Rant of the day

I suppose this case is a prime example of cultural differences on both sides of the pond?

 

I know plenty of people over there who think just like me, and we're certainly not without those who are perfectly content to just drift through life with the government doing and providing everything for them.

Over here the healthcare system was world class. When I was a kid, and I'm not that old, you could pay cash for things like non-invasive elective procedures and checkups. Basic health insurance was like $15-$20/month through group plans. Eventually that rose to between $40-$50 once I became a productive adult. Still, that gave me $20 copay on office visits, $5 prescriptions, $50 ER visits, and $500 deductibles on in-patient services. "Piece of piss." Again, in case you missed it when I stated it before, the government then stuck their snotty noses into things so that the non-productive would have their problems payed for by the productive. Hence we now have the ACA/"Affordable Care Act" AKA Obozocare. Anything the US Government stamps on a piece of legislation will perform the opposite. I/E- "The Patriot Act" is anything but patriotic, the ACA is NOT affordable. The Obozocare deductibles and co-pays are absolutely ridiculous. But it doesn't matter, the parasites aren't going to pay them anyway, and the rest of us will be on the hook for even more.

My "luxury" is that I work… again WORK, at a job that provides health benefits once you reach a certain point. Many, many, many do. Most require between 3-6 months of employment. Current private co-pays and deductibles are exponentially higher than years ago, but still lower than the government venom. For example, I pay no monthly and 80 bucks for the Mrs. All I have to do is get up and go to work when I'm supposed to. It's not hard.

So "color me privileged," I guess.

 

For myself, I’m comfortable with the idea of private healthcare if that’s how the whole system was set up or publicly owned healthcare… my preference would be public but when politics is so much more about the noise and the spin, it’s less about actually getting things done and so certain institutions get run down.
My experience of Private health in this country is just as much as a lottery… often it’s the same drs / surgeons who work in the nhs outside their contracted hours, but they have a vested interest in providing the same procedure as cheap as possible (for their company/consortium) because the profits come back to them.
And if something goes wrong, you’re packaged up and bundled into the nhs hospital anyway.
@Golgotha -
Because you’re “privileged” to work??? (Is that a thing now?) What happens to folk that do work, but their company’s only provide low pay and basic medical care cover (I presume there are levels of this?) or people who did work, but for whatever reason can’t any longer? (Ie not a scrounger, but fallen on hard times and looking for work)

 

… and then there’s those pesky “pre-existing conditions” some insurers won’t cover.

 

The myth of "pre-existing condition denial." I've never seen it happen, not over here any way, and I know more than one insured cancer survivor.

We can sit here and "what if" this shit to death all day long. Government intervention into people's health is altogether obtrusive and nefarious, to say nothing of intentionally substandard.

 

I’m genuinely curious about my questions dude… I don’t know enough about how your current system works and wouldn’t presume to make proclamations about it without knowing more.

 

There's no doubt though that the NHS is badly abused and that the worst abusers do not pay into the system. There should be some sort of up front charge to discourage frivolous use.
Also, I think people should be charged the full costs for treatment after sporting accidents. If people indulge in activities where they are liable to get injured, they should take out insurance to cover treatment. Road accidents should be covered in the same way.

 

All appointments made with the NHS should be pre charged with a £100 deposit. If you make your appointment, or cancel within a reasonable time, no charge. If you are a no show, no refund. That would be a start.

 

I suspect that would open the door to a “health tax” on a lot of negative lifestyle choices... drinking, smoking, obesity etc. Who would you trust to make value decisions on comparing say, fell walking with going to a rock festival? I like the way you’re thinking, but I feel there would be a huge amount of red tape and shit-shovelling. It would become a tool of the politicians to enforce their current hot topic.

 

I agree that it would be likely to lead to politicians discriminating against whoever is their populist target of the day. It could easily be motorcyclists, for instance... Evidence-based decision-making doesn't happen nowadays; just whatever plays well with the government's support base.

 

“Health tourism” saps billions from the NHS every year. As just one example my wife in her job (driving instructor) has come across two families that have blatantly (pre Covid) flown a family member across from abroad for an operation claiming they are resident here then they go back “home” after recovery. You can multiply that many times across the country and it becomes a massive expense that we are all paying for.

 

I think that charging full costs for treatment after "sporting accidents" would be a sticky wicket, Andy. A vast proportion of health care costs in the U.S. are due to people being overweight and obese. So using this as an example, if someone starts bicycling to lose weight and does things proactively to become more healthy but has an accident doing so, should automatically be charged the full costs for treatment if they are injured? And by "road accidents", do you mean motorcycle, automobile, what? What if someone other than the injured party is 100% at fault. To me, it's more complicated than meets the eye. Ah, indeed a sticky wicket.

 

That being said- Some years ago I incurred a skydiving injury requiring a $40K surgery. At the time I was jumping pretty frequently. The surgeon, therefore the insurance provider, knew how I got hurt. Once I was healed up, I was right back in the air. As usual I was privately insured and they covered it less a $500 deductible and a few dollars here and there for 'scripts and a follow up visit or two. My subsequent physical therapy payments were 20 bucks a visit.

My insurance did not go up one penny.

Just putting that out there.

 

Imagine that (good btw) option was the other way around….

 

So the majority of people with Covid requiring admission to hospital are unvaccinated. I have a solution to preventing the NHS from becoming overwhelmed - leave the selfish feckers in the car park, so the NHS can focus on reducing the huge backlog of vaccinated sensible people who require treatments like hip replacement, knee replacement, cancer treatments etc etc.

 

This is the propaganda they are wheeling out ! Only 36% are unvaccinated. There are also more people in the 35 to 65 double jabbed with covid than without . As with all things with statistics you can take one category and make it fit your agenda.
What I find disturbing is their insistence on covid passes . Does it make you immune, no . Can you still catch it , yes . Can you be asymptomatic and carry it , yes . So apart from taking lateral flow tests at the venue , what good are passports ?

 

I guess it comes down to what to believe and from which source. I can’t help but agree with @Rooster that those not vaccinated no matter how many, should be at the back of the queue for treatment. Trouble is that is never going to happen as it would be against those poor souls human rights.

 

Like I said the 90% the guardian & bbc are quoting are very old facts and in my opinion are deliberately misleading.
I work at a railway station on the ticket barriers an was exposed to people for six months , no jabs , no screens and no masks .
Then we got screens and I got double jabbed and then I got covid . My wife was in the house with me for 10 days and didn't get it .

 

I guess we could argue the percentages, certainly those in hospital who then require intensive care is much much higher than 35%, with 80% being the figure most are quoting, but even at 35% what a wast of NHS resources treating a bunch of selfish idiots.

Regarding your comments on corvid passports, I would have thought it was obvious that the intent is to encourage the 18-35 age group to get vaccinated so that if they subsequently catch covid they won’t require treatment in hospital. And of course a pass can be produced by showing a negative test result which is even better.

 

The endless argument, starting from an isolated case, taken as a general theory.
Unvaccinated are under 20% of my country, and they are in Chambery hospital 8 on 10 in the covid area.
3rd jab booked. And I also had the covid after 2 jabs. No one never said it avoid transmission.