US Healthcare: Understanding the Challenges of Accessibility

[Sophia]

As far as taxes are concerned, I am no expert so I chose to remain silent

 

[DiracPool]

They only differ in things like paying for spa (that is traditionally highly used here as we have quite a few springs of healing mineral and thermal water)

Would my Slovakian medical care coverage also cover a monthly sugar foot rub?

 

[Sophia]

I must disappoint you, DiracPool, you won't get that
But if you have heart disease, movement problems, asthma, certain serious allergies, cancer in remission, certain skin disorders or if you had a gynecological surgery in the past year, you might get 21 days in spa for 1.66- 7.3 €/day + food (price depends on diagnosis- the more serious diagnosis, the less you pay). Pool entry and therapeutic procedures prescribed by doctor are 100% covered. If your child gets spa prescription, you can go with him for 5€/ day :)
Spas have a long tradition here, some of them have been known for hundreds of years (the one in the video was first mentioned in 1247) and it is very common to visit them.
For example
(after first minute) This one is about 45 minutes by train from where I live.
My friend went there for 3 weeks when she had a cyst on her ovary and my dad's doctor told him she would send him to another spa when his heart calms down a bit. There are about 20 spas in SR, each specializes in different health problems. It depends on minerals present in the water and climate conditions. Insurance even covers treatment of children with respiratory problems in caves :)

On the other side, most of our hospitals are in the same condition as they were during socialist era. They are crowded because lot of hospitals had to be closed for economic reasons so sometimes you have to wait a long time before you are accepted and doctors and nurses simply can't manage so many patients at one time. We do have some very good doctors compared to other countries but the equipment is just too old and overall conditions are desolate.
I was wondering if it is better in countries where you pay much more for insurance and what the actual availability of healthcare is there.
Because now I am confused if the critical state of our system is a result of socialism, capitalism or just plain corruption and irresponsibility of the government. It is difficult for my generation to understand all mechanisms and influences after 1990. So I wanted to compare our situation with traditionally capitalist countries to see how it works over there.

 

[SteamKing]

On the other side, most of our hospitals are in the same condition as they were during socialist era. They are crowded because lot of hospitals had to be closed for economic reasons so sometimes you have to wait a long time before you are accepted and doctors and nurses simply can't manage so many patients at one time. We do have some very good doctors compared to other countries but the equipment is just too old and overall conditions are desolate.
I was wondering if it is better in countries where you pay much more for insurance and what the actual availability of healthcare is there.
Because now I am confused if the critical state of our system is a result of socialism, capitalism or just plain corruption and irresponsibility of the government. It is difficult for my generation to understand all mechanisms and influences after 1990. So I wanted to compare our situation with traditionally capitalist countries to see how it works over there.

Corruption and irresponsibility are twin plagues which are present in all economic systems and in all countries, unfortunately. So is the shortage of qualified personnel to staff hospitals and clinics, from doctors all the way down to the nurses and other support staff.

It's that way in the US, where medical training for doctors is expensive, and new doctors often enter the field paying off large sums borrowed to pay for medical school. The first response of the politicians is to cut costs by lowering the amount of reimbursement to physicians who treat patients receiving care paid for by government (this includes medicaid and Medicare). As a result, many physicians are reluctant to treat such patients, which means if you are on medicaid, your waiting time to see a physician or specialist can be quite lengthy. With more people being dumped into the medicaid system due to the effects of the ACA, things are only going to get worse as the level of care declines, especially since medicaid is funded only partially by the federal government (the individual states pick up the difference).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid

 

[russ_watters]

So far I just understand that the US system is very complicated and there are plenty possibities depending on your plan and even the area you live in...

That's a good start. People like to portray it as an unmitigated disaster, when the reality is much more complicated. Glad you see that now.

 

[Sophia]

Thank you for your responses, SteamKing and russ_watters. I will think about that and do some more reading.

 

[meBigGuy]

Here is a link that describes a large health insurance program. (I think regence is the largest)
Regence has group plans, family plans, individual plans, medicare advantage plans, and many other sub categories related to primary care physicians, preferred providers, contract providers, and so on.
If it asks for your location you can probably enter any US zip code. Just pick a city. (for example seattle = 98101 Los Angeles = 90001)
https://www.regence.com/web/regence_individual/understanding-health-insurance

 

[WWGD]

Ultimately, many quality-control methods (like 6-Sigma) that have been proven successful in many areas (in terms of both improving quality and saving $$ ) could be used in healthcare*, both in design and implementation, but there are still important barriers to their adoption. It seems US culture does not fit well with 6-sigma paradigm; kind of strange, given US-born Ed Demming got the ball rolling on QC methods in Japan after WW2. Companies using 6-Sugma, like Motorola, Toyota, etc. have been consistently successful. It seems like it is the future..* They actuallyhave been used successfully in small-scale implementations.