Americans: How do you feel about your countries health care system?
By YoungInLove
@YoungInLove (1254)
Canada
April 22, 2008 8:11pm CST
Im in higschool and were currently studying documentaries in english class...michael moore ones of course. And the topic that had come up was healthcare.. Canada Vs. America.
Ive never realized that you guys pay for almost all of your health care if not most. I couldnt imagine having to spend a years salary on what could be a simple surgery. We dont have to worry about that stuff at all here, its all taken care of.
How do you feel about having to pay for all your health issues? Do you feel its wrong?
1 person likes this
1 response
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
23 Apr 08
What health care system? 
You are right, here in the States we have to pay for everything. Now some do have insurance that can help off set that but more and more do not have insurance here. It can be very difficult to get routine medical care or treatment for long term conditions. Now life threatening conditions most hospitals do have to take you and treat you till you are stable. They then can bill you for it and yes it can cost a lot of money. A few years ago I ended up in the hospital for pneumonia. The hospital since I was without job and without insurance wrote off their part of the bill which was over $36,000. This did not include the bills for the doctors who saw me nor the radiologists who checked my x-rays; that is billed separately.
I wish we'd get in some form of health care so that people can get basic care. If I'd been able to go to the doctor to be treated earlier I wouldn't have ended up in the hospital. Medical care has become so expensive and now some doctors in my area won't even take you if you don't have insurance which limits many from seeing them. Just a visit to my regular doctor costs $100, and that's just for my general practitioner. A specialist can cost far more. We need to either get a health care system in or regulate the prices to put them back down to where normal people can afford them.
You are right, here in the States we have to pay for everything. Now some do have insurance that can help off set that but more and more do not have insurance here. It can be very difficult to get routine medical care or treatment for long term conditions. Now life threatening conditions most hospitals do have to take you and treat you till you are stable. They then can bill you for it and yes it can cost a lot of money. A few years ago I ended up in the hospital for pneumonia. The hospital since I was without job and without insurance wrote off their part of the bill which was over $36,000. This did not include the bills for the doctors who saw me nor the radiologists who checked my x-rays; that is billed separately.
I wish we'd get in some form of health care so that people can get basic care. If I'd been able to go to the doctor to be treated earlier I wouldn't have ended up in the hospital. Medical care has become so expensive and now some doctors in my area won't even take you if you don't have insurance which limits many from seeing them. Just a visit to my regular doctor costs $100, and that's just for my general practitioner. A specialist can cost far more. We need to either get a health care system in or regulate the prices to put them back down to where normal people can afford them.
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
24 Apr 08
Well thankfully my doctor is aware of the fact that I don't have a lot of money so he doesn't see me unless I need to see him unlike some who want to see you every month. He also works with me on medication. Wal-Mart here has several prescriptions that are only $4 each so he tries to give those. Also I did find a prescription card on line, it's free and it saves me $55 on my one medication alone. Anything that helps save a bit I try. It would be nice if we got something in even if all it did was regulate the prices a bit so that doctors couldn't charge $300 to $400 for a ten minute visit. 
