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First:
I think it was a wise thing with the activated charcoal. I think that you also did what was best in your situation.
I'd like to know other non-US citizen's opinions on your health care system are
A very bad opinion. The health care system is one if the greatest shames in your country (after racism and the adoration of excessive wealth).
Honestly I just feel really sorry for you. What's even the point in living in the world's wealthiest country if it treats so many of you like shit at your most vulnerable.
What runs through your heads when you have a medical emergency?
whatever first aid I was taught that's relevant to do immediately e.g stop the bleeding
do we need to wait for an ambulance for this or shall we just drive straight to Accident and Emergency
go go go
That's about it followed by some of the usual "oh please let this person be okay". Emergencies are horrific. I can't even imagine having to factor being bankrupted into it.
I'm in New Zealand so the doctor costs money and prescriptions in some places cost $5 each. So there is still a lot of weighing up that the poor do around that kind of care. But as soon as a hospital is involved everything is free. None of that stuff is a factor any more.
Honestly? The real feeling I get from this is being scared for the future. I do know that there are powerful forces seeing a business opportunity in that status quo that can be exported. And you can see the impetus towards eroding the safety nets here following marching orders from the far right, anarchocapitalist mothership all throughout the world. In some of the countries I've lived in there is already a push towards this model, just moderated by the existence of some sort of universal health care. Sure, even the bare minimum of public service care takes a TON of the edge off. Those ER bills are what some of my friends in those places paid for, say, having major surgery or good care while having a baby... but it's a slippery slope.
We feel lucky we're not there.
Two main benefits/"public goods" from having