My dad had to wait three months for an appointment with his heart doctor

[dsc]

He is insured. He is on both medicare and private insurance as well as entitled to care via the Veterns. His heart history is similar to that of Cheney. He went to the emergency room in June with chest pains, which were determined not to be heart related. He asked them for the earliest possible appointment. He is retired and can literally make any appointment at any time. They gave him a September appointment. Oh, and the emergency room call, he is still getting bills from it.

So how long would he wait in Canada or France? Three months is a long time for anyone. For a man with his heart history it shouldn't be.

[zanne]

1. It's the same for me.

I have serious heart disease and when I make an appointment with my cardiologist, I usually have to wait two to three months. (If it's something that can't wait, I go to the ER. I've learned that is the only way to get healthcare in a hurry).

[dsc]

4. The ER didn't ever send him a heart doctor

It is seriously ridiculous. They did eliminate all heart causes but he now has to get tests for other causes.

[Hepburn]

25. And...go via ambulance....

...or you wait for as long as 12 hours to get seen in some busy ERs.

My frirend's dad has serious heart problems...and this is the system they use to make sure he gets seen the same day and seen immediately.

[zanne]

27. Yup. When it comes to my heart......

I won't hesitate to use the ER. My doctor recommended that, if I have pain that may be heart pain, to call 911 and say "I'm having a heart attack". That way, you'll be seen immediately.

[La Coliniere]

2. Have to wait 5 months

to see my dermatologist. I've been his patient for 10 years and I have excellent insurance. My friend in Canada had to wait 3 weeks to see her dermatologist. Makes you wonder...............

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Back in the "olden days" of medicine (1970's, 1980's), were your father a

patient of my father, a cardiologist, and you merely telephoned with these symptoms, he would command you to come to the office right away. And once you arrived, you would go right past scheduled patients, some of whom had been waiting for more than an hour. You would be shuttled to an examining room, my father would immediately examine you, perhaps call for an ambulance if the situation warranted, and he would call the hospital and tell the ER to expect you and he'd be following in a little while. Otherwise, he would treat you with pharmaceuticals and strict instructions for a consultation or a follow-up appointment. (BTW, my father made housecalls at 4 a.m. without a question.)

All this for $50 or $75, if he charged you at all for the STAT appointment.

I don't believe we'll see medicine like this again.

[baldguy]

5. Well, that was too inefficient & expensive

:sarcasm:

[midnight]

9. Yes it was . Especially for those in the Insurance company.

In the 80's when these managed care insurance "products" were introduced, the marketers scared us into using them... They touted the fact that doctors did too many unnecessary procedures... Some even deadly that resulted in killing the patient. The insurance co. packages products for their profitability not your usability.

[dsc]

7. not likely

Your dad sounds like a great doctor.

[no_hypocrisy]

20. He was a healer, a physician in the classical, traditional sense.

And . . . he was a saint among his geriatric patients who comprised 75% of his practice. He treated each as his father or mother.

[janx]

12. Nope, that's gone.

No more free surgeries either. That kind of medicine has been gone for a long time.

[blondie58]

6. same thing with any specialist

I am under regular care by a neurologist and have to set up my appointments months in advance. If I need to be seen immediately, I can go see his nurse, but if I have to pay my outrageous $40 co-pay, I want to see the doctor.

[petersjo02]

8. Our cardiologist's office gets us in

within 48 hours if we have symptoms. If it is for a regular checkup, just a couple weeks. It is the office policy that patient's shouldn't have to wait more than 48 hours. When I was having a heart attack, a cardiologist was at the emergency room when I arrived by ambulance (within an hour of calling 911). You may want to check out other cardiologists in your area.

[Horse with no Name]

15. The point is

Within 48 hours you could be dead.
An appointment doesn't really matter then, does it?
(And as a nurse, I will tell you, that you either live in a podunk town or else you have the ONLY good medical community in the country.):eyes:

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

10. I had to wait

2 months for dermatology, 3 for orthopedic surgeon.

Where I live, we have the oldest population per capita outside of Dade county Florida. There are so many people getting artificial joints that the wait to see an ortho doc is measured in light years.

