And yet many countries have successful universal healthcare.
I keep reading about NHS in the UK having issues holding it together.
I'm in the UK and yep, the system is on the verge of collapse, but it feels like it's entirely by design so it can be finally privatised and killed off once and for all - it feels inevitable at this point.
Basically right now it works for:
- maternity
- anything child related
- emergency services(to an extent, unless you are literally dying you will still wait hours for an ambulance).
Everything else is so massively underfunded it's a miracle it exists at all.
A friend was referred to see a psychiatrist on the NHS recently - you know what the wait time is to see a psychiatrist on the NHS in our region? 210 weeks. About 4 years.
Few which provide the level of care the upper middle class and above have come to expect in America. If you make more than $100 yo 167k (85th and 95th percentiles [1]), a good fraction of HN readers, you should be able to virtually walk into any medical establishment and get not only seen within a few days, but also tested and imaged by the latest technology, and consulted on by some of the best doctors in the world. You will do this without worrying about costs, because your employer has chosen an insurer who pitched on experience in addition to cost, because you have the market power to change jobs (or be heard by management) if your healthcare sucks.
Universal healthcare means everyone on a PPO falls to the middle class’s HMO-esque standards. For us privileged few, that’s a tough pill to swallow. That is the fundamental injustice and tradeoff that locks us into the status quo, not some paranoia about socialism.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluence_in_the_United_Stat...
It was fear of socialism that caused the outrage at Clinton’s healthcare proposals. The fear and outrage was so great that for the first time in decades Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in 1994. Look up the number of times things being labeled communism and socialism has been used to try to halt legislation.
Out of curiosity, where are you? (I should have geographically qualified my statement.) In New York, the Bay Area and even western Wyoming (in a wealthy enclave), I have never waited more than a week for an appointment.
> fear and outrage was so great that for the first time in decades Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in 1992
Fair enough, will further qualify by last decades.
The bracket I’m speaking of knows European healthcare. They understand it is generally high quality and much cheaper. But being able to demand an MRI or the surgeon of your choice when something goes wrong is a real perk, and the one politicians are talking about when they reference public medicine.
Not the parent, but in Seattle-Tacoma area, I have waited 10 weeks for an ENT, and 12 weeks for PT availability following a car accident (in which case I ended up doing my own PT and bought bands and tools to do so until then).
Anecdotally those wait times seem crazy. The PT one especially. I have 5 different pt choices in walking distance to me that can typically get you in next day or worst case a week lead time if you want a time block that is contended (right before/after normal business hours).
Have you checked if this varies with insurance provider?
This opinion is the opposite of what I’ve heard from people from peer countries who’ve experienced both, not to mention even countries we tend to look down on (there’s an entire industry around even pretty affluent Americans going to Mexico to save money for equivalent treatment). I’d believe it for the 98+th percentile crowd, but I’ve also known people considering going back to Europe because the lower salary is better than all of the out of pocket costs, stress, and risk.