OT...Don’t get sick or old,

[wiccanpony]

???
I’ll admit I know nothing about UK medical health care...but this article had me thinking, I guess because I’m up there in age (coffin dodger) and was born with MD, which is hitting me hard now.

I would hate to have a Doctor basically say sorry, now just crawl off somewhere and die like a good girl. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

comments? and play nice kiddies

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/27/nhs127.xml

 

[airhead]

I\'ve typed, cleared and retyped this a couple of times now.

This is what bothers me about the \"cradle to the grave\" government care that we are seeing world-wide.

I\'m pretty sure that insurance is not the answer - a huge chunk of my check goes to pay for insurance - and we\'ve got a pretty good group rate. But HMO\'s are as bad as that article about deciding if you can have a proceedure or a medicine.

I\'m also pretty sure that socialized (government sponsered/controlled) medicine is not the correct answer either. I\'ve seen Canadians come across the boarder because they did not want the government quacks to cut on them.

I wish I had the answer.

 

[supervike]

The answer is to keep the government as a watchdog organization, and not actively involved in the care.

 

[freakinacage]

it\'s a shit. but ultimately the money has to come from somewhere, and without money, certain things must be cut. i am suprised the nhs has lasted for as long as it has tbh. people don\'t want to pay more tax but complain when they get crap service
the nhs can be two of:
fast
clean
cheap

 

[Roger Bunting]

Of course, problems with increasing obesity and drink-related issues put a strain on the system.

 

[freakinacage]

indeed. we had a super morbidly obese fella in recently for a gastric bypass. it took more than twice the staff to look after him. special equipment was require to move him, we had to rent a special bed. i don\'t see how it\'s fair that with a hospital system finite resources, he should take up more than 2 people\'s worth of facilities

 

[wiccanpony]

The medical insurance (military) I have now is quite good, co-payments are reasonable, care is great! ......but when I hit 65, they boot us over to medicare which is going to be a royal bitch to deal with..happened to my parents and several friends who are retired military.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

The interesting thing about US medical insurance is that on a per capita basis the US government is actually near the top when it comes to spending on health care despite it.

(I can try to find the figures if anyone is interested).

The problem to my mind isn\'t the cost of the medical care it\'s the cost of the medical bureaucracy which just seems to feed upon itself and get bigger and bigger - doesn\'t seem to matter what country you talk about.

 

[Ebonbuddha]

I don\'t think there is a clear cut answer. I do think the US has the highest persciption cost. If they can cut back on hte cost, it wll be moer affordable.

 

[PegaZus]

You know, I\'ve wondered for a while now, but everybody here would probably agree that health care costs are going up by a lot. So, where is that increase in cost coming from?

I don\'t think individual wages are going up that fast. New equipment costs a lot, but unless the clinic/hospital is a cutting edge facility, that wouldn\'t be the reason. Doubt that the buildings or property tax is taking a huge bite, nor any administrative costs dealing with the day-to-day operations.

Only thing I can think of is the cost of insurance. I believe it is Arkansas that has (had) a problem with a lack of OB/GYNs because of cost of liability insurance.

So, anybody got some inside scoop?

 

[Sand Rat]

The Boomers.

Seriously. As they retire, they are driving the cost of health care up because they are not there putting money into the system - and they want to make sure they are covered and can get everything they put into the system back out before they die.

And there are so damn many of themlol

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Originally posted by PegaZus
You know, I\'ve wondered for a while now, but everybody here would probably agree that health care costs are going up by a lot. So, where is that increase in cost coming from?

I don\'t think individual wages are going up that fast. New equipment costs a lot, but unless the clinic/hospital is a cutting edge facility, that wouldn\'t be the reason. Doubt that the buildings or property tax is taking a huge bite, nor any administrative costs dealing with the day-to-day operations.

Only thing I can think of is the cost of insurance. I believe it is Arkansas that has (had) a problem with a lack of OB/GYNs because of cost of liability insurance.

So, anybody got some inside scoop?

Insurance companys, the medical industry taking advantage of the insurance companys, lawyers taking advantage of all of em!! Short answer- Greed.

 

[Sand Rat]

And of course, don\'t forget people sueing the living crap out of doctors because of honest mistakes.

 

[Dragonsreach]

The NHS over here is a constant problem in regard to it\'s funding. But I beilieve that the Telepgraph is just \"scaremongering\" once again.

There are areas of the media who would have us believe that the tax paying population is in decline while the Benefit claiming (and receiving) populace is on the increase. I don\'t know for definite as I no longer have the access to Govt statistics in this area.

