<story><title>Richard Lynch, an awesome PHP community guy and former colleague needs our help</title><url>http://richardlynch.blogspot.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jwdunne</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m from the UK. The NHS is shambles and is spread very, very thin. Doctors are pissed off. Patients are pissed off. The government seems to be too. However I would prefer the 3 hour A&amp;amp;E (ER) waiting times, being spoken to like shit if it isn&amp;#x27;t as serious as originally thought and epic waiting lists for outpatient services than having companies profit from my health and the massive vulnerability that puts me in (on top of just bad health). Even for all the bad of the NHS, when things really to hit the fan, I can be sure I get seen to ASAP when it is deadly serious.&lt;p&gt;Just last month my pregnant fiancée was very ill with an infection and she was examined straight away at A&amp;amp;E, bypassing the 3 hour waiting time. It&amp;#x27;s for cases like here that the 3 hour wait is in place. There was no cost to me for any of that, perhaps except national insurance which is very small payments out of my pay packet each month a d the £7 for the course of anti-biotics&lt;p&gt;The real problem is how do we adequately reward doctors who spend such a massive amount of effort and time not just in school but in work? The NYS cannot do this, there are targets like &amp;quot;15 mins per patient on ward rounds&amp;quot;. Each doctor needs to spend 10 years in the NHS before private practice. How is a system like this sustainable with a massive budget deficit to boot and government that would like to see its end?</text></item><item><author>lucisferre</author><text>You would be surprised. It wasn&amp;#x27;t long ago when I met an intelligent and otherwise very well informed American who truly believed that the &amp;quot;socialized&amp;quot; Canadian healthcare system was a 3rd rate disaster and feared any change to the precious US system would lead to a similar situation.&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong he acknowledged it wasn&amp;#x27;t great, but there is more than sufficient doubt and confusion amongst most Americans with regards to what the actual problem is an how to fix it to prevent any kind of attempt and changing things.</text></item><item><author>lotharbot</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;you can get this public picture that everything is great&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not aware of anyone, from any political background, who thinks the US system is anything above &amp;quot;pretty crappy&amp;quot;.  I&amp;#x27;ve heard some people express positive sentiments regarding small parts of the system -- the quality of certain types of care, for example -- but never for the system as a whole.&lt;p&gt;The primary disagreements I&amp;#x27;m aware of concern how to fix the current worst-of-both-worlds system.  Do we put it entirely in government hands?  Do we enact more regulations to try to force down costs?  Do we remove or relax regulations that appear to drive up costs?  How do we create transparency in pricing?  How do we respond to innovative groups like Qliance?  How should we balance the role of government, individuals, families, employers, and charity in health care?&lt;p&gt;Do not mistake disagreement on how to answer those questions as support for the current system.</text></item><item><author>benched</author><text>Very sorry. Speaking from experience, this is exactly how it is. When there&amp;#x27;s a serious medical situation, the focus is necessarily on the bills. They even send you separate envelopes for every little line item and provider, staggered over time, even more than a year after the service, so you can never stop thinking about it. Always fearing opening the mailbox, having to deal with confusing hard to reconcile charges, trying to catch double-billing, dealing with payments to multiple providers. The stress of the bills can easily make the illness worse. The US is truly a barbaric system. But it has this small bubble of well-off people, who have a disproportionate platform for their propaganda, so you can get this public picture that everything is great. Everyone beams smiles in the commercials, consuming the miracle products. The well-off only associate with others who are well-off, so they can pat each other on the back and say &amp;quot;What a country! All this opportunity for those with the right sort of character, like us!&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>piratebroadcast</author><text>My mom just got diagnosed with extensive small cell lung cancer (thats spread to her brain) and I am fucking terrified about whats going to happen to us financially. I can&amp;#x27;t even focus completely on my mother as a person because I&amp;#x27;m wondering about the bills, then I feel bad for worrying. It fucking sucks.</text></item><item><author>amix</author><text>I donated $50, but I really wish US (and other countries) would reconsider their broken healthcare systems. My dad died of cancer a few years ago and I am really glad we lived in Denmark when he got it - - with a great public healthcare system. He lived 2 years with his cancer, which is a lot when you are counting days. Not many normal people can afford these things (as each of my dads treatments cost about 20.000USD+ and he had a lot of them).&lt;p&gt;Also, just yesterday DHH posted this:
&amp;quot;Top income tax rate for California residents is 51.6%. Top for Danish residents is 51.7%. (Kicking at $500k+ vs $70K+, though).&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Which puts things in perspective.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>thorin</author><text>I just had a baby daughter. The care was excellent at a hospital a couple of miles from home. At one point we had 3 midwives helping, then the anaesthetist and for the delivery we had 3 doctors at one point. After-birth care was great too and we were encouraged to stay at the hospital until we felt comfortable going home all the while with adequate food and a private room.&lt;p&gt;We had to go to A and E with our daughter a couple of weeks ago. We were seen before I even had time to park my car after dropping off the wife and baby! The doctor and nurse were both very supportive and were happy to see us even reassuring us that we were absolutely right to come in even though no treatment was required in the end.&lt;p&gt;Around 10 years ago I had months of physio on the NHS and a series of consultant appointments. I was very happy with the service.&lt;p&gt;Yes, the NHS is struggling like all public services, but the media seem keen to trash the NHS and force us into privacy to keep the (mainly conservative) MP&amp;#x27;s happy and help their friends get the big contracts. It makes mistakes and isn&amp;#x27;t perfect but in general I&amp;#x27;ve had good experiences.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve also had surgery and a lengthy hospital stay in California. An excellent standard of service but at a massive cost (fortunately fully paid by my travel insurance).&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d prefer the service as it is in the UK where everyone is equal insurance or not even if the quality is not quite as high as places where the end user is paying for the service.</text></comment>
