9 Mnth Wait For Arthritis Treatment In Uk

[Lounge Daddy]

[url="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1199714/A-9-month-wait-arthritis-treatment-Delay-mean-lifetime-agony-victims.html"]Government-managed system at work:[/url]

[quote]Thousands of rheumatoid arthritis sufferers face a lifetime of agony because they are not being treated quickly enough, a report says.

Guidelines state that patients should receive treatment within three months of the first symptoms appearing.

But the average wait is nine months - and GPs are not trained well enough to know what help to offer.

[url="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1199714/A-9-month-wait-arthritis-treatment-Delay-mean-lifetime-agony-victims.html#ixzz0LLGujTW1&D"]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-...0LLGujTW1&D[/url][/quote]

[Lounge Daddy]

From an op/ed in the Wash Examiner, titled [url="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/OpEd-Contributor/Obamacare-failed-in-Europe-7900839-49458267.html"]"Obama-care failed in UK"[/url]

[quote]After its birth in 1948, planners soon found that "free" health care multiplied demand. NHS founder Lord Beveridge predicted free health care would cut spending as health improved.

The opposite was true. Between 1949 and 1979, it tripled in real terms. The service now costs twice as much as it did 10 years ago, with productivity down 4.5 percent.

One way government tries to limit demand is to decree which new drugs can be prescribed. Many drugs, widely available in America and continental Europe, are denied to British patients.

State mismanagement has also created waiting lines for hospitals, on average causing 8.6 weeks of waiting. Once inside, budgetary cutbacks on cleaning and maintenance mean higher rates of an antibiotic-resistant variety of staph infection. This "superbug" has turned even routine surgery into a lottery of death.

Britain may be an extreme example. Many point to France as a better example of public insurance delivering high-quality, equitable care. While it's true that French patients do enjoy better care and shorter waits than the British, this is due to a far greater reliance on independent health care and greater freedom from government for doctors and patients.

Yet this plus side is expensive. The French government is trying to control costs by increasing regulation of the private sector, meaning it will soon become more similar to Britain.[/quote]

[Dan]

For local details, check a nation near you.

Film at 11:00

[CatherineM]

I never got proper treatment for my arthritis in the US. Didn't have the right kind of insurance, and couldn't afford the meds anyway. I waited 15 years for PTSD treatment, and didn't get it. Now I am, and I am very grateful for socialized medicine.

[BG45]

Was watching TV the other day and a Senator, forget which, was talking about how Americans are used to treatment right away, and would never stand for long waits. I think he must use a different health care system than the rest of this country.

Even when one has insurance, perhaps especially then, it's nigh impossible to do things quickly.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='BG45' post='1920655' date='Jul 15 2009, 12:10 PM']Even when one has insurance, perhaps especially then, it's nigh impossible to do things quickly.[/quote]
I guess it depends upon your insurance and your doctor, because my mom never has to wait.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='BG45' post='1920655' date='Jul 15 2009, 02:10 PM']Was watching TV the other day and a Senator, forget which, was talking about how Americans are used to treatment right away, and would never stand for long waits. I think he must use a different health care system than the rest of this country.

Even when one has insurance, perhaps especially then, it's nigh impossible to do things quickly.[/quote]
I have never had problems getting into the doctor I want/need to see within a reasonable amount of time. I don't know that I've ever had to wait more than a few days for a routine physical, and for anything more serious have always been able to get in quickly.

Maybe I just have not been sick or injured often enough to feel the burn. The most annoying wait was earlier this year in an emergency room. I had to spend four hours in the waiting area and I was off and on extreme pain and puking. The good thing was that I felt so awful that I didn't mind puking in public.

My father-in-law had a heart attack in Slovakia four years ago, and ended up in a hospital where the windows were open -- birds flew in and out freely. Every day, people would come in at the beginning of the day, hanging out waiting and hoping to see a doctor. They'd come back every day for weeks and still not be seen. I'm pretty sure that at least that form of socialized medicine is worse than American care.

[BG45]

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1920662' date='Jul 15 2009, 02:15 PM']I guess it depends upon your insurance and your doctor, because my mom never has to wait.[/quote]

Perhaps it does, I've never met anyone who hasn't had to wait.

Edit: Terra, the average hospital emergency room wait I've seen is roughly analogus.

Edited July 15, 2009 by BG45

[Angel*Star]

How many children would we be allowed under socialized health care?

[Sojourner]

[quote name='BG45' post='1920676' date='Jul 15 2009, 02:24 PM']Perhaps it does, I've never met anyone who hasn't had to wait.

Edit: Terra, the average hospital emergency room wait I've seen is roughly analogus.[/quote]
I've known people who have had to wait to get in to see specialists, but typically if a problem is serious enough you get it fixed quickly. Doctors have flexibility to alter their schedules to do what needs to be done.

Yeah I've gone once before because I sliced my hand open and needed stitches; the wait was about that long. In both cases, my situation was ultimately not life-threatening. They typically triage so if you really are in bad shape you get help more quickly.

That wait doesn't really bother me. I don't think it would get faster under socialized medicine.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Angel*Star' post='1920691' date='Jul 15 2009, 12:31 PM']How many children would we be allowed under socialized health care?[/quote]
You'd probably have to be a premium for more than two children, and of course that doesn't take into account the massive tax increases that will have already been implemented.

Rationed care will mean that people like my 71 year old mother, who has emphysema, and who no longer is a "productive" citizen, will be considered expendable.

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='Angel*Star' post='1920691' date='Jul 15 2009, 02:31 PM']How many children would we be allowed under socialized health care?[/quote]
Depends where. I know many Catholic families here that have 6+ kids. There's never been a problem of having lots as far as I've heard.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1920701' date='Jul 15 2009, 02:39 PM']Depends where. I know many Catholic families here that have 6+ kids. There's never been a problem of having lots as far as I've heard.[/quote]
Yet.

[Lilllabettt]

All I can say is: I am an American, and as an uninsured person I have received world class medical care in this country.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='Lilllabettt' post='1920707' date='Jul 15 2009, 02:47 PM']All I can say is: I am an American, and as an uninsured person I have received world class medical care in this country.[/quote]
Honestly, that's one thing I like about the way we do things. Because of how things were handled in your case -- and in the case of many, many other people in similar situations -- you now have a greater appreciation for the care you received and are grateful to the people who helped you out. I had a similar experience on a smaller level. I broke my wrist, and a friend who is an orthopedic surgeon set it, casted it, and did all the follow-through with me for free b/c I couldn't afford the co-pay on my insurance. It was a beautiful experience, I think for both of us.

When you have socialized medicine, just like with socialized anything else, people feel they are "owed" something when it comes to health care. There is no room for doctors and other medical folks to give of themselves to help others -- it is forced charity, and when that's forced it's no longer truly charity.