Obesity, smoking, binge drinking and our more sedentary lifestyle do take their toll on our overall health, but the life expectancy of my generation has increased by at least 10 years from that of my grandfathers generation.
I remember, way back in my Civil Service training (1981), that the life expectancy of a man after retirement (65) was on average 4 years. Now it\'s something more like 15-20 years.

 

[Torn blue sky]

Funny, I got my payslip this morning, seems the govenment is helping themselves to 25% of my earings to pay for all this every month. Meanwhile my brother is laying in a hospital thats understaffed and ill equiped right now. Not to mention all the shit-for-brain doctors that told him everything was brilliant before he had to be rushed for emergency surgery...

Take so much, give so little. Although it would help if all the jakeys and alchies that turn up at the A&E every few hours would get a job and contribute.

 

[Legacy Account]

The NHS only has so much money and is having MASSIVE strain put on it by people who want to treat it like their own private health fund.

Billions would be saved if people had the decency to phone and cancel an appointment. Hundreds of millions more if people didn\'t take prescriptions they never use.

Billions more could be put to better use if we didn\'t have to treat all the f***wits who injure themselves whilst pissed up at weekends.

Then there\'s the issue of our bodies themselves. Surely each individual must take some responsibility for their own health at some point? Why should I, as a taxpayer, fork out for somebody elses treatment for diseases and medical problems they have incurred through their own greed, gluttony or addiction?

People have taken the NHS for granted for far too long and it\'s been a political toy for even longer.

 

[Torn blue sky]

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
The NHS only has so much money and is having MASSIVE strain put on it by people who want to treat it like their own private health fund.

Billions would be saved if people had the decency to phone and cancel an appointment. Hundreds of millions more if people didn\'t take prescriptions they never use.

Billions more could be put to better use if we didn\'t have to treat all the f***wits who injure themselves whilst pissed up at weekends.

Then there\'s the issue of our bodies themselves. Surely each individual must take some responsibility for their own health at some point? Why should I, as a taxpayer, fork out for somebody elses treatment for diseases and medical problems they have incurred through their own greed, gluttony or addiction?

People have taken the NHS for granted for far too long and it\'s been a political toy for even longer.

Total agreement

 

[squig hunter]

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
The NHS only has so much money and is having MASSIVE strain put on it by people who want to treat it like their own private health fund.

Billions would be saved if people had the decency to phone and cancel an appointment. Hundreds of millions more if people didn\'t take prescriptions they never use.

Billions more could be put to better use if we didn\'t have to treat all the f***wits who injure themselves whilst pissed up at weekends.

Then there\'s the issue of our bodies themselves. Surely each individual must take some responsibility for their own health at some point? Why should I, as a taxpayer, fork out for somebody elses treatment for diseases and medical problems they have incurred through their own greed, gluttony or addiction?

People have taken the NHS for granted for far too long and it\'s been a political toy for even longer.

I agree totally with you.

Squig

 

[supervike]

If you\'ve the time or the inclination, my favorite reporter, John Stossel as a great hour long special talking about this very issue.

It\'s all on You Tube, here is the first installment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEXFUbSbg1I

Stossel is a \'libertarian\' who believes the Free Market is the solution to most of the Governments ills, and after reading a couple of his books, I\'m becoming more apt to agree. His common sense approach to most things is enlightening.

And some of the solutions (that real people are using) is genius...and proven to work.

Don\'t be put off by the time it will take, it\'s an hour total, but totally worth it if you have any interest in America\'s Health Crisis.

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by Torn blue sky

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
The NHS only has so much money and is having MASSIVE strain put on it by people who want to treat it like their own private health fund.

Billions would be saved if people had the decency to phone and cancel an appointment. Hundreds of millions more if people didn\'t take prescriptions they never use.

Billions more could be put to better use if we didn\'t have to treat all the f***wits who injure themselves whilst pissed up at weekends.

Then there\'s the issue of our bodies themselves. Surely each individual must take some responsibility for their own health at some point? Why should I, as a taxpayer, fork out for somebody elses treatment for diseases and medical problems they have incurred through their own greed, gluttony or addiction?

People have taken the NHS for granted for far too long and it\'s been a political toy for even longer.

Total agreement

ditto!

we had a woman come into a+e at the weekend, waited an hour or so to been seen about a shoulder problem she had been having since \'last year\'!! she\'d seen her gp about it. wtf did she think a+e could do that her gp couldn\'t? people dont think