DBDB

[femmocrat]

11. I have to schedule the gynecologist months in advance...

there is a real shortage in this specialty at least in our area. I had about 4 different doctors in 4 years. They all left their practices, due to malpractice insurance costs, or at least that is the general opinion.

[live love laugh]

13. Breast cancer: Three month wait for an operation. Colon cancer too.

My mom's Xrays showed problems in November 2000. It was not until Feb. 2000 that they did the tests to confirm the suspicions and then a month after that she had surgery.

My friend's husband had the same wait from a colonoscopy to surgery.

[Greylyn58]

14. I can relate to that

My dad has been having problems for almost a year with what his doctor said was his prostate-not cancer thank God-just an enlargement. He has been on several different meds during that time, with no relief and he's complained of burning so he was given several different antibiotics also. Some helped, some didn't.

Finally around the end of June, his doctor took some x-rays and a large stone was found in his bladder. Now whether that had been the source of his year long problem wasn't said, however he couldn't get a hospital appointment until August. When my mom told me, I was furious. The doctor knew it was causing damage to his bladder, most likely had been for all this time, yet he had to wait to have it removed.

Thankfully he just had the out-patient procedure this past Monday. He seems to be ok and has a follow-up visit for this Tuesday.

My dad is 77 yrs old and should not have had to wait. Thankfully he has health-care thanks to being a veteran also. (30 yrs in the Marines) Tricare (the vets health care insurance) has really helped both of my parents with their meds and doctor visits. Before it was begun, they had to buy supplemental insurance after my dad's retirement and it was really costing them.

Americans shouldn't have to jump through hoops and be told to wait to take care of any health care issues that pop up. It is totally insane.

[Summer93]

16. Insurance - UGH!

In my opinion I think that concept of the insurance industry is the major roadblock to wellness here in America. This is my opinion.

It (insurance) seems to interject decision making into medical decisions sight unseen. It's reason for being is to profit from illness, just like life insurance profits from death of the insured. A business model set to profit at the cost of people's well-being.

I too remember home visits by physicians. It seemed so logical. I had a contagious illness and the only person outside my family that was exposed was the doctor. I didn't sit in a waiting room full of people for hours exposing many more people.

I also remember being treated by a local GP when I got a particularly large (2") splinter in my foot as a child. My dad took me to the local doctor who quickly operated on my foot and closed using 10 stiches. My dad paid him in cash. Nobody in between, no large hospital a distance away, no paperwork to fill out, no wait. It worked very well for me.

Now I get mountains of paperwork that I have to decipher the codes for each line. The insurance industry is now spawning a new industry of yet another person to fill out the paperwork for the doctors as it is too time consuming for them.Imagine, someone who works 8 hr/5 days to fill out paperwork for doctors to then submit to insurance co. who then decide whether what the doctor is wanting to do is too costly for the insurance co and should be denied. In my opinion it is an unworkable system and should be abandoned.

[TalkingDog]

18. There are Dr.s who have stopped taking inurance for GP stuff for this reason

They generally charge 35.00 per visit vs. 75.00 to 100.00 if you use insurance.

They save money by not having to staff for all that paperwork.

Go figure.

[ThatsMyBarack]

50. Welcome to DU, Summer93!

:hi: :patriot: BTW, that was the year that I graduated from college.

[shrike]

17. We're lucky. DH's cardiologist is married to our primary care doc

Who has known our family for years.

When something screwy showed up on his echocardiogram, primary care doc called us at home and told us to come right in.

The fact that your father has to wait three months is appalling.

[Maestro]

19. I had to wait three months for an appt. with an

endocrinologist when a tumor was found my thyroid. When I finally got in, he ordered a biopsy and it was cancerous. Luckily the cancer was not very virulent, but if it had been that would have three months of cancer in my body when it didn't need to be there. I am insured as well.

[Greylyn58]

21. That is disgusting

Lord I remember when we could get to see a doctor with any problem we had. We have let the corporate mentality take hold of every blessed thing in this country and now we are seeing the end result.

It is sooooo time that we get people in Washington that will fix this. There are just some things that should never, ever be under the corporation's control and Health Care is one of them. We should have control of our own health and stop letting pencil pushers sitting in some office tell us when and where we can go.

