r/FluentInFinance 11d ago

“Medicare for All” would save the U.S $5.1 Trillion over 10 years Discussion/ Debate

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/30/easy-pay-something-costs-less-new-study-shows-medicare-all-would-save-us-51-trillion
21.5k Upvotes

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

233

u/Pickle_ninja 11d ago

In America:

Person with a fever of 99.0F (37.2C): Get back to work.

Person with a fever of 100.0F (37.7C): Stay home take some cough syrup.

Person with a fever of 101.0F (38.3C): Stay home take some cough syrup.

Person with a fever of 102.0F (38.9C): Stay home take some cough syrup.

Person with a fever of 103.0F (39.44C): I'm going to try cooling down with a bath.

Person with a fever of 104.0F (40C): I think I should go to the hospital.

Person coming across a Person convulsing on the ground with a fever of 105.0F (40.55C): "OMG! CALL A $10,000 AMBULANCE!"

In Countries with Universal Health Care:

Person with a fever of 99.0F (37.2C): I'm going to see a doctor.

78

u/Secret_Squire1 11d ago

American having lived in Europe and the UK.

No it’s more like having to wait several weeks to be seen by a GP to be told to go home and take Tylenol while resting. I had my foot run over by a car and was told the same thing.

28

u/Lockhead216 11d ago

Stop this fake narrative that there isn’t wait times in the US.

17

u/OutrageousHunter4138 11d ago edited 10d ago

Seriously, I mean mileage may vary from region to region, but I’ve lived in PA, TX, and OH and it’s always months not weeks to get seen most places.

1

u/mkohler23 7d ago

Where I am it’s days maybe hours to get seen. Maybe by super in demand specialists but if you want a doctor you can get a specialist even within a couple days

2

u/Cool1Mach 11d ago

I can go and walk in to a clinic and not wait more than 30 minutes right now. I can film it for you if you want

2

u/Lockhead216 11d ago

Okay, get an appointment for a specialist. Tell me how long you’ll wait

1

u/Cool1Mach 11d ago

Now your changing the circumstances nice

5

u/Lockhead216 11d ago

No. What circumstances am I changing? You can walk into an urgent care or er and get seen eventually based off your esi. Go to see a consult or a primary and you’ll have to wait based on availability.

I literally tore my shoulder and work at the hospital ER I went to. I had to wait 8 hrs for miss diagnosis and 3 weeks to see an orthopedic

-1

u/Cool1Mach 11d ago

ER waits are based on severity . You wernt dying. Other people that you where not aware off where taken in first that where worst off. Leave the usa if you hate it so much

2

u/Lockhead216 11d ago

Did you miss the esi part or?

-1

u/Cool1Mach 11d ago

Like i said. Dont like it, leave.

3

u/Lockhead216 11d ago

You have no idea what esi is do you? Means you shouldn’t be telling others how the er works.

-1

u/Cool1Mach 11d ago

You can leave now.

→ More replies (0)

0

u/limukala 8d ago

It was less than 24 hours between cancer diagnosis and appointment with the oncologist, and I can book a follow up appointment with him or the surgeon.

My primary care physician has some long lead times these days, but if I want to see someone quickly I can just visit another doctor in the practice within a week (like I did last month in fact)

2

u/HandMadeMarmelade 10d ago

I live in a decent-size city and only extreme luck will get you a same day visit with your PCP.

0

u/Cool1Mach 10d ago

In the walk in clinics we have it wont be with your pcp but you will be seen right away by another physician. Its only for minor stuff. If they find something serious then they refer you back to you pcp. Like when i broke my hand they bandaged me up and put a cast on but they set up an appointment at the main hospital for xrays to confirm the break. Saved me a trip to the ER and was alot cheaper

1

u/HandMadeMarmelade 10d ago

This is just prohibitively expensive socialized medicine. Also ... who is putting a cast on you without getting x rays first??

0

u/Cool1Mach 10d ago

They did it as a pre caution. The break was not visible. I just had pain in the hand. Seems to me you just want to see the bad in it no matter what

1

u/Secret_Squire1 11d ago

I’m stating that living in Europe I have experience this. I have used the US medical system extensively with various large knee surgeries. I waited about a month to get a specialist knee surgeon.

The Americans I meet in the UK tell me it can be close to a year for such specialist.

3

u/slimaq007 11d ago

UK is pretty bad case, because they are struggling with staff for decades.

For free of charge surgery of my shoulder in Poland I would have waited 3-12 months depending on hospital.

For paid one I waited like 3 days, just for decision how to do that and paid at least 6x less than in US. It was less then 2000$ including hospitalization. It is not considered cheap here, but I wonder how expensive would it be to be done privately in USA

2

u/Og_Left_Hand 10d ago

the UK has been consistently cutting and privatizing healthcare for like over a decade.

like it’s not a socialized healthcare problem it’s an underfunded healthcare problem

2

u/Lockhead216 11d ago

Yes there are wait times everywhere

1

u/spiritriser 10d ago

Here in the US, my sister and I both have hypothyroidism. That's usually not root-caused because most the time it's hashimotos, which doesn't change anything. She went in and had alarming blood work done, so I scheduled an appointment. 6 weeks out. Since then they've found spots in her thyroid, done an ultrasound and determined it wasn't cancer. The urgency of her situation helped her get through that process in 2 weeks thankfully, but if it was something I needed to start looking into as well, I would've been another month getting the treatment I needed