<story><title>Richard Lynch, an awesome PHP community guy and former colleague needs our help</title><url>http://richardlynch.blogspot.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jwdunne</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m from the UK. The NHS is shambles and is spread very, very thin. Doctors are pissed off. Patients are pissed off. The government seems to be too. However I would prefer the 3 hour A&amp;amp;E (ER) waiting times, being spoken to like shit if it isn&amp;#x27;t as serious as originally thought and epic waiting lists for outpatient services than having companies profit from my health and the massive vulnerability that puts me in (on top of just bad health). Even for all the bad of the NHS, when things really to hit the fan, I can be sure I get seen to ASAP when it is deadly serious.&lt;p&gt;Just last month my pregnant fiancée was very ill with an infection and she was examined straight away at A&amp;amp;E, bypassing the 3 hour waiting time. It&amp;#x27;s for cases like here that the 3 hour wait is in place. There was no cost to me for any of that, perhaps except national insurance which is very small payments out of my pay packet each month a d the £7 for the course of anti-biotics&lt;p&gt;The real problem is how do we adequately reward doctors who spend such a massive amount of effort and time not just in school but in work? The NYS cannot do this, there are targets like &amp;quot;15 mins per patient on ward rounds&amp;quot;. Each doctor needs to spend 10 years in the NHS before private practice. How is a system like this sustainable with a massive budget deficit to boot and government that would like to see its end?</text></item><item><author>lucisferre</author><text>You would be surprised. It wasn&amp;#x27;t long ago when I met an intelligent and otherwise very well informed American who truly believed that the &amp;quot;socialized&amp;quot; Canadian healthcare system was a 3rd rate disaster and feared any change to the precious US system would lead to a similar situation.&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong he acknowledged it wasn&amp;#x27;t great, but there is more than sufficient doubt and confusion amongst most Americans with regards to what the actual problem is an how to fix it to prevent any kind of attempt and changing things.</text></item><item><author>lotharbot</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;you can get this public picture that everything is great&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not aware of anyone, from any political background, who thinks the US system is anything above &amp;quot;pretty crappy&amp;quot;.  I&amp;#x27;ve heard some people express positive sentiments regarding small parts of the system -- the quality of certain types of care, for example -- but never for the system as a whole.&lt;p&gt;The primary disagreements I&amp;#x27;m aware of concern how to fix the current worst-of-both-worlds system.  Do we put it entirely in government hands?  Do we enact more regulations to try to force down costs?  Do we remove or relax regulations that appear to drive up costs?  How do we create transparency in pricing?  How do we respond to innovative groups like Qliance?  How should we balance the role of government, individuals, families, employers, and charity in health care?&lt;p&gt;Do not mistake disagreement on how to answer those questions as support for the current system.</text></item><item><author>benched</author><text>Very sorry. Speaking from experience, this is exactly how it is. When there&amp;#x27;s a serious medical situation, the focus is necessarily on the bills. They even send you separate envelopes for every little line item and provider, staggered over time, even more than a year after the service, so you can never stop thinking about it. Always fearing opening the mailbox, having to deal with confusing hard to reconcile charges, trying to catch double-billing, dealing with payments to multiple providers. The stress of the bills can easily make the illness worse. The US is truly a barbaric system. But it has this small bubble of well-off people, who have a disproportionate platform for their propaganda, so you can get this public picture that everything is great. Everyone beams smiles in the commercials, consuming the miracle products. The well-off only associate with others who are well-off, so they can pat each other on the back and say &amp;quot;What a country! All this opportunity for those with the right sort of character, like us!&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>piratebroadcast</author><text>My mom just got diagnosed with extensive small cell lung cancer (thats spread to her brain) and I am fucking terrified about whats going to happen to us financially. I can&amp;#x27;t even focus completely on my mother as a person because I&amp;#x27;m wondering about the bills, then I feel bad for worrying. It fucking sucks.</text></item><item><author>amix</author><text>I donated $50, but I really wish US (and other countries) would reconsider their broken healthcare systems. My dad died of cancer a few years ago and I am really glad we lived in Denmark when he got it - - with a great public healthcare system. He lived 2 years with his cancer, which is a lot when you are counting days. Not many normal people can afford these things (as each of my dads treatments cost about 20.000USD+ and he had a lot of them).&lt;p&gt;Also, just yesterday DHH posted this:
&amp;quot;Top income tax rate for California residents is 51.6%. Top for Danish residents is 51.7%. (Kicking at $500k+ vs $70K+, though).&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Which puts things in perspective.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cowls</author><text>The NHS is not a shambles. Its puts a lot of other countries health care system to shame.&lt;p&gt;Your moaning about having a 3 hour wait for non urgent cases, when in other countries you&amp;#x27;d have to pay a fortune for such treatment.&lt;p&gt;And who cares how they talk to you, as long as you end up getting the treatment you need that&amp;#x27;s all that matters.</text></comment>