Let's see how socialized medicine is doing -- Oh, you have to self-fund your surgery to avoid death. So working out just as planned apparently. Demand for expensive 'self-funded heart operations surges' as NHS waiting lists grow The NHS waiting list in England has ballooned to 5.3 million, including nearly 4,000 patients who have been waiting for two years, and it's leading people to pay for their own surgery, it has been reported https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/demand-expensive-self-funded-heart-24665822 More patients are opting to pay for expensive life-saving surgery because of crippling NHS waiting lists, it has been reported. So-called "self funded operations" have risen since the beginning of the pandemic, according to private providers. And some patients faced with lengthy waiting lists say they have to pay for heart operations that can cost as much as £20,000. The NHS waiting list in England has ballooned to 5.3 million, including nearly 4,000 patients who have been waiting for two years. Health Secretary Sajid Javid revealed that when he took the job in June, officials warned him the backlog could grow to 13 million. The Mail reports that charities say increasing numbers of patients who have been waiting for months are now choosing to go private "as a last resort", while some are considering taking out loans. Britain’s largest private hospital group, HCA, said there had been an increase in "higher acuity care" since the beginning of the Covid outbreak, including a 20 per cent increase in "self-funded cardiothoracic inpatient procedures’. This includes operations on the heart and chest such as heart bypass operations. The group also reported a 30 per cent increase in self-funded neuroscience procedures, like those carried out on the spinal cord and brain. According to Spire Healthcare, the UK’s second largest private provider, the number of enquiries from self-pay patients was up by 29 per cent from March 2020 to March this year. Urology, which covers treatment of the prostate, bladder and kidneys, and gastroenterology – the stomach and digestive system, were said to have seen the biggest demand. Healthcare sources told the publication that patients were also increasingly willing to pay for cancer care. Liz Heath, a consultant and author for the LaingBuisson market intelligence service, was reported to have said its research showed that NHS delays were the biggest driver for patients deciding to pay for their treatment. She said: "There is definitely a relationship between NHS waiting times – not just for surgery, for diagnostic tests – and people seeking to self-fund. "People are making their own decisions around their quality of life and their certainty of treatment. The uncertainty is difficult." It comes after former health secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Sunday Times the delays were 'incredibly scary' and said pressure to cut waiting times could lead to corners being cut and patients at risk. He said: “My biggest fear is that we will end up with such huge pressure to reduce waiting lists that we will lose the focus on safety and quality."
So under socialized medicine the patient may have to wait 2 years for this surgery and could die in the meantime, but under privatized medicine if the patient is poor they will die. Unless the poor patient has health insurance, which is just another form of... wait for it... socialized medicine.
I love how we pretend claims are easily processed, procedures are approved and prescriptions are filled without hassle here in America. Oh and don’t forget networks and exorbitant cost burdens.
If only there was a system where you could pay your private insurance and quickly get surgeries done in world-class medical facilities.
You can get what you want if you're rich, and if you're rich by being born into a rich family then you've really saved time.
Or you can simply get a job with health insurance in the U.S. --- even the U.S. Medicaid programs for the low-income allow fast access to surgery as does the Medicare program for those over 65. 293 Million people in the U.S. have health insurance amounting to 90.8% of the population. There are some positive things that can be said for socialized medicine -- but waiting lists is not one of them. Nor can anything positive be said about a socialized medical system so failed that you have to privately pay out of pocket for services -- with people taking out loans at high interest rates to cover their surgeries. At least a system with private insurance allows people to have the majority of their medical bills covered -- and nearly all insurance policies have a yearly cap for out-of-pocket expenses.
Oh you mean the "fine" public socialized medical plan comes with your job (actually everyone has it in the U.K. - job or no job). Hope you can avoid taking out a high interest loan if you actually want to get a surgery done.