USA Healthcare Costs are Ridiculous

[Keith Brannen]

I've had CTs etc within MINUTES of entering an ER (A&E).

In Canada, they publish wait times (months) for CTs. And track the number of deaths of such people while waiting.

CT scans in Canada are based on a priority rating, your ER visit and scan would have been a Priority 1 (Emergent) and been done fairly quickly (depending what the situation was) or at the very most, within 24 hours.

 

[harshness]

We need more drs, and nurses to start.

That's a big ask, given the liability situation and the demands from the insurance companies. My podiatrist spends 20% more on liability insurance than I made in a year.

 

[WhiteBeard]

There are some recent videos on Youtube where Americans who left the US for the utopia of Europe are having serious second thoughts and the "free healthcare" is one of the primary things they mention.

I'm not surprised. Most of these Americans never got outside of their hometown let alone do international travel. They hear about the "positives" and think it's utopia in European countries. I have both lived in and visited many European countries. There's no place better than here. And then there are those Americans that complain about our country but I don't see many leaving even though I wish they would.

 

[AZ.]

That's a big ask, given the liability situation and the demands from the insurance companies. My podiatrist spends 20% more on liability insurance than I made in a year.

Well the number of Drs is controlled. So it would make it more like what it was 60 or 70 years ago. Remember when they had their own offices? Easy to get an appointment? Seen asap when sick? Our emergency rooms do that now, and that adds to the price. We dont have many Drs out here lots of Nurse Practitioners, and Phyctian assistants. You hardly get seen by a Dr. But this is very rural area, maybe the big city is different? Left the city 20 years ago.

 

[navychop]

CT scans in Canada are based on a priority rating, your ER visit and scan would have been a Priority 1 (Emergent) and been done fairly quickly (depending what the situation was) or at the very most, within 24 hours.

And yet…..

 

[harshness]

We dont have many Drs out here lots of Nurse Practitioners, and Phyctian assistants.

I've gone from an MD in the 1980s -> DO -> FPN -> PA-C.

The FPN went into teaching.

 

[TRG]

Why be such a smartbutt.
We went through a cat 5 hurricane.....the foundation is sound. Trees hitting the house are the only thing I am worried about when it comes to wind related damage.
IF you had actually been through multiple hurricanes like I have, you would know that most of the damage, unless you were stupid enough to build along the coast.....something ALL of our ancestors knew better than to do, is roof related. In a lot of cases the roof gives way and then the house suffers water damage due to the heavy rain.

A good friend of mine is a general contractor. He has quite a large network of builders throughout the U.S. In certain parts of the country roof straps, brackets, clips are a code requirement now. Older homes can be upgraded if they have attic access. These roof reinforcing methods significantly strengthen roof integrity during high wind events.

 

[meStevo]

I've had CTs etc within MINUTES of entering an ER (A&E).

In Canada, they publish wait times (months) for CTs. And track the number of deaths of such people while waiting.

Except you're comparing emergency care - which is available just as quickly in Canada - to scheduled outpatient diagnostics.

The last 2 CTs I needed had to be scheduled 3-5 weeks out here as well.

 

[dishstaller]

A good friend of mine is a general contractor. He has quite a large network of builders throughout the U.S. In certain parts of the country roof straps, brackets, clips are a code requirement now. Older homes can be upgraded if they have attic access. These roof reinforcing methods significantly strengthen roof integrity during high wind events.

Ours was built in 1986. Hurricane clips weren't required then but the man who built it obviously had my mentality and had them put on anyway. Good thing he did because it would have been very hard to find home insurance without them.
When I was young and I was helping my Dad add onto our haybarn he would go to the lumber yards and get those metal straps they used to use bundling lumber. We would cut them and strap them over the rafters. He had been through a tornado years before and had seen barn roofs lifted right off.