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Forums - General Discussion - Do you have Public Health System in your Country? Do you like it? Or would prefer it to be private? (NHS related)

EnricoPallazzo said:
OneTime said:

Public health services like the NHS are "meets minimum". Your problem isn't really life threatening or anything, so fundamentally you don't need "next day" treatment.


There is no law in the UK that says that you can't also have private healthcare. You can call BUPA (or a private UK healthcare provider of your choice) for a paid checkup.

I suspect that a private healthcare provider will also just say "stop wasting our time and let it heal by itself for 6 months".  They'll just use nicer words, and charge you for it.

Yes but this is not good right? Let it heal by yourself in 6 months, taking painkillers for the period amd maybe even having a permanent injury due to wrong healing does not seem to be the best approach.

I dunno - why do you think that your body won’t heal right?  Why do you think that the doctors can do something better?  When you went to the hospital did they say that you may need surgery?

When I broke my leg, it took months to heal.  Other than aligning bones (and sometimes pinning them) doctors can’t really do much.  Even physiotherapy is nothing more than “here’s a leaflet with some stretching excercises to do”.

 

just book an appointment with your GP and have a chat.  Prepare to be disappointed and get a cushion and Netflix subscription...



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Sixteenvolt420 said:
I live in the USA. I haven't had any health insurance for about 15 years now.

But how? What if you break a leg? Or need a treatment for a disease or illness? Do you save money for when those things happen? 



Finland
We have free universal healthcare (or kind of free with a small fee involved).
It's nice and all, and the quality of the care is among the best in the world, but the field is constantly understaffed so you might have to wait for some time before you get to see anyone, if it's not urgent. It's especially bad in the dental care side, where available times for appointments can be 2-3 months away.
I have pretty much gone completely to the private side myself, luckily I can afford it and my job also has a pretty decent plan too that I can utilize.



EnricoPallazzo said:
Porcupine_I said:
Austria

I never had to worry about medical expenses in my entire life. I believe that is a big advantage from a psychological standpoint and a big factor in your scheme of life.

I never had any problems with long waiting times either. I mean I have a great local doctor, and he takes his time with people. That is a good thing. When I had to go to the ER or something they always treated me quick.

Also, when people complain about waiting times. The thing is, even if you have to wait, you are being treated eventually, as opposed to not at all.

How does private health insurance even work if you are born with a medical condition that requires medication or treatment. Will you even be able to find insurance or will you have to pay for everything yourself for your entire life?

Nice. But do you have also private options in austria in case you dont want to wait or you think the treatment is wrong or they dont care about your issue? For example my wife could only solve on heath issue she had because she decided to go private, since all public options just didnt care and said she would need to get used living in pain. Then she went private and the problem was solved.

There are always private options, but I couldn't tell you anything about them, because I never had to explore them. 



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Cobretti2 said:
Australia:

We have a public health system, GP can organise xrays, ultra sounds however still need a GP to refer you to a specialist first for an MRI as they first look at you. Major surgery etc there a long wait times.

You can have Private Health and pretty much still have some wait times but they are shorter.

In reality we are living longer and so many modern things are killing us that we are seeing Doctors more frequently. There just isn't enough to cope with the aging population so I do not think there will ever be the perfect solution unless we all willing to pay 50% tax and medical facilities, Doctors and Nurses triple in the next 50 years.

Yeah... you k ow I d9nt jave an aswer to that. Definetely dont agree with us model with no public health amd the risk that if you have to stay one night at the hospital you might uave a 30k bill. At the same time I think 100% public can be complicated. No competition tends to bring bad services and lack of top professionals. And of course the long lines. 

Maybe an hybrid system would be the best. Really dont have an answer to that.



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Germany, we have a two way system. Statutory system and private. I'm in a statutory insurance, which isn't bad actually, but you can have way longer waiting times for some specialists if you're no emergency case and it can make sense to get some additional services via private insurances.
Personally wouldn't go totally for a private insurance though.



Belgium here.
I had a couple major health issues last year, and most of my medical expenses were extensively covered by healthcare. I still ended up staying home for about 5 months.
I work in a public service with an incredibly complicated structure, and there were a lot of miscommunications between the HR department and the health insurance company, which led to the both of them billing me thousands of euros (up to 4k from my employer).
Having troubles with the bureaucracy is obviously pretty standard in a welfare state, and debts this huge for a young adult are pretty scary, but after clearing everything up I'm at peace with this system.
The belgian (common) health insurance is backed by public funds and is mandatory, it is however different from the NHS system, as you get refunded at least partially from most private medical practices. It works pretty well, and the poorest can get a medical appointment from a general practitioner for 2 euros if needed.
The delays for non urgent optics, radiology and a few other stuff can be up to 3-6 months though, but there are a few ways to speed things up with the backup of your doctor.



UK.

Personally I've never had an issue, I know a few people that could be waiting a while for their medical service but I would never want privatised healthcare here.



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Lebanon pretty much the same. Private is great and cheap relatively. Here, after tearing my shoulder, the NHS kinda f***** me over. They literally sent me to an xray when I needed an MRI. When I asked for MRI, they gave me brochure for shoulder exercises that will soothe the pain.

2 years on, my shoulder still feels bad. And as you said, the referrals thing was also an issue. I eventually got an MRI in Lebanon when I was on vacation and it seems nothing is wrong anymore but I'm sure if I got it treated early then my shoulders would've healed.



OneTime said:
EnricoPallazzo said:

Yes but this is not good right? Let it heal by yourself in 6 months, taking painkillers for the period amd maybe even having a permanent injury due to wrong healing does not seem to be the best approach.

I dunno - why do you think that your body won’t heal right?  Why do you think that the doctors can do something better?  When you went to the hospital did they say that you may need surgery?

When I broke my leg, it took months to heal.  Other than aligning bones (and sometimes pinning them) doctors can’t really do much.  Even physiotherapy is nothing more than “here’s a leaflet with some stretching excercises to do”.

 

just book an appointment with your GP and have a chat.  Prepare to be disappointed and get a cushion and Netflix subscription...

Because I already got bad experiences with doctors in the past not giving the correct disgnostic. In this case I find it very difficult that they can give me a correct disgnostic without an image exam, only by talking to me through the telephone.

I dont think I need surgery, or that it be healing incorrectly. But who knows? A doctor by the telephone? 

Anyway this is the point of my discussion. Since it is public, overcrowded and with little mo ey, they avoid at all costs seeing you or giving you exams. 

Although I understand the reasons, I find it very underwhelming.