Damn-it this has got to stop!!!!

:argh:

[Maestro]

26. To make matters worse,

after my surgery in Feb, 2003, by the summer my employer changed insurance companies because of complaints about how bad it was, but new insurer dropped my oncologist. My primary care physician had to take charge of my after-treatment doing all the blood work making sure I am cancer free. I was supposed to have full body scans for five years after surgery but to day I have only had one.

[Greylyn58]

28. That is so not acceptable

God, you have my sympathies.

Thankfully my mom hasn't had those kinds of problems. She found a lump in her breast back in 1999 and had the surgery to remove it shortly thereafter. Thankfully it was caught early and was only a Stage II tumor and had a lumpectomy. Her surgeon also took out some of the surrounding lymph nodes for good measure and then she had to undergo chemo and radiation treatments. He also put her on Tamoxifin for 5 years.

Though she had some problems with her left arm a couple of years after the surgery(all the lymph nodes were removed from the upper arm and she had some swelling and an infection) she has been cancer free for 7 yrs now. Thank God.

I pray for your outcome to be the same(cancer free)...even with the lousy health care we have to endure. in this country.

[Maestro]

32. Don't worry about me. I'm young. The cancer forever changed

me. I went through radiation treatment, removed all the thyroid, some surrounding tissue and one parathyroid gland that was touching the tumor. It had grown from just under 1cm when first found by my primary physician and by the time the biopsy was done, it was nearly 2cm. I'm cancer free according to blood tests and I am almost at five years out. I eat well, exercise, but I am not the same person. Ever since my cancer I now need naps to recharge more frequently. Luckily, my then insurance company allowed me to be operated on by the most well known and respected thyroid surgeon in my area and he was excellent! There are many more worse off than me. I simply wanted to share that I too had to wait for treatment. I could have been much worse. Thanks for caring. :hug:

[BluePatriot]

65. *waves*

Hi Maestro,

Sorry to hear you had to wait so long. I have had to wait a month and a half for my thyroid biopsy and it feels like forever. It all goes down this Thursday...I think it's worth the wait in my case though, my endo's office is on Mary Shomon's Top Thyroid Docs list and I really trust them (for once) to be excellent at diagnostics. I love them...they are actually treating me. They used a newer test called the TRH to TSH uptake test to DX my subtle hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto's, instead of brushing me off and pointing at my "normal" TSH. I swear they are the only docs in Houston that do the TRH. Jumped through so many hoops to get that but it was so worth it. To begin with I am on a trial of low dose Synthroid (of course) but they are open to adding T3 drugs in a month after the first trial...and if that doesn't work out I have already ID'd two docs that prescribe Armour. I feel much better but still want to take lots of naps. The only thing that even puts a dent in the sleepiness for me is high dose B12. Want to trade tips on supplements? They really aid my wellness.

5 other doctors have pretty much brushed me off and said i needed to relax/go on antidepressants/exercise >_<

I am young with a nodule too. I am 23 and mine is 2 cm. Plus it was really dark on the ultrasound. I know nodules are common with Hashi's but I feel like I'm in a high risk group, sort of, and am a little worried.

[Maestro]

78. Check PM

:hi:

[dsc]

22. Simply unbelievable.

What I will go to my grave not understanding is how people keep falling for this wait time in other countries being worse than here.

[Pavulon]

30. That is really scary, and pretty sad.

Best wishes for a great recovery. That is an absurdly long time to have to wait for a biopsy. Regretfully some offices are slack, it puts the burden on the patient to have to call and request a cancellation slot or call another doctor. That is not fair, especially if the patient does not have the resources to do this.

That is borderline unethical in my opinion.

[Maestro]

33. I only had my choice of two doctors at that time under my HMO.

My primary care physician told me to not go to the other so I had no choice but to wait for the one he recommended and I very much trust my primary care doctor. He is absolutely fantastic. But beyond him, the web of doctors that under a plan or not is murky and needlessly complicated. I am now on a type of PPO.

[treestar]

23. Supply and Demand

The AMA works hard to keep the supply down. And you can bet there are zillions of immigration restrictions on imported doctors. The AMA is not dumb.

