't agreed to pay the extra... I was advised they would have amputated at the elbow. I then asked, "despite the arm being savable you would have amputated?"... answer; "of course, it's the least expensive option to save his life and if no one is paying the bills we go with the least expensive option." |
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| jonSun |
| As disgusting as it is, im not suprised. |
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| elFreak |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
I handled a claim several years back for a man who rolled his tractor trailer while his arm was out of the window, which resulted in a degloving of his left arm. He required a bone graft, nerve graft, muscle graft and skin graft to the elbow. This happened on a Saturday morning... the hospital (in Philadelphia) would do nothing for him other then clean and bandage the wound until they were able to confirm he had insurance coverage with us on the Monday morning. When I advised that he had $100,000 CND medical coverage (this is an auto insurance policy) I was advised that it was not enough. On compassionate grounds I agreed to cover the whole $193,000 US for the surgeries and hospital stay. I asked the hospital rep I was dealing with what would have happened if I hadn't agreed to pay the extra... I was advised they would have amputated at the elbow. I then asked, "despite the arm being savable you would have amputated?"... answer; "of course, it's the least expensive option to save his life and if no one is paying the bills we go with the least expensive option." |
doombot needs to read this as do a few others. Well said Craig and great insight from someone who deals with things in the field.:) |
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| gehzumteufel |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
I handled a claim several years back for a man who rolled his tractor trailer while his arm was out of the window, which resulted in a degloving of his left arm. He required a bone graft, nerve graft, muscle graft and skin graft to the elbow. This happened on a Saturday morning... the hospital (in Philadelphia) would do nothing for him other then clean and bandage the wound until they were able to confirm he had insurance coverage with us on the Monday morning. When I advised that he had $100,000 CND medical coverage (this is an auto insurance policy) I was advised that it was not enough. On compassionate grounds I agreed to cover the whole $193,000 US for the surgeries and hospital stay. I asked the hospital rep I was dealing with what would have happened if I hadn't agreed to pay the extra... I was advised they would have amputated at the elbow. I then asked, "despite the arm being savable you would have amputated?"... answer; "of course, it's the least expensive option to save his life and if no one is paying the bills we go with the least expensive option." |
I am not surprised by what they would have done if the full claim was denied.
Also though, how often does this happen, and are there reprecussions (not necessarily bad ones, but just in general) of this decision? |
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| DOOMBOT |
| quote: | Originally posted by elFreak
doombot needs to read this as do a few others. Well said Craig and great insight from someone who deals with things in the field.:) |
I have read it and I feel bad that this man was caught in the middle of a flawed system in which, if he wasn't insured, he may have had his arm amputated. This is not a direct rebuttle to my argument though. My argument is that, given our current medical system and how it is operated, the costs are no doubt going to be high without some sort of insurance. I'm not going to spell this out any more for you. You either get it or you don't and I'm going with the latter. |
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| elFreak |
"give me your tired, your sick, your huddled masses"
gonna squelch on that? go go bin laden then.;) |
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| DOOMBOT |
| quote: | Originally posted by elFreak
"give me your tired, your sick, your huddled masses"
gonna squelch on that? go go bin laden then.;) |
It's "Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free...".
What does this have to do with our argument though? |
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| astroboy |
| quote: | Originally posted by elFreak
to be fair it is not expensive wine(lol just found out through domesticated they are owned by fosters aka ) |
They produce a lot of stuff and much of the lower end stuff is crap. But some of their higher end wines are pretty good.. most notable Penfolds Grange, my mate won a bottle of 2004 Grange.. pretty good, though he should have cellared it.
But yeah +1 to what everyone has said about the Australian med system. Love it, I'd never swap it for the US system. (I'd NEVER swap our education systems either). |
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