Brits don’t go into debt or have their finances ruined after receiving care though.
Comment on I got out easy, I'm assuming
JamieDub86@piefed.social 11 hours agoPeople dont realise that businesses exist to make a small amount of [usually rich] people richer.
There are Brits that say “well at least Americans get seen quickly and have a decent standard of care”. LOL.
aarch0x40@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
JamieDub86@piefed.social 11 hours ago
Not yet we haven’t. But we are slowly privatising the NHS, and theres a political party getting too close to power that would like to speed that up a lot.
OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
A friend of ours had breast cancer, got treatment, it went into remission. Fast forward a few years, she thinks it might be recurring. She calls her doctor. Four month wait for the test. She decides to go South to the US. Pays a chunk, gets the test right away, yep, cancer confirmed
What would have happened if she had had to wait four months for a diagnosis? Would it have been too late?
The way health systems work now only makes sense in the context of profit and expense. People are used to going without so that either taxpayer funded systems can squeeze their budgets as tightly as possible, or for-profit systems can milk the last nickel from anyone in need.
It’s a disgrace. Whether the government budget is squeezed to control debt and deficit levels or people are abused and mistreated for profit, it comes down to this filthy, unfair, colonial system based on monetary and banking systems introduced in the later years of the British Empire.
People should be rioting at the treatment that the billionaire class deems acceptable for them. There is no practical reason other than greed for any of this.
Maeve@kbin.earth 10 hours ago
The really weird part is, a friend of mine on Medicare with supplemental private insurance was recently diagnosed with a mass in an area known for developing rapidly metastasizing cancer and had to wait several months to be seen by an oncologist, who confirmed they do indeed have that form of cancer. They were then scheduled to begin radiation a month out but for some reason had to wait an additional month. I'm betting your friend got immediate treatment because they paid much better than Medicare does.
sanguinepar@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Only stupid and ill-informed Brits.
Unfortunately, that may be the majority of us.
JamieDub86@piefed.social 11 hours ago
Yup. Scary times init?
JollyBrancher@sh.itjust.works 5 hours ago
Also, “quickly” in US can be 8+ months before you even get a basic assessment by a specialist. Things get worse? Might as well go straight to the ER. Urgent “Cares” were a band-aid for general/family practice groups not having space for sick visits. Word is a regional network now won’t even be doing stitches at urgent care. ER required.