For those of you in the NHS who aren't sure what healthcare is like in the US, imagine a place where you have to buy health insurance, and the healthcare experience still stinks. Imagine a place where you have to pay a 'boutique' doctor to get the acceptable-quality care which your "insurance" won't provide.
Here is how one US patient who experienced healthcare-failure, sees it:
before reading - Lyme?
I have friends in the US - it is a very sad system - Canada however is different & better. Thanks for posting J 
Eddie83, unfortunately it is exactly like that for NHS patients and doctors. Hospitals have to maximise and work within budgets and comply with national guidelines on seeing suspected cancer patients within 2 weeks of referral, treating A&E patients within 4 hours etc. Patients have 5-10 minute consultations with primary care GPs, some limited to a maximum 2 ailments per consult, national guidelines get in the way of individualised patient centred care, advanced technology and blood tests don't necessarily find reasons for chronic symptoms until there is an acute event, and primary and secondary care doctors are overwhelmed with administration and bureaucracy instead of being able to spend time with patients to consider symptoms and make a diagnosis.
It sounds like factory conveyer belt medicine to me and 'slow medicine' sounds very appealing.
We still pay for the nhs just out of national insurance fees. Not sure going private in the UK is much better for some conditions just expensive.
That is a misconception,it may have been the original intention but it has been decades since NI was anything other than an extra income tax. It would be honest to combine them but too politically risky.
Victory Sweet - a perfect name for such a lady.
Eddie83, it's worse than that. Saw a new doc at my primary care's, & the waiting room TV was non-stop drug ads. In the exam room I filled out a questionaire from a drug co. about depression before the doc came in. I'd been through the other docs there, so this one immediately told me nothing was wrong with me except. . . there was a psychological component. I told him he wasted my time & left.
I'd been on antidepressants for 30 years, just went off duloxetine four mont ago when my thirst was blamed on its side effects. A month later my body systems started failing. SSRIs atrophy our serotonin receptors in brain & gut. SNRIs are worse. But antidpressants keep our receptors happy (till they don't) & act as antihistimines to mask other symptoms. It's a panacea of sorts, & allows the docs to dismiss everythign until our "problems" show up on the blood tests (ie kidney failure, diabetes, etc). Its a drug culture, they only know how to prescibe, period. One's always greated with "how are you" & you better say fine or you get dirty looks. It's like a dystopian science fiction novel.
I went to emergency for some IV fluids to help my dehydration, & since my BP was normal (110/80 which is HIGH for me normally 9/60) & they said I wasn't dehydrated but my headache of three days meant my cancer had spread to my brain & I needed a brain scan (this would be an emergence?) Doctors are dismissive & abusive. Its a drug culture. Seriously, good luck finding help here unless you're so sick everything shows up screaming on xrays or blood, etc., At that point they'd gladly hook you up to a machine & tell you to keep a positive outlook.
It's worse than you think. Remember the Nazis, eugenics, experimentations, genetic engineering? Google I G Farben + flouride, rockefeller drug cartel, carnegie drug cartel, etc. Most of our drugs are meant to replace normal bodily functions so we can't function without them. GMOs/Glyphosate (Monsanto) are part of it. So is our sugar, soda, sweeteners, almost all our food. After 30 years antidepressants, chemo/steroids (finished a year ago), five cycles lupron, & stopping duloxetine four months ago, all my systems are failing & my bloods & BP are all over the place. The docs say there's nothing wrong & push antidepressants & antihistamines.
... not to mention benzodiazepenes, which are known to cause dementia. Yes, anti-depressants were a disaster for me too. The drug industry has actually made MDs believe that it is OK to put something in their patients' bodies for decades, which is simply incompatible with the body's chemistry. Do you think your cancer was caused by the ADs, or something else?
The question is, which is worse: fast poisoning, or slow poisoning?
BTW, have you seen the posts on cancerremedies.net about using sodium bicarb? It makes the body more alkaline, which stops cancer growth for some patients.
It sometimes crosses my mind to wonder where I would be financially if I lived in the US. Having had a couple of surgeries to remove my thyroid, RAI 3 times, once as an inpatient, and then been off work for 2.5 years. I'm sure it would be terrible. I'm guess I am now seeking 'boutique medicine', but the fees have been in the hundreds, not the 10 thousands I see on US medical fees!
Wonderful article, thank you for posting! I have ordered God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet. Will reportvback.
I live in the U.S. and it's no picnic as far as paying for healthcare here! This past year before going on Medicare (for folks 65 and over) I had to pay for my own insurance $459 a month just for me and that was with a $6500 deductible. So pretty much everything was out of packet and my own dime. Since Obama care became the new law it has made the plans skyrocket rather than decrease as they promised they would. Only good thing is there is no pre-existing conditions that the insurance companies can deny coverage on. I honestly do not know how people can afford to pay for their insurance and especially those that are self-employed.
And..not being able to afford coverage anymore,, and being fined, for not having insurance! In order to be able to apply for obamacare, you have to check a box, which lets the gov, that any money you get it the future to repay whatever the gov,, subsidized for your medical care, while on Medicaid..ins. for the poor. If you don't agre to give your money away, then you are not eligible to apply for health ins.
Gee, thanks Obama!
Sad news about SeasideSusie
Feeling very ill and sad.
Puffy Eyes from Low Thyroid. Help, it's making me sad :(
New to this forum - sadly not new to Hypothyroidism
Kindly advise due to ranges, what to expect
