Our healthcare system is so screwed up right now

[dolphins4life]

I went to Urgent Care to get a Covid and Flu test a couple weeks ago.

I just got the bill.  It's $100 after insurance

That's crazy.

I have had EKGs at Urgent Care centers that did not cost that much after insurance.

[Phishfan]

Don't go to urgent care centers unless you need urgent care. Many of those places bill at hospital rates.

[Dave Gray]

If you haven't done so, the government was sending free COVID tests.  I have several that we've been using whenever the need arises.  Granted, I don't work in healthcare, so I probably get sick less than you.

[Fau Teixeira]

At the risk of beating a dead horse, what we need is universal healthcare where the profit motive is out of healthcare altogether. There's a massive amount of examples of successful systems from all industrialized countries around the world that we could adopt or customize.

Literally everyone pays less than we do for better healthcare outcomes than we have.

[Phishfan]

If you haven't done so, the government was sending free COVID tests.  I have several that we've been using whenever the need arises.  Granted, I don't work in healthcare, so I probably get sick less than you.

I heard most of them were near expiration. That was true with ours.

[CF DolFan]

At the risk of beating a dead horse, what we need is universal healthcare where the profit motive is out of healthcare altogether. There's a massive amount of examples of successful systems from all industrialized countries around the world that we could adopt or customize.

Literally everyone pays less than we do for better healthcare outcomes than we have.

Until you actually have to use it. Just this past weekend I saw a girl from Canada in an American ER and she was shocked at 1) how nice it was and 2) how few of people were in there. She said any ER appt in Canada is several hours or more while she was in and out in no time here.  Bottom line is no matter how you face it you get what you pay for. That's why rich people come to the US to get healthcare.

[Dave Gray]

I heard most of them were near expiration. That was true with ours.

Yeah, mine are.  We ordered 5 or so when the offer first happened and we received a 2nd batch, I believe when the stockpile was getting close to expiration.

However, I wonder what that means.  It might just be reduced effectiveness or they're not tested to work that far out.  I imagine they still function, if I had to guess.  Like, most medicine doesn't just stop working when it expires either, but maybe it loses a small percentage of efficacy or the claims can't be substantiated because their trials didn't last past the expiration time.  You can still get relief from expired aspirin, though.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Yeah, mine are.  We ordered 5 or so when the offer first happened and we received a 2nd batch, I believe when the stockpile was getting close to expiration.

However, I wonder what that means.  It might just be reduced effectiveness or they're not tested to work that far out.  I imagine they still function, if I had to guess.  Like, most medicine doesn't just stop working when it expires either, but maybe it loses a small percentage of efficacy or the claims can't be substantiated because their trials didn't last past the expiration time.  You can still get relief from expired aspirin, though.

The ones I got from the library came with a note  basically saying that they are still good for another 6 months because when the expiration date was originally set they didn’t know how long they would be good for because they were so new so they used a conservative estimate but they now know they last much longer.

[Fau Teixeira]

Until you actually have to use it. Just this past weekend I saw a girl from Canada in an American ER and she was shocked at 1) how nice it was and 2) how few of people were in there. She said any ER appt in Canada is several hours or more while she was in and out in no time here.  Bottom line is no matter how you face it you get what you pay for. That's why rich people come to the US to get healthcare.

Regardless of whatever wait times and horror stories and whatnot, the facts are the facts, canadians pay less for better care.

Also i could honestly care less what the rich do, if they want to play medical care tourist, it's up to them. There are plenty of countries that have universal coverage that also have a totally separate private system for those who want to pay to skip lines. Let them pay.

[Fau Teixeira]

My girlfriend was in a car accident a couple of months ago, her head slammed into the steering wheel. The ambulance that was called took her to the closest emergency room. She in there 5 hours. When I got there it was like battlefield triage, people scattered around a packed waiting room with random bandages over wounds before being called in. 5 hours, 3 stitches and an X-Ray later, I drove her home.

No such thing as in-and-out at an emergency room. Unless they triage you as having life threatening stuff, like a heart attack or a stroke, then you go right in. It's absolutely no different here than it is in canada.

[CF DolFan]

No such thing as in-and-out at an emergency room. Unless they triage you as having life threatening stuff, like a heart attack or a stroke, then you go right in. It's absolutely no different here than it is in canada.

You apparently live in the stone ages. We haven't had anything like that around here in a very long time. Our ERs are up to date with rarely a wait. I've probably been in the ER with myself, wife, kids, and my best friend well over 10 times in the past 10 years and never had a wait of even 30 minutes. That's across 5 different local hospitals. Last year I got 8 stiches in my head and was in and out in just over an hour on a Saturday evening.

[Fau Teixeira]

You apparently live in the stone ages. We haven't had anything like that around here in a very long time. Our ERs are up to date with rarely a wait. I've probably been in the ER with myself, wife, kids, and my best friend well over 10 times in the past 10 years and never had a wait of even 30 minutes. That's across 5 different local hospitals. Last year I got 8 stiches in my head and was in and out in just over an hour on a Saturday evening.

Lets just say that your experience isn't what i saw first hand just 2 months ago in Providence, RI

[Dave Gray]

You apparently live in the stone ages. We haven't had anything like that around here in a very long time. Our ERs are up to date with rarely a wait.

This was in no way my experience when I sat in a chair in the ER overnight for kidney stones without seeing a doctor, writing in pain.  It was horrendous.  I was there for 7 hours.  They didn't even give me an aspirin.  I never did see the nurse because she was so backlogged.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I suspect that ERs vary wildly from one hospital to another and even the same ER day to day. 

[Phishfan]

I've seen both sides of the ER wait. It definitely can vary.