From an ICU RN in the U.S.

Dec 6, 2024 3:39 AM

ThePositiveRN

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55349

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2951

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56

Warning: I am angry, and I am venting...

Brian, I blame you (and every subhuman like you) every time my patient asks me how they're going to pay for their hospital stay.

I blame you every time my patient blames me for "pushing [necessary] meds" on them.

I blame you every time a loved one tells me that organ donation saved their family from ruin because the organization is now paying for their hospital bills.

I blame you for everything modern medicine has become and I fucking hate you.

I fucking hate you when I have to call the pharmacy to get a price point on Eliquis because it's notorious for being expensive even though its the best option for afib.

I fucking hate you when my patients are so sick and just need to focus on progress, but they're terrified of PT, OT, etc because those consults are on the bill.

I fucking HATE YOU when my patients' care is delayed because you need a prior authorization (some rando telling a fucking doctor or nurse what a patient needs because APPARENTLY the insurance company knows better.).

Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.

I entered medicine because I want to help. I want to save lives. I want to educate and empower. You are my biggest barrier.

So, no. I am not sad that people have decided to end your life subscription. I'm not religious, but if you are, I hope you meet Jesus, Buddha, Allah, or what have you, and they drop kick your teeth into your skull.

Fuck you for having the power to make a difference in millions of lives, but CHOOSING to stuff your ass with dollars.

I hope it sucked when you died. Fuck you.

This was not a murder, it was surgery. A tumor was cut from the corpus of society. One down, many many more to go before we can heal as a civilization.

2 years ago | Likes 34 Dislikes 1

10

2 years ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

2 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

v

2 years ago | Likes 36 Dislikes 0

Doctor here. I feel your pain. I hate how much control the insurance companies have over the lives of so many people. They don’t see patients are people but numbers. They suck so much.

2 years ago | Likes 19 Dislikes 1

And it doesn't even take much to yank them into line. Swiss model is private insurance, and in general they can gouge all they want -- but there's a base tier of essential care they have to support at cost-plus, and they're only allowed to price the premium on three data points: your age, sex and postcode. You'll see some holes in the system, and you're right, but it covers the basics, and America could make it happen with one law.

Meanwhile, thank you for doctoring.

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Thanks!

Also, love your username

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I fucking hate him and all others like him that have the power to make a difference in the lives of millions and actively chooses to harm than help.

Hate me for saying this if you want, but I honestly sincerely hope that this starts happening more and more. Executives need to be held accountable to the people and not just the shareholders.

We are the many, they are the few. We only believe we don't have the power because we've bought their lies. It's time to buld the gallows.

2 years ago | Likes 28 Dislikes 1

It should absolutely happen more. Not indiscriminately, to innocent people who's identity is mistaken, and not to low level workers who're just trying to earn a living, but to the parasite class. if it makes them suck blood at even a slightly lower rate, the lives saved will outnumber those taken by a high margin. That's a net positive. Should we refuse to shoot a serial killer, citing the immorality of murder?

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Thank you friend. It feels good to say the quiet part in my head out loud.

We should have a bake sale to fund this endeavor!
"Pies Against Capitalism"
"Cookies Against Crooks"

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

2 years ago | Likes 19 Dislikes 1

Correct, soulless corporations should not profit off literal human suffering.

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

2 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

We're on the same page and all in it together. Thank you for saying this 'out loud', thank you, thank you, thank you.

2 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

You could start a religion with this angry message and i'd preach it in the street.

Glory to you and your knowledge of healthcare.

2 years ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 1

I literally just took my mom to the hospital due to a gallbladder issue. She’s on Medicare and I’m worried about the cost this will incur on them being on SS. Freakin… TERRIFIED… right now.

2 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

Please look into the hospitals financial aid system. Many hospitals are required to reduce cost (sometimes to literally zero) if a patient's income is less 3-4x the poverty line. The links on their websites are hidden, but they're there. I'll post an example below.

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

This is Mayo Clinics policy. You have to fight tooth and nail, but it can happen, and it works!! Have your mom consult with case management about it!

