Health care waiting times

[Coito ergo sum]

Overall, 692 surgeons in England sent the BBC information about the policy on hip and knee replacement of their local Primary Care Trust (PCT).

Between them they covered the majority of PCTs in England. In some areas no restrictions were being imposed, but in others the specialists reported delays or new thresholds for surgery.

106 surgeons told the BBC routine operations had been put on hold in their area. Others described new limits on when patients qualify for hip or knee replacements.

152 specialists said patients now have to be more disabled or in greater pain, and 118 told us hip and knee surgery had been regarded as a procedure of low priority.

A number of PCTs have been explicit about their decisions to put all routine operations on hold for several months up to April to help balance their budgets by the end of the financial year. They include Warrington, Sheffield, Eastern and Coastal Kent, Bury and Warwickshire.

Alex Waring, a patient in Warwickshire, was told he was being referred for an urgent knee replacement in August of last year. Now he looks at that letter with bewilderment as more than seven months later he is still waiting for surgery.

Mr Waring has already had one successful knee replacement and says he is in daily pain waiting for this second operation.

"It's excruciating sometimes to put it mildly. And it affects you at the times when you're not expecting it. I get off my mobile scooter and nearly fall over because my knee is gone, the pain, you've to sit there until the pain just goes away."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12964360


This kind of thing has been a big concern to me as the US starts down the road toward a nationalized health care system. In my town, anyone who needs an MRI, for example, can get one within about one week (or less - the main hospital here in my city requires a minimum of 4 days from the date you call in to schedule the MRI, but you can get it in within days usually).

The wait time in the US for knee-replacement surgery in the US is approximately 2 to 4 weeks. Is it really 6 and 7months waiting time in the UK?

[Santa_Claus]

Well, in the UK the poor people clog up the system by being still alive. I like the US system better.

[laklak]

Damn parasites. They should have the decency to die quietly, preferably in a gutter in a part of town I don't frequent.

[Coito ergo sum]

Well, in the UK the poor people clog up the system by being still alive. I like the US system better.

The implication that in the US poor people don't get health care is, of course, ignorant nonsense. For example, poor people get medicaid and other supplemental insurance offered by State governments - free of charge to them.

[Coito ergo sum]

Damn parasites. They should have the decency to die quietly, preferably in a gutter in a part of town I don't frequent.

The guy noted in the article was referred for an "urgent" knee replacement last August, and still hasn't had it. Is that normal? To be left in excruciating pain for 7-8 months before important surgeries can be accomplished?

It sounds like a shortage of surgeons.

[maiforpeace]

Good question, maybe someone will answer it.

Well, in the UK the poor people clog up the system by being still alive. I like the US system better.

The implication that in the US poor people don't get health care is, of course, ignorant nonsense. For example, poor people get medicaid and other supplemental insurance offered by State governments - free of charge to them.

For some reason this never gets across to many of the Brits on this forum. I don't think it will.

[Gallstones]

Well, in the UK the poor people clog up the system by being still alive. I like the US system better.

The implication that in the US poor people don't get health care is, of course, ignorant nonsense. For example, poor people get medicaid and other supplemental insurance offered by State governments - free of charge to them.

But, in order to be eligible for Medicaid a person has to be disabled or barely employed.

I have no health insurance, I'm not eligible for Medicaid although I pay more for Medicare and SSI each from each check than I do in Fed taxes. I am eligible for food stamps so my income is quite low. If it wasn't for the VA I'd have nothing. And the VA doesn't provide dental. I had an abscessed tooth about a month ago, I couldn't get it treated except to drive to the Fort 90 miles away for antibiotics. My mother had some left over that she gave to me. That was my health care. That is what I have to hope for. If I had a true emergency--my younger cousin had a heart attack a couple months ago--I'd be totally screwed. Right now I don't think I'd even call the ambulance. In order to be treated by the VA I'd have to drive the 90 miles. As a property tax payer I am paying for emergency services, but if I had to use it I would be charged for them; and they just doubled the fees.

Supplemental health insurance is for children not adults.

[maiforpeace]

Well, in the UK the poor people clog up the system by being still alive. I like the US system better.

The implication that in the US poor people don't get health care is, of course, ignorant nonsense. For example, poor people get medicaid and other supplemental insurance offered by State governments - free of charge to them.

But, in order to be eligible for Medicaid a person has to be disabled or barely employed.

I have no health insurance, I'm not eligible for Medicaid although I pay more for Medicare and SSI each from each check than I do in Fed taxes. I am eligible for food stamps so my income is quite low. If it wasn't for the VA I'd have nothing. And the VA doesn't provide dental. I had an abscessed tooth about a month ago, I couldn't get it treated except to drive to the Fort 90 miles away for antibiotics. My mother had some left over that she gave to me. That was my health care. That is what I have to hope for. If I had a true emergency--my younger cousin had a heart attack a couple months ago--I'd be totally screwed. Right now I don't think I'd even call the ambulance. In order to be treated by the VA I'd have to drive the 90 miles. As a property tax payer I am paying for emergency services, but if I had to use it I would be charged for them; and they just doubled the fees.

