Terry, sorry to hear about your parents. Sounds like they've had a tough go of it lately. Is the UK system a universal system? How high are the income tax rates in the UK and where does the infamous UK gasoline tax monies go?
>My cousin in Canada has had just about all that can be done for her done, with no complaints, including temp. colostomy and reinstatement, the odd op for minor skin cancers, the "problems with her head" (I won't go into that :-) and lods of stuff. Now she's no millionaire so I don'tknow who pays for it all.
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>In the UK we look longingly at how posh the NHSs are over in France and Germany. OTOH German drs are flocking over here cos our system seems to pay the highest in Europe (normal GPs earn some £80-£100 K on average). But in France, I believ, you pay up-front then claim back 2/3 of it - so not ideal. Don't know about Germany. Now there are waiting lists for ops (though these have reduced in recent years), a "postcode lottery" sometimes to actually get treatment depending on your area, "rationing" of certain drugs and/or services (again postcode lottery), triage time is reducing.
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>Anyway, as you know, my dying dad just spent some 4 weeks in a hospital bed, as a hopeless case, with drips etc. and it cost us nowt.
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>My mother, in recent years, has had a TENS op for her heart, recently a reversible colostomy STEMS for bowel inflamation (seems to run in her side of the family, as it's her sister's daughter in Canada), regular outpatient care and now chimo, just in case it was cancerous. Her husband recently has had treatment for prostate cancer AND now a bowel op, and it looks like he's in for a splenectomy soon. He's on regular outpatient care and chimo.
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>IOW I think they're getting their money's worth of a lifetime of NHI contributions and the have NO COMPLAINTS about the regular and timely treatment they've been getting.
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>I've rarely needed any doctor or hospital treatment so I can't speak for myself but I know of loved-ones who've received excellent care, including MRI scans and stuff. Regular cervical sceening for women is another "by-product", to name just one, that requires no payment. We pay only for prescriptions (at a std price for all, no matter what, of a few quid - people with chronic needs get a "season ticket")
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>Nuff said?
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>>I am for universal health care in this country. However, Canada's situation concerns me. I have read many stories about Canadians flying to the U.S. for medical treatment as well as the alarming number of Canadian surgeons moving to the U.S. to practice here.
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>>Here are some:
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/20/health/main681801.shtml?cmp=EM8705>>
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2007/08/22/abc-glosses-over-fact-canadian-parents-flee-their-country-give-birth>>
http://www.wockhardthospitals.net/news/canadian-patients.asp>>
>>Whose system really does work? I am not looking to start an argument about the Canadian health care system, or the one here, or even any in the EU. I'm looking for a system that
really works. The military healthcare system works, but it is too expensive to become a model for the U.S.