This is something that can be outsourced - people are going to Mexico for some things.

[backscatter712]

67. Or India, or Hong Kong...

Medical tourism is really taking off lately.

There are even some insurance companies that will pay for it - as the cost of treatment in India + plane flight is cheaper than treatment here.

[Triana]

24. I've had to wait 1-2 months to see a gp, dermatologist, and internist

DON'T TELL ME "national health insurance means long waits" - we have those NOW. My 80-year-old mother has to wait at LEAST A MONTH to see a lung specialist.

NO they don't have to wait that long in France and if they do, then it is NO WORSE than it is here - in fact some friends I have FROM France say their longest wait has been thus far 2 weeks to see any doctor.

[cgrindley]

41. I think it depends where you are

I have insurance from a massive government employer and neither me nor my wife have ever had to wait more than 2 days to see a specialist. Dermatology, OB-GYN, Back Specialist, Digestive Medicine... never a wait. Rather agressive co-pays, though... like 25 bucks a visit. Still, I guess some people have it bad.

All things being equal, I'd rather have the Canadian system.

[Pavulon]

29. That is Crazy..Not typical

I live in a medium sized city with lots of hospitals. I have had no problems getting appointments with specialist doctors from Duke and WakeMed in no more than two weeks. My wife is a specialist and most offices will book "checkup" appointments farther out than more urgent cases, surgical evals and post op visits are given higher priority. If there is history they should move him up. You can call and ask for cancellation slots. They are common.

I would research the doctor, carefully. May be a slack staff member screwed up. Doctors are required to treat medicaid patients the same as traditional insured.

Unless you are in a very small city and can not travel, I would call around and find another appointment sooner from another provider if you can not get what you need.

[dsc]

34. I probably live fairly close to you

he lives in Ohio but his doctors are in PA. For VA treatment he would likely have to go for Pittsburg. He has a long time relationship this group and this hospital. I have only been here for a short time and feel that there is no way I could begin to recommend doctors here for him. I am just hoping that this situation will resolve itself.

[madfloridian]

35. Family member...big city.. texas..3 week wait for surgery for serious injury

Good insurance. Just had to wait. Happens a lot.

[Warren Stupidity]

37. "My wife is a specialist "

Perhaps your family is well connected with the medical establishemnt in your area and very familiar with working the system? Around here getting to see a specialist for an initial appointment is a crap shoot: sometimes it is reasonable (less than 2 weeks) sometimes it is ridiculous. Dismissing the OP's report as crazy and not typical is contrary to lots of shared experiences here on DU.

[supernova]

39. It is completely typical

see my post below.

You're the one with the atypical "my wife is a specialist." Did it never occur to you that maybe your getting appts so fast is due to your med community connections? A case of MD to MD courtesy?

Well, please do think about it. It's no so easy for people who don't have an MD in the family.

[madfloridian]

31. Call the Democrats to fix Medicare....Bush is trying to destroy it

and is well on his way to doing it. In case some of you don't realize it, people are required to go on Medicare by age 65 even if you have good private insurance. Then your other insurance most of the time only pays what Medicare doesn't pay.....but NOT what Medicare refuses to pay.

Insurance won't pay if Medicare refuses.

They are trying to destroy it, the Democrats know it and they need to do something about it.

[WillowTree]

76. "Insurance won't pay if Medicare refuses."

That just could be because Federal law prohibits the doctor from billing anyone for any amount in excess of their "allowable" charges. That means that the patient can't be billed for those "excess" charges, either. Most medical insurance won't cover things that the patient isn't legally obligated to pay and I'd venture to say that none will cover things that the provider cannot even legally bill for.

Coinsurance amounts or items and services that are flat-out not covered by Medicare are one thing, but charges excluded by Medicare as being above Medicare's allowable fees can't be charged to anyone.

[Warren Stupidity]

36. Good thing we don't have socialized medicine!

I have given up being astounded by the braying of idiots about rationing in Canada or the horrors of european socialized healthcare systems. Obviously these people are a subset of those folks who never use doctors or dentists to begin with.

[raccoon]

59. Well said! nt

[supernova]

38. That's about avg for specialist new patient appts

Sorry to tell you that dsc. Even when you have decent insurance.

