Re: The Doctor Will See You<In Three Months

In article <I4kni.22415$RX.11296@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
<Hawki63@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Just because you disagree with something doesn't make it "total and
utter BS." You can't just pick what facts you like, and ignore those
you don't. If you have evidence contradicting this study that would be
better than a blanket dismissal.

call me an insider with decent insurance (which I pay dearly for)...but
NEVER have hubby or I or any family members been put on waiting lists...

I don't know any doctor, any place where you don't have to wait to see
him in anything but an emergency basis.

the "waiting lists" I am referring to are for TREATMENT once ordered..ie
surgeries,,MRIs etc


The *only* waiting lists in Canada are for elective surgeries. There
are no waiting "lists" for emergency surgeries or any other problems.

There are two main problems with comparing "wait times" in the US vs
Canada, or throughout Canada. Firstly, every province in Canada uses
different criteria for "wait times." Some measure waiting time from
when the person first goes to his primary care to point of surgery.
Others measure from the time the person sees a specialist to the time
they have surgery. There are other criteria as well. Because it is not
uniform, it is difficult to come up with an exact figure for wait
times, but certainly if you look at the data the majority of people,
undergoing the majority of procedures, are not waiting anything like a
year. In fact, I could see only one province where even 1 percent of
people waited over 182 days for *any* procedure. The median wait time
is now 3 weeks, and it is a small minority that have to wait a long
time in Canada.

The other issue is that the US government does not maintain data on
wait times, nor do the governments of many other countries with
universal health care. The Commonwealth Fund study I cited is one of
the first to actually study the wait times in multiple countries, and
come up with a meaningful comparison. I am sorry you feel the need to
dismiss it out of hand, because almost everything else you're reading
out there is based on anecdotal evidence, speculation and, in some
cases, blatant exaggeration. The Commonwealth study showed that people
in Canada do indeed wait longer for non-emergency specialist care than
in the US, but US citizens wait longer for regular doctor visits than
any other country besides Canada. Germany was tops for lowest wait
times, which is not surprising as it also has the largest number of
doctors and nurses of all countries surveyed.


tell me WHERE one waits (Canadian and UK data)...10 + months for heart
surgery...a year or so for joint replacement surgery...etc etc

getting in to see a doctor is not a "wait"...it is called triage..

Rationing occurs in every system. In Canada, rationing takes the form
of long waits, but those who are most at risk get seen promtly. In the
US, rationing takes the form of people being denied treatment
altogether. Which do you think works better for most people: waiting,
or being denied?

Another topic that isn't often raised in this debate is that the US
leads the world in unnecesssary surgeries and procedures, a reality
that led to the creation of HMOs and bureaucratic oversight of doctors
in the first place. So people with really good insurance are being
convinced by unscrupulous doctors to get procedures they don't really
need or are questionable as this makes them $$$, and those without
insurance or with poor insurance are being denied treatment altogether,
both by doctors and by insurance companies. The profit motive creates
incentives to exploit patients in one way and deny them necessary
treatments in others.

If you find you never have to
wait, I would assume your insider status, even more than your
insurance, is the cause though good insurance helps.

sorry...I simply call in...do I get seen the same day?? course not...can I
see my ortho in a few days ...always (or one of his associates if he is
booked out more than a week)....last week I needed an MRI...took 36 hours
for insurance auth..then was scheduled the next day...left with the
films...called ortho for return appt...offered an appt 5 days later...that
is NOT the waiting lists referred to...

There are no "waiting lists" in the US, but people do have to wait.
Even the chief medical officer of Aetna said wait times for procedures
like cancer surgery can be over a month on average. Add on to that the
time it takes to see your PC and the specialist in the first place. Do
you know something he doesn't?

I have a doctor I
see regularly for fibro, a rheumatologist and one of the few docs in
this area (aka Upstate New York, home to several million people) that
understands fibro. It can takes 3 months to get in to see him, and he
is in Albany, the state capital. It can six months to see a neurologist
in the nearest major city.

wellll golleee....I live in a large urban area...I have never had to wait
more than ...at most a few weeks..to see a "new specialist"...all I do is
call ...tell them I have PPO insurance..etc...

You also have insider status, so your particular experience is not only
anecdotal, but is not representative of what most people go through.
I'm sure if you know somebody or are connected in Canada or anywhere
else, you get seen way before the rest of the herd as well.
Professional courtesy exists everywhere. Beyond that, money always
talks.

when hubby needed cancer surgery..yep it was streamlined...he needed
multiple scans..surgeon's visits,,and cardiac clearance...he was in surgery
in less than a week...

try getting cancer surgery in Canada in a week

That is certainly not typical in the US, where people often wait for
over a month for such procedures. You keep forgetting you have insider
status, and that counts for a lot.

--Sean C
.

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