Thursday, January 26, 2012
Government Health Care Update
The official wait time in my region for bilateral total hip arthroplasty at the VA is one year. Bone on bone, walking with a walker, end stage arthritis. One year. Seems like the VA has surpassed both Canada and the UK in a very short period of time. The rest of us to follow shortly. Yay!
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Waiting to Save Money on Healthcare
ReplyDelete(At the link, see the link at the upper right)
Lack of resources or a shortage of doctors can increase waiting times. Further, some parts of the UK health service have discovered that long waits save money for the "system".
09/06/11 - Daniel J. Mitchell
The Telegraph UK - National Health Service makes patients wait "to lower expectations".
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[edited] At least 10 primary care trusts (PCTs) in Britian have told hospitals to increase the wait to treat patients, to save money.
Some patients endured delays of 12-15 weeks after their doctors decided on surgery, although hospitals could have seen them sooner. The allowed maximum is 18 weeks.
One manager said "short waiting times create more demand for treatment". An NHS watchdog suggested that long wait times cause patients to remove themselves from the lists "either by dying or by paying for their own treatment". PCTs have gamed the system, using maximum limits to delay treatment.
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When you control your own payment for healthcare, you are a valued customer. When you prepay through taxes, you are a cost and a statistic.
Its Ass-Burgers, Andy Capp.
ReplyDeleteJeez-Us Grumpy, your full of more piss & vinegar than the bedside urinal I had after my rotator cuff repair.
Actually still have, I might have a 20 year old Schlong, but the old Prostrate's startin to let me know who's boss.
Oh sorry, they probably don't do Rotator Cuff repairs in the UK unless your a famous Cricket Bowler or something.
But in America, the Country who's kicked your ass twice, saved it twice more, and if it wasnt for us buying Rolling Stones albums your economy would be even worse off than it already is, even some dirty homeless dude gets better medical care than the friggin Queen of England.
Seriously, havent you guys heard of Fluoride?
Oh I forgot..
Harumph!
Frank
Any thoughts about applying for the op before the patient gets to the bone-on-bone, walker-using phase? Perhaps, a year before? Unless he woke up one morning in that condition?
ReplyDeleteLorelei,
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting thought. As goods get scarce people buy ahead and hoard them. As the waiting time for operations becomes longer, people will attempt to plan ahead by faking their symptoms, on the chance that their conditions will become worse.
The result will be higher demand for operations, many done on people who don't yet need them.
loreli,
ReplyDeleteinteresting point. I know that within the VA you can't apply for an operation as the surgeon without certain criteria being met. in other words, and I have no proof of this, I suspect it is perfectly possible that this patient tried to get the operation for quite some time and was told 'no' because 'maximum medical benefit' had not yet been acheived. steroid shots and stuff like that.