Mostly it's because new patients require extra time (yeah I know, it feels rushed anyway), collecting records from previous docs, procedures, and hospitals is a huge part of it. Scheduling is another bailiwick Docs are almost always overbooked anyway. And that's just how far out in the schedule they can realistically fit you in. Unless, there is some major urgent problem, in which case the ER doc tries to "twist the arm" of the specialist's appt booker. I know; I've been in on those conversations. They raise everybody's blood pressure.

In your dad's case, since the ER visit was determined not heart related, that was a clue to the Card's office that you're dad's case wasn't an emergency so their normal scheduling practices apply.

I'm not saying it's right to wait so long. I don't think any of us should have to. I am giving you some insight into the way they think.

It might help if your dad called and explained to the office that he has other more pressing issues than a panicked ER visit in June.

[cgrindley]

40. In Canada

your father's wait would be influenced by his age and general health. If he is very young and otherwise healthy, it would be a very short wait. If he is in his 70s and a smoker or fat, he would be waiting a long time. Although my family has been on the bad end of the rationing of health care, I actually agree with the system 100%. My 73 year old father had to wait 9 months to have his carotid arteries cleaned out. It's fair enough. He's old and has had a good life.

[saracat]

42. Whaat? I don't believe this for one second"old and had a good life' Isn't that

playing God? And determining whose life is worth more? That is horrendous and can't be true.And you say you think this is "fair"'? Wow.That creeps me out.

[cgrindley]

44. It's not playing god, it's playing fair and rational

health care money should be spent primarily on young, healthy people who can contribute to the tax base and to the life and identity of the nation. The older and less productive one becomes to the nation, the fewer dollars should be spent. It's what is best for the society as a whole. A hip replacement on a 90 year old, for example, helps no one. Instead, providers should consider quality of life and years remaining before authorizing a procedure at the tax payer's expense. Preventative care should reign supreme and people who have made unhealthy choices should have to change their ways before receiving expensive treatments on the taxpayer's dollar.

[Vinca]

46. Well, heck, just line us up along a pit and shoot us. It's more humane

than allowing an older person to exist in extreme pain. Hip replacements aren't exactly cosmetic surgery, you know. Wow - I'm really surprised to read a post such as yours on the DU.

[cgrindley]

49. I support socialized medicine

and with socialized medicine comes some pretty tough choices, choices that are made on an every day basis in Canada and the UK. If you don't have the stomach for it, quit pretending that it's part of your vision of a progressive platform. The alternative is the US system which is based entirely on money. You can't have it both ways, you know.

Manage pain in the elderly, but do the calculation to see if the quality of life warrants something as expensive as a hip replacement.

PROTIP: in Canada, you're probably not getting the expensive operation (such as a transplant) if you're over 65. And I support this system.

[saracat]

47. I sure wouldn't want to be related to someone who thinks that way and be old.

I think it would have been best for society as a whole if my brilliant father had been able to live a bit longer. He was 73.Instead you are indicating that a drug addicted moran who has nothing to contribute to society and likely isn't going to has more worth because they may be young? Feh! I suppose you believe that stem cells should be protected as "potential life' as well.Hey stem cells are very young.They should be fir! st in line.This is ageism pure and simple and absolutely discriminatory and disgusting.

[cgrindley]

48. Typical

go ahead call socialized medicine evil.

[saracat]

51. Can you cite some factual evidence to support your claims that "socialized medicine " practices

such ageism in its patient treatment.I would be interested in some proof.It seems you reside in Conn, which does not have socialized medicine so I wonder how you speak with such authority. Are you a transplant?

[cgrindley]

54. You're asking me to prove the existence of the sun

I am a Canadian living in Connecticut. I have also lived in the UK for 4 years during graduate school, and while there, my wife had twins in the NHS system. And yes, both systems feature health care rationing based on age, prospective quality of life, prospective life expectancy and so on. In the Uk, for example, we only got a real doctor (and not some half assed midwife) because we had a multiple birth. But I guess the argument is that you don't really need a doctor for a single birth.

You should google "medical rationing". The system is in place in almost every single nation on earth, from Canada to the Uk to the State of Oregon's Medicaid system. The concept centers on the "futility" of certain treatments.

