This may be the wrong place for this. It affects why many of us can't get trans health issues covered.

http://www.upworthy.com/his-first-4-sentences-are-interesting-the-5th-blew-my-mind-and-made-me-a-little-sick-2?c=reccon1


Opinions?

That was very interesting.

I tend to keep out of these threads because I get rather silly comments but just from an Australian point of view.

I have public and private health care. I cannot opt out of the public system and if I go to a public hospital for say an emergency procedure it is 'free' no matter the cost but if I need elective surgery, say a new hip, I join a queue in the public system. My private health insurance negotiates with private hospitals and the medics who access them for competitive prices, as said in the video. I am restricted in which private hospitals I can go to, in Adelaide there are I think seven I can go to, there is no queue no waiting time, my hip replacement would be done ASAP. Adelaide BTW has a population of 1.5 mill so seven isn't bad. So there is no waiting time, it costs me nothing my insurance covers it.

A case in point, when my wife was injured she went to a private rehab hospital for a year, it cost me nothing. There was no change to my fees and I just sent the bills to my insurer and they dealt with it, no questions nothing.

My private health insurance costs me about $1600 a year.

I put some of my patients on immunotherapy for cancer, it costs $20,000 a shot, they are on it for a year minimum. It costs them nothing.

I have just had my 6 month E implant, it cost me $61.50 with 2/3 of that paid back by the government.

No we are not perfect, but it sounds a lot better than the USA system.

Oh and my patients receive exactly the same standard of care that anyone in the world would get, no matter the country.

Quote from: Cindy on January 17, 2014, 02:17:40 AM
That was very interesting.

I tend to keep out of these threads because I get rather silly comments but just from an Australian point of view.

I have public and private health care. I cannot opt out of the public system and if I go to a public hospital for say an emergency procedure it is 'free' no matter the cost but if I need elective surgery, say a new hip, I join a queue in the public system. My private health insurance negotiates with private hospitals and the medics who access them for competitive prices, as said in the video. I am restricted in which private hospitals I can go to, in Adelaide there are I think seven I can go to, there is no queue no waiting time, my hip replacement would be done ASAP. Adelaide BTW has a population of 1.5 mill so seven isn't bad. So there is no waiting time, it costs me nothing my insurance covers it.

A case in point, when my wife was injured she went to a private rehab hospital for a year, it cost me nothing. There was no change to my fees and I just sent the bills to my insurer and they dealt with it, no questions nothing.

My private health insurance costs me about $1600 a year.

I put some of my patients on immunotherapy for cancer, it costs $20,000 a shot, they are on it for a year minimum. It costs them nothing.

I have just had my 6 month E implant, it cost me $61.50 with 2/3 of that paid back by the government.

No we are not perfect, but it sounds a lot better than the USA system.

Oh and my patients receive exactly the same standard of care that anyone in the world would get, no matter the country.

Standard of care in the US is GREATLY affected by ability to pay. If you have no money, you will get minimal care. They only have to stabilize you and make sure you aren't going to die in the near future and give you instructions to follow up with a regular doctor. If you have money (lots) you will get the best care possible. Insurance that covers lesser amounts equals lesser care. Add anything trans on top of that and it is a nightmare. some of the questions I was asked and comments written into my medical records of that time are totally not appropriate nor relevant to my care. It affected the willingness of my insurance and providers to actually provide care.

BTW, my insurance costs about $2600 for premiums, covers maybe 75% of my care and that is after I pay the first $6350 per year.

Lol, it's called the affordable care act and it's not perfect but you don't know anything. Also. Dudebro video guy kinda suxors.

Quote from: TiffanyT on January 17, 2014, 02:45:11 AM
Lol, it's called the affordable care act and it's not perfect but you don't know anything. Also. Dudebro video guy kinda suxors.

I think I know a great many things, just not everything. I realize it is called affordable care act but that doesn't change the reason for the higher costs in the US for procedures that cost so much less elsewhere.

Quote from: Cindy on January 17, 2014, 02:17:40 AMI have just had my 6 month E implant, it cost me $61.50 with 2/3 of that paid back by the government.

That's all it costs down there? That's like $50 US. I was told that a month's supply of Estradiol would cost $80 off of insurance. I'd assume a 6 month implant to cost about as much as 6 month supply of pills. Do they really jack up the prices nearly 10 times in the US?

Quote from: Willow on January 17, 2014, 04:13:59 AM
That's all it costs down there? That's like $50 US. I was told that a month's supply of Estradiol would cost $80 off of insurance. I'd assume a 6 month implant to cost about as much as 6 month supply of pills. Do they really jack up the prices nearly 10 times in the US?

...

Yup.

Quote from: Amy The Bookworm on January 17, 2014, 06:23:46 PM...

Yup.

Sod it, I'm moving to Argentina.

I'm probably a rare instance of an American expat who grew up with and lived with no health insurance or access to quality healthcare in rural Louisiana who then moved to Australia, where Cindy is, and experienced what health care SHOULD have been like in the US.

No one in my family or hardly even my entire hometown could afford private insurance - and no one had it unless they were lucky enough to work in the ONE and ONLY paper mill in the town that provided insurance to its employees.  You can bet getting a job there was one in a million.

I came to Australia - and was shocked at the fantastic level of professionalism in medical practitioners and the standards of care in hospitals and emergency rooms.  You heard how "bad" a public healthcare system is in the US - so I was expecting to find the quality of care here lacking.  But I went to hospital earlier this year with abdominal pain - and for once in my life could actually think about getting better instead of what kind of enormous bill I would get in the post from the emergency room.

I hear a lot of Americans complaining about what they perceive to be a public system - but most of them haven't experienced it firsthand.  Propaganda was all I saw about it in the US - but living here, it's nothing like it's portrayed.  We aren't drowning in taxes.  We aren't receiving substandard care.  It's amazing and I feel very very blessed to have this accessibility.  I only wish my family had been so lucky.