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I’m so sorry you’re family is dealing with the uncertainty of the costs along with the health issue. I hope everything works out for you. It’s such a scary and anxious place to be.

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

2 years ago | Likes 770 Dislikes 3

Thank you. I am furious and hope hell is real only for him and those like him.

2 years ago | Likes 74 Dislikes 1

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

There are some people who make me wish hell was real, and that bums me out.

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

I completely and utterly concur.

2 years ago | Likes 23 Dislikes 0

We're all furious. The man got gunned down in the street and the entire internet erupted like the fucking Ewoks celebrating the destruction of the Death Star.

2 years ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 0

I like to think that the Ewoks decapitated the Stormtroopers with their helmets on .

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

I'm pretty sure the Ewoks ate the stormtroopers.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I didn't finish my comment: The reaction from the internet has been fucking hilarious and refreshing for my soul.

2 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

You can get a years supply of the generic version of Eliquis in Canada for what a 2 week supply of Eliquis costs in the US. Apixaban. Which is available there but has been stalled for another 2 years in the US. Fortunately I only have a 6 hr drive to Canada from where I live.

2 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 0

The best part is that generic Eliquis is only restricted in the US bc of insurance.

2 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 1

Yep. Insurance execs are ticks on the ass of life.

2 years ago | Likes 110 Dislikes 0

Of fuck they are more invasive and harmful….. flesh eating virus’s blush when they see ceo power

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

YEP. AND THEY DO IT OVER AND OVER. I spent all day with a family trying to reestablish insurance bc Humana (fuck them, too) is leaving my patient's state. They're fucking dying. What human could possibly give a shit about their bOTToM LiNe when someone is losing their loved one.

2 years ago | Likes 41 Dislikes 0

Hence the AI.

2 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 1

They HAVE to get AI to deny care because it costs too much to have a human remove their compassion long term. Too much burn-out on actual people. Computers don't care.

2 years ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 1

Also that "error rate" definitely is not. It's doing *exactly* what it was supposed to.

2 years ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 0

Honestly, algorithmic claims denial should be illegal. How is that not practicing medicine without a license if the denial is based on medical 'need'?

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

I really wish the lawsuit could result in ancient Greco/Roman justice. You caused undue suffering in the name of making personal profits? $50 million dollars to be exact? Okay, that's the number of dollar bills we're going to light on fire while we stuff you into a bronze bull.

2 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

While I very much do not condone torture or extraneous suffering, I may look the other way while the bull sings that song.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Upvote for the fellow torture aficionado.

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

2 years ago | Likes 20 Dislikes 1

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

I agree, 100%. Glad there's people in the medical field that actually want to help their patients and I'm more glad that those who make that near impossible are now scared for their lives. Keep up the energy, fuck these subhuman gold hoarding wanna be nobles

2 years ago | Likes 252 Dislikes 3

I have always felt that healthcare should be a non-profit industry, with only the actual providers, the actual people working with or in support of patients, making money. Soulless inhuman corporations should not be legally permitted to profit off of literal human suffering.

2 years ago | Likes 19 Dislikes 1

No, they shouldn't. Getting corps involved just leads to cutting cost at the expense of everyone

2 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

Most of us on the medical side have never supported the fuck-sticks blockading our ability to provide. We all hate them. Doctors, nurses, PT, OT, SLP, case management, food service, infusion, etc. We all want people to get better.

The suits can suck our asses.

2 years ago | Likes 80 Dislikes 1

Add pharmacists to that mix.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

My father was an oncologist. I've only seen him mad once in his life. It was because an insurance company was refusing to allow treatment based on certain "literature". The literature they cited was HIS RESEARCH and the conclusion of the paper was the complete opposite. They were abusing research he wrote to deny patients care in his own specialty.

2 years ago | Likes 29 Dislikes 0

That would piss me off too

2 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Hell yeah, I'm glad to hear that. The suits can indeed suck the asses

2 years ago | Likes 25 Dislikes 1

Dr Glaucomflecken consistently points this out. Doctors are typically do-gooders, insurance hates do-gooders.