Baby boomers had better get used to the idea of medical rationing because it's headed their way and I have to confess that it's the fairest possible way of dealing with an aging population. Everyone needs to know that aging and death are natural. If that opens a charge of ageism... oh well... perhaps boomers ought to face the facts about mortality and knock it off with the PC bullshit.

I didn't always think this way, I've sort of grown into the opinion myself over the last few years, mostly through seeing how incredibly terrible and unfair the US system is to the young and the poor, but at the same time realizing that in order to provide the US health care system to everyone, that it would have to be stripped to the essentials and would have to focus on preventative care. That more or less will bring about a system like Canada's and the UK's, but with even more focus on "medical rationing". So be it.

[bettyellen]

53. LOL! Maybe YOUR 90 yr old Mama is "no one" and you've made no unhealthy choices..

but i doubt it.

[cgrindley]

55. That's not going to work

I don't advocate expensive health care procedures performed at taxpayer expense on 90 year old people.

[bettyellen]

74. yeah i'm sure, until the time you need one.

that's the way it always works out- you just haven't been there yet.

[cgrindley]

79. Of course I have seen it

I'm just not particularly sentimental.

[mudesi]

52. I think you got that backwards (nm)

[cgrindley]

56. Nope... Medical Rationing

the young come first, and the elderly might not get a procedure done at all. It's entirely fair. The old have had their chance. The care should always go to the young.

[Canadiana]

57. I agree with you

however I think we must qualify this "medical rationing" stuff stating that this does not really apply to most life saving procedures. For example, if a 75 year old man is having a stroke, the doctors will go through all the protocols the same as if it was a 40 year old man. However the hip replacement is a good example - here we get hip replacements for free. Therefore it may be deemed unecessary for a 90 year old to have one, or they may wait longer. HOWEVER, I had a very healthy 85 year old neighbour who got one (for free) - she only had to wait a couple of weeks. The doctors make very thought out medical decisions based on need and futility.

[FooFootheSnoo]

61. Hmmm.....

But, the elderly have spent their entire lives paying into the system. Nine times out of ten they probably didn't use it except for checkups and maybe childbrith.

[cgrindley]

62. Why should that matter?

They used the services when young. Used them for preventative and necessary medicine. Enough's enough. There are going to be 54 million elderly in this country soon, and they are all terrified of death and will suck the system beyond dry if allowed. The system has to be structured to benefit the young.

[saracat]

63. Call me selfish but if the system is not going to be there for when I need it and my loved ones need

it, I wouldn't pay into it. I am no longer young and I don't have kids.One could look at it another way.We could penalize those that have children and "suck the system dry" .This argument goes no where. As I type this I have a brilliant 80+yr old friend who is in the hospital with fluid on her lungs and complications.You would argue that she has lived her life and to perhaps "cut off her medical car, or at the least tale no extraordinary measures but if a younger person needs the hospital bump the kid up in line.Thankfully, she has her own insurance and isn't left to the mercy of such as you who think they can dictate when someone's time is up! Do they also discriminate om mental capacity? Do mentally incapable people receive less care? After all, they can't contribute much.Structure around the young, mentally agile and able. Is that next? What about people like Stephen Hawking? He wouldn't even have a chance.

[cgrindley]

71. So you don't support socialized medicine?

I'm beginning to think that no one around here does, either that or the majority simply haven't thought it through very carefully.

[saracat]

72. Not if it isn't going to benefit me and my loved ones.Sorry. I support universal healthcare

and everyone being treated equally. And there is absolutely NO reason we can't do that.

[cgrindley]

77. Universal healthcare is unaffordable

a free version of the current American system cannot be done. The only answer is to ration health care like you see in countries with socialized health care systems. Heck... read up on Oregon. They already have a master list of operations they'll more easily fund under medicaid. And everyone is treated equally over time. Everyone at age 6 gets the same care. Everyone at age 40. Everyone at age 80. Of course, the care at age80 isn't the same as the care at age 6, but the 80 year olds already had their time.

[pinto]

75. I do. I support Medicare for all. Infants, youth, adolescents, adults and

yes, the elderly.