Supplemental health insurance is for children not adults.

Get a job at McDonald's...apparently they offer great benefits.

I'm sorry to hear about this Gallstones...I have paid for emergency dental care for my poor nephew numerous times because he's in the same boat you are in.

[Gallstones]

I just got a promotion at work which means more money--a little more money, which is nice but no where near enough.
I only work weekends, 14 hours shifts. It is all I can tolerate. This puts me under the cut off for corporate insurance by two hours. Even if I was eligible I couldn't afford to pay my portion of the premium, and it is crap insurance with high deductibles.

[Coito ergo sum]

Well, in the UK the poor people clog up the system by being still alive. I like the US system better.

The implication that in the US poor people don't get health care is, of course, ignorant nonsense. For example, poor people get medicaid and other supplemental insurance offered by State governments - free of charge to them.

But, in order to be eligible for Medicaid a person has to be disabled or barely employed.

I just looked it up on Florida's Medicaid website and you don't have to be disabled. The income cap is $2,022 per month, which is more than $24,000 a year. And, a Miler Trust can be used to keep excess income from being counted.

I have no health insurance, I'm not eligible for Medicaid although I pay more for Medicare and SSI each from each check than I do in Fed taxes. I am eligible for food stamps so my income is quite low.

Food stamp eligibility income is $21,660 or below for a single person. $29,140 for a couple. $36,620 for a family of 3. And, $44,100 for a family of 4.

If it wasn't for the VA I'd have nothing. And the VA doesn't provide dental. I had an abscessed tooth about a month ago, I couldn't get it treated except to drive to the Fort 90 miles away for antibiotics. My mother had some left over that she gave to me. That was my health care. That is what I have to hope for. If I had a true emergency--my younger cousin had a heart attack a couple months ago--I'd be totally screwed. Right now I don't think I'd even call the ambulance. And as a property tax payer I am paying for emergency services, but if I had to use it I would be charged for them; and they just doubled the fees.

I'm sorry to hear that and being unfamiliar with your personal situation it's hard to comment. Have you researched all the options? I'm not sure what State you are in, but if it's Florida - look up a program called "Cover Florida" which is a health insurance plan available to Florida residents between the ages of 19 to 64 who have been without health insurance for a minimum of six months. It covers pre-existing medical conditions. There is also a program called the "Medically Needy" program. For prescriptions, there is also the "Florida Discount Drug Card" program. Beyond that, last year I researched private insurance coverage and found that for less than $200 a month you can secure health insurance coverage in Florida. What's available in other states, I don't know.

There are likely similar programs in other states, depending on where you're from.

[Coito ergo sum]

I just got a promotion at work which means more money--a little more money, which is nice but no where near enough.
I only work weekends, 14 hours shifts. It is all I can tolerate. This puts me under the cut off for corporate insurance by two hours. Even if I was eligible I couldn't afford to pay my portion of the premium, and it is crap insurance with high deductibles.

If you don't mind me asking - why can't you tolerate working a 40 hour week?

[Gallstones]

I live in Montana.
I made the phone calls.

[Gallstones]

I just got a promotion at work which means more money--a little more money, which is nice but no where near enough.
I only work weekends, 14 hours shifts. It is all I can tolerate. This puts me under the cut off for corporate insurance by two hours. Even if I was eligible I couldn't afford to pay my portion of the premium, and it is crap insurance with high deductibles.

If you don't mind me asking - why can't you tolerate working a 40 hour week?

You don't allow for PMs.
I have a...mood....disorder. I have to keep my stressors as minimal as possible.

[Coito ergo sum]

I had previously received some PMs that weren't particularly to my liking, so I disabled it.

[Seth]

Good question, maybe someone will answer it.

Well, in the UK the poor people clog up the system by being still alive. I like the US system better.

The implication that in the US poor people don't get health care is, of course, ignorant nonsense. For example, poor people get medicaid and other supplemental insurance offered by State governments - free of charge to them.

For some reason this never gets across to many of the Brits on this forum. I don't think it will.

That's because the fact that the poor can get free or low-cost health care here in the US as a matter of fact conflicts with the dogma surrounding socialized medicine, which depend upon the fallacious argument that the poor are being denied health care entirely as a large part of the moral and ethical justification for imposing universal health care in the first place. It's pure socialist propaganda not remotely connected to actual fact. That's why they can't understand it...they are being lied to and they believe the lies.

The US takes care of its poor and indigent quite well through charitable means, and already has systems in place to deal with the truly indigent and needy.

Obamacare is not about providing health care for those who do not have it, it's about the federal government TAKING CONTROL of one-sixth of the US economy, using the argument that health care costs are "too high" for the middle class, who, in direct defiance of Obama's assertions, by a greater than 70 percent margin, are perfectly satisfied with their health care coverage as it is, and do not want Obamacare to interfere.