2 years ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 1

My spouse is a RN for a major hospital chain in the US. It is a non profit amd is tax exempt. They make over 7 Billion a year and the owner takes home over 6 Million a year. My spouse has had to deal with active shooters, people with dementia hitting her, gets hurt all the time lifting the fattest idiots.. yet they still take the time to try and get patients the lowest cost medicine, explain care, and will often come home crying as they lost a kind person that day though no falt of their own

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

I feel that there are two types of people that my spouse works with, people like op that are the strongest kindest best souls on the earth and people in it for gossip and a paycheck. I am not religious, but bless you op. You and yours keep me having faith in humanity. You guys don't get paid enough. Eat the fucking rich. If a monkey hords all the bananas so others starve we would study it to figure out what defect it has. If a human does it we put the piece of shit on a magazine cover.

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Thank you. I hope your spouse loves her job as much as I love mine... it's hard and dirty and frustrating, but it's also the most rewarding thing I have ever experienced. I hope we'll see the US become a country that really is for the people, and that starts in healthcare...

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Something clicked when we all saw this…zero empathy for the CEO when there should have been. Why?

Every single person in this country has been financially gutted by the obscenely for-profit major medical industrial complex, a.k.a. the American healthcare system. We have been squeezed by the neck for every dime because our very lives are on the line.

Are we getting close to “storming the Bastille” demanding a not-for-profit single payer system? Yes! Medicare for all as Bernie outlined!

2 years ago | Likes 20 Dislikes 0

Wait until Trump and his minions in congress end the ACA, and those backwoods hillbillies realize it's the "Obamacare" they loathe.

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

More than half the country voted for Trump and oligarchs. I wouldn't hold my breath. If anything, this looks like we're inching closer to a new type of civil war or anarchy factions breaking out.

2 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

I feel you. Any persons health should not be monetized.

2 years ago | Likes 363 Dislikes 2

But.... The shareholders! /S

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

When 'the company' fires/lays off hundreds of workers due to costs and the combined salaries of those termed doesn't even come close to the bonus paid to the CEO, fuck them and the shareholders.

2 years ago | Likes 58 Dislikes 1

The captain goes down with the ship. Not the staff.

2 years ago | Likes 33 Dislikes 0

"When I lost my rifle, the army charged me $85.
That's why in the navy, the captain goes down with the ship."

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Basic necessities should not be monetised. Water, food staples, and housing.

2 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

Monetization is not the problem, the lack of regulation is the problem. A freakin' newspaper you pay a subscription to can't deny you your morning newspaper 37% of the time and tell you to go get one yourself with your own money instead of the money you paid them already for the newspaper. But a health-insurance company can do precisely this. Its as if your bartender went "alright, one pint coming up, pay there, payment accepted".... Then you go "where's my beer?" and he goes "coverage denied".

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

The US is the only country where I've seen students go "I want to be a doctor because I want to make money". Any other country and it's "I want to be a doctor because I want to help people".

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 1

The problem is that they are allowed to take your money and not give you what you paid for. Its like if you paid for a newspaper subscription and at random the newspaper doesn't show up "because we don't think you need those ones, get them yourself, and pay for them yourself".

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

v

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

It’s only that way in the Conglomerate of the United States of America~ CUSA is weird

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I saw the video. It was hard not to feel sorry for him, but somehow, I managed.

2 years ago | Likes 20 Dislikes 0

It wasn’t hard for me at all.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I see it this way. Hitler and Stalin never personally killed or tortured anyone, but the policies and orders they dictated resulted in the suffering and deaths of many innocent lives. And we vilify these individuals for it. IMO, It's no different with the CEO of a exploitive, unscrupulous health insurance industry that has similarly hurt and ruined so many people's lives.

2 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 1

Gat dayum. +1

2 years ago | Likes 24 Dislikes 0

Thanks, Elbow. I appreciate the recognition.

2 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Saying the things everyone is thinking. I hope at least one ER nurse blasted "You Give Love A Bad Name" for the chorus line alone.

2 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

If they had the time to, I know they would.

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Now that… is a rant..

2 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 0

Thank you. I feel a little better...

2 years ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

I'm "insured" by them. Those fucks denied coverage on an emergency surgery that saved the use of my fucking arm. And denied the appeal. 135k bill. He got off too easily if you ask me. Evil fuckers.

2 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Thank you for what you do.

2 years ago | Likes 62 Dislikes 0

Seconded

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Thanks for the recognition... I do a small part of what society needs. Humans need healthcare, and I am privileged enough to be someone to help provide it. Fuck anyone who stands in my way. I hope you and your loved ones are healthy!

2 years ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 0

“I hope it sucked when you died. Fuck you” that is some cold ass and well deserved shit to say to end this well deserved vent.

2 years ago | Likes 85 Dislikes 1

Took me a second to realize that "well deserved vent" was referring to OP's and not the holes in a certain CEO.

2 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 0

Yea, I totally meant this as a positive and supporting reply to what OP had to say. Their last line about how they hope it sucked when they died, i felt that in my soul. I have an idea but really I can’t imagine the pain and suffering they have witnessed and been a part of and felt themselves because of those who profit from pain and suffering. Fuck that CEO guy, indeed.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Fuck him. I've held enough dying hands that suffered thanks to his choices to say it.

2 years ago | Likes 41 Dislikes 0

2 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

I definitely believe you. And you’re absolutely right about all of it. Fuck him.

2 years ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

GET EM

2 years ago | Likes 117 Dislikes 4

For anything else the company has become, Blizzard's cinematic teams never fail to knock it out of the fucking park

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Such a great scene for such a disappointment of a game. It really gave me hope that maybe they could turn it around, and then... Nope.

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

That scene is ridiculous, for those that haven't seen it: https://youtu.be/9acxn7qAST4?si=GdYPM7J7hn1d5qig&t=385

2 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 0

Thanks, I was 70% confident this was going to be a Rick roll.

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Spoiler: what happened before that part was heart wrenching.

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

The convergence of this story and the tragedy in California has made me realize... no school shooter has caused anywhere near the pain and death as these blood curdling monsters. A single act of horrendous violence cannot compete with the hellish grinder that is the American Healthcare system.

Mr. Brian Thompson was a seething void of greed and evil wrapped in human flesh. The only thing more vile than his life's work is the banality of it - that it's an accepted fact of American life.

2 years ago | Likes 51 Dislikes 1

Beautifully worded.

2 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 1

It's nice to see people waking up to this.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

MAN I BEEN SAYING! A lot of people make excuses for it and get sad but we shouldve all been very very very angry and doing something about this a long time ago. When I found out how little it cost to make insulin I was so pissed off

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

The insulin patent (and original lack thereof) is my go-to for inciting rage against the system.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

It's a literal matter of life and death and we've been frogboiled for a long time, but a combination of a lack of hope for reform and a lack of moral clarity regarding resistance has been holding us down. A livable future feels impossible for many.

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

That impossible feeling is whats going to make a lot of people take action

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

america celebrating his death like the ewoks

2 years ago | Likes 20 Dislikes 1

Bold move, cotton. Are you a victim of the U.S. Healthcare system?

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Yes, yes I am.

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

I hope everything is well...

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

We are, but I got Fidelis, and suddenly, everyone was out of network.

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I've lead my life trying to do good and seeing good people crushed by systems designed to destroy them. My own father died because of lies and greed at only 54, because pharma and insurances hid the terrible effects of a drug for millions of people.

This guy had 3 bullets engraved for him by a man probably broken by this system, having lost a loved one or worst of all, his child. I'm feeling a terrible person for writing that, but he deserved each one of them. This is a reckoning.

2 years ago | Likes 41 Dislikes 1

You are nor a terrible person. That distinction lies in other places

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

I hope you find peace.

2 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 2

Or war.

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Thank you friend, I am at peace most of the time, the past is in the past but I won't forget and certainly, never forgive, at least to prevent it from happening again. Some of us carry way more than just that, but for a few years now, I find myself more receptive than ever to the pain of others, and less empathetic to this kind of terrible humans causing (often easily prevented) tragedies without batting an eye.

2 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Fucking A. You reap what you sow and all that.

2 years ago | Likes 512 Dislikes 2

I hope they all spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders, flinching at sudden noises and double-checking their doors at night. I want them to live in fear. I want them to believe that they could be next. I want them to know what it's like to leave their home and be unsure if they'll see it again. You know, the same conditions millions of American schoolchildren live in every day.

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Sic semper tyrannis and all that jazz.

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

It may not be Batman, but fuck, I'll take the Mantis instead if that's all we can get. (Starfield Reference, fyi)

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

The only thing that saddens me is that he can’t be even more dead.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Pres. Biden needs to make an Executive Act for $25 out of pocket healthcare max or Trump's presidency is going to start with the 2nd American Revolution

2 years ago | Likes 23 Dislikes 0

Wait, you promise? In that case definitely don't make the executive order.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

THE GOVERNMENT ISN'T IN CHARGE OF MAKING THESE RULES, THEY JUST ENACT THEM. GO FOR THE ACTUAL THROAT OF POWER. GO FOR THE BILLIONAIRES!!!

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Or we follow the lead of the shooter and shoot all corporate scum CEOs, politicians and billionaires. Maybe even majority shareholders too, board of directors etc etc

2 years ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 0

You saw their posts, they will use that to give themselves bigger paychecks because "their lives are on the line every day" while more teachers and kindergarteners get shot in the same day. Dude I hate it here. I want out.

2 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

They were already saying it before this happened, behind closed doors.

Make it a living reality for them until they either quit or change course. They want to murder people for money. Its about time the feeling was reciprocated pro bono.

2 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Except everything is legal for a price, a process they can afford. Not many people are willing to throw away their lives, and even less so when it's almost certain that it won't make a large difference. New old guy in a suit will cake along and continue.

Fighting an idea or ideology is a tough battle, because no matter how many CEOs or people are gunned down, the institutions, rules, laws, etc. Are still there. And the rich wouldn't punish themselves by removing those.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Elon and whatshisname Idontgiveafuck already proposed gutting the VA. How do you think all the retired military service members are going to react when their benefits are taken away?

2 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Considering how many veterans support Trump, they will probably double down.

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

There are a lot of people out there suffering out of spite because it hurts other people too. I like to call those people idiots, because they're idiots. Why is everyone so fucking afraid of the world being a better place to live?

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

This is a very unpopular opinion, and while I respect veterans for doing what they thought was a great service, and they deserve benefits for being fucked by their nation's leaders, the bottom end of the military isn't out to recruit the "best and brightest". They need people who are easy to mold, and can be pressed into an authoritarian system. Because that's what the military is, and it's what it needs to be.

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

So I can't really blame them for being the product of the system that made them what they are. I've known many soldiers, and the ones who understood the system, left.

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

The only first world nation without free health care. I do not understand how Americans have accepted such a poor system for so long.

2 years ago | Likes 57 Dislikes 2

Literally no country has a health care system that you don't pay into one way or another.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Because labelling everything as Communism and/or Socialism has been remarkably effective for DECADES.

2 years ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 0

Brit here. Listen, healthcare is never 'free' - someone has to pay for it. The trick is; everyone pays a bit each week/month even though they aren't ill or injured. Then, when you need help, the money all the other healthy people are still paying weekly/monthly pays for your treatment. So it becomes free (or very inexpensive) at the point of need.

2 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

We are not first world by any means. Garbage healthcare, illegal monopolies on internet service and so much more. Capitalist propaganda here skewering “3rd world countries” when cursory glances at them being mocked shows more care for their citizens in many ways then what is claimed here

2 years ago | Likes 19 Dislikes 4

US is first world by definition. The original definition was first word = the western capitalist democracies, second world = the communist countries, and third world = developing nations that were the site of proxy wars between the other two.

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 3

I'll take a shot at this. Cold War propaganda and the worship of capitalism. Americans being scared of "socialism" is a holdover from

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

the Red Scare. It's why "In God we Trust" is on our money. It's because we needed to show those godless commies we were better than them.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

America is a third world shithole wearing a Gucci belt.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

It’s because corporate interests have been flooding the media with propoganda for a century. And if I recall, nationalized healthcare sprang up in other nations after some catastrophe. But we avoided major nation-crippling crises until 2008 (except for the Great Depression) when we nearly collapsed the global economy. But by then the propaganda machine was already built up to be unstoppable and we had a president (Obama) who didn’t push hard enough for universal healthcare or counter the lies.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Don't call it free healthcare. Taxes pay for it, as they should. People who for whatever reason disagree with universal healthcare always get hung up on "free".

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Legit question: Where are you from, and how does your healthcare system work?

2 years ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 2

I once had a headache and went to my local doctor. She saw me without an appointment the same day. She said it was a dental issue and referred me to my local dentist who took care of me, also the same day. All told it took just over 2 hours. I didn't pay a dime. I live in Germany.

2 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

Universal health care. A portion of all citizens and corporations' taxes are funnelled specifically for covering medical expenses for every person in Canada assuming they have a citizenship or a permanent residency. Varies from province but we are issued health cards, which are used when visiting a hospital or walk in clinic. They record and process our information to the govt. Dental was recently added, but vision, physio and a few others still arent and require private health plans or cash.

2 years ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 2

Vision? You mean anything to do with the eyes? Seems like a big gap.

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Thank you for replying. Can you elaborate on wait times? I ask because I know a few folks who advocate for the U.S. healthcare system because they claim that care is delayed in universal healthcare systems due to high demand.

2 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Not the person you were originally responding to but it varies. Sometimes it’s really quick and sometimes it’s a few hours. When I go to a walk in it usually takes a few minutes but I have had several hour wait times in the ER! I’ve also had almost immediate check in and called in situations. So again, it depends on what’s ailing you and when you go in.

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

We have similar to Canada in Australia (though a procession of conservative/neoliberal governments have been white-anting the system by not allowing the payments made to doctors to match inflation). The wait times are not much of a problem for anything life threatening. It largely applies to cosmetics, electives, and chronic diagnoses. Heart attacks, fractures, lacerations all seem within minutes or hours. Cancer, hours to days at most, not weeks. Blood tests and xray/CT can be hours to days.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

As an American who has lived in Germany and Sweden, the wait times are basically the same. Specialists can take some time, unless there is urgent need. In Sweden, for specialists, the wait time is usually - in my experience - just to get the first appointment. But it can be faster if there is a more urgent need. In hospitals, its the same as the US. If I wake up sick, I can go to a doctor if I need to. Sweden also has a phone line for health advice from nurses. It depends city/rural, as usual

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

In Germany, visits to normal doctors were usually free, my couple hospital visits were free, and prescription meds were usually 5-10 Euro. When I did a couple months of physical therapy, it was in the end like 40 Euro.. In Sweden, you pay copays and a bit more for meds, but both are capped quite low. In Sweden I had nose surgery and got a CPAP machine for free, genetic testing for something for free, etc. (similar gene test in the US, Cigna charged me $1200)

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I'm Canadian.

My daughter tried to commit suicide by swallowing pills, she was in a treatment room 4 minutes after entering the ER.

I punched a wall (not related) and fractured my hamate. I spent 30 minutes in the ER waiting room, then about 4 hours in the non-critical treatment room (recliner chairs) getting it temporarily straightened and cast. I had to wait three days in the temp cast for surgery.

My mother-in-law has a career-related shoulder injury, she's been waiting for an MRI to 1/

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

figure out next steps, it's been about eight weeks. She has pain in her shoulder but it's not affected her day-to-day activities other than not curling this year. Her MRI is in a few more days.

Those that need help first get help first. The hospitals near me are busy, but are really good at prioritizing. It sucks when you're not the priority, but that also means you're not going to die anytime soon.

There's always horror stories of people who fell through the cracks, though. 2/2

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0