If we'd frame health care as a national security issue maybe there's be less people who flee from the socialized medicine meme that privatization proponents routinely use to demonize an *existing* system (Medicare)that works.

[Name removed]

80. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cgrindley]

81. That's the standard DU threat isn't it? Lame.

I grew up in Canada and I love our system of medicine. It probably wouldn't work here in the US because everyone is so selfish with regard to their desire for expensive procedures no matter what the result and no matter what the future prognosis. All the people here at DU shouting out for a Canadian system of medicine have absolutely no guts to implement it, or are deluded enough to believe that it's some sort of cadillac universal care that mimics the private system already in place in the US but on a vast scale. Well, it isn't, and that's just impossible. It can't and won't happen. If you want socialized medicine, it will work like Canada's, the UK's, and the rest of Europe's systems. It won't be a free version of what already exists here.

And mark my words, this system sucks. I have GHI/BC/BS coverage and it is lame. My wife is 7 months pregnant and I'm going in for a panendoscopy/colonoscopy today. Back in March, I injured my back and had to experience all manner of nonsense. It's nothing but a never ending series of bills and denied claims and appeals. Why? Because it's also a fat, gross system.

Take my wife's pregnancy for example. So many needless tests. So many needless prescriptions. Outrageous drug prices. Insane "fees" for medical procedures. Why are doctors in this country millionaires? Do they really deserve that money?

So yeah, call me a motherfucking Republican. It just shows a level of disrespect for rational opinion that I'm coming to expect from DU. If this place really is progressive and liberal--which I am--I'll eat my hat. This place sucks.

[saracat]

64. You really have a thing against the old folks.You will be old one day yourself!

[cgrindley]

68. I am old

I've lived long enough.

[saracat]

70. Then you should only made that decision for yourself.

[cgrindley]

82. How do you think that universal health care will be allocated?

do you honestly think that it will be like the world's greatest health care but free? how do you think that Canada, the UK and all other countries with socialized health care divide up and prioritize spending, or do you think that they just keep writing checks? Did you even see Sicko? Do you think that doctors will stay millionaires? Do you think that everyone is going to get approved for every single procedure they want? Do you think that doctors will get away with prescribing dozens of drugs to every patient? What are you thinking?

I strongly support socialized medicine. I have no problem with the rationing side of it, mostly because the current US system makes me sick. It's a gross waste of resources. Everyone is too rich off of its carcass. People here are so afraid of dying and aging, it's disgusting. What is wrong with people? Why are they so out of balance with nature?

[BooScout]

43. He'd probably wait longer in the UK......

My husband has been waiting 2 years for a CT Scan. Socialized medicine is slow. Yes we are all covered in the UK but if we die before we see a Doctor what good is it?

[Mutineer]

45. Not enough specialists to go around.

The population is aging (baby boomers) and they need more care as they age. GP's also now routinely refer people to specialists for more advanced medical cases. Many areas of the country can't attract GP's to their area (if they are rural and/or poor). Therefore, not enough doctors to go around, longer waits to see a specialist.

It's likely he'd face an even longer wait in England to see a specialist for sure, yes even with the national healthcare plan there.

[bleedingheart]

58. my dad's cardiologist made house calls and would drive patients to the hospital

no joke...

[FooFootheSnoo]

60. that's a terrible wait

I hope everything goes well for you and your husband. Have you checked with any other cardiologists? Has he involved his GP in making the appointment? My daughter's pediatrician got on the phone and yelled until she got my daughter into see a specialist for a broken arm that same day near closing time no less. In the same situation, my daughter's orthopedist ordered a stat MRI of her arm. The diagnostic center told us we would have to wait 2 weeks for the MRI (even though the prescription said "stat"). I called the orthopedist back and he got on the phone and got my daughter in the next day. Sometimes, if you can involve your GP, they can get you in more quickly.

[backscatter712]

66. But, we don't have long waits here.

I thought long waits for medical care only happened in those countries with those eeeeeevil socialist universal health care systems!

:sarcasm:

[William769]

69. Where did this happen?

[SoCalDem]

73. We have GOOD insurance & my husband had to wait 6 months

for a hearing test :wtf: