...Well, thankfully here in the UK we have our wonderful National Health System...
I believe they have something similar in Canada too, eh?
https://www.internationalinsurance.com/health/systems/canadian-health-care.php but rather than a national health plan, it is a collection of provincial health plans with some mandatory federal mandates.
Interestingly, however, more than a few of our neighbors to the north come here to the USA for some health care.
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/leaving-canada-for-medical-care-2017.pdfNot because the [Canadian] health care is substandard by any means--its not--but because of the
waiting times. The waiting times in the USA are, in some cases bad enough, I couldn't possibly imagine dealing with something significantly greater. This Covid situation gave many pause here; all surgeries but those deemed immediately life threatening were cancelled for ~90 days here, and large numbers of people who were sick got sicker. Cancer rates dropped precipitously (
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/drop-cancer-diagnoses-concern-doctors/story?id=70682238) not because people weren't getting cancer, but because they couldn't get in for a diagnosis. My aunt lived in pain and misery for 90 days while her scheduled shoulder surgery was put off. My friend had his gall bladder removal put off, and in the ensuing 90 days got progressively sicker as his body became more compromised.
Waiting=bad for patients.I experienced "socialized medicine" on a trip to Sicily in 2017. My father took ill, and we went to an urgent care; an emergency room and finally a specialist. Thank goodness we had our tour guide with us, for in each location, she had to say
"Per favore, questo signore ha bisogno del tuo aiuto. È un turista americano di origini siciliane, è uno di noi." Only that got my father bumped up to the head of the line, and trust me lines there were long at the medical facilities, waiting for
everything. Those waiting looked like sad characters from a Fellini movie. The translation basically says he needs our help, and he's an American tourist but "one of us". One thing I can say is that while the rest of the world may have pejoratives about Americans in general, the Sicilians have a long memory of how America provided a place for so many to emigrate to, and it was the Americans who liberated Sicily in 1943. It may sound like ancient history, but the love we found in Sicily was like none other. (right Mauro?)
Whether you get free prescriptions in the UK or they cost £10, if it is a costly drug it's being
subsidized by areas with high prices. Yeah, that's the USA...
https://www.ibtimes.com/how-us-subsidizes-cheap-drugs-europe-2112662I have, when needed, completely without guilt or shame done whatsoever, did whatever I could to get medication I needed. That included self-import, completely against US Law (now ask me if I care) but it worked. One medication, on some fabricated shortage in the USA was commonly available overseas. My first batch came from a Panamanian Pharmacy, with a call center in Canada, dispensed from Mauritius, made in France, packaged for the Turkish market. My second batch came from Italy, made in Italy. These two illegal imports lasted me the 18 months until it became available in the USA again.
SO..."bad as it is" I guess the system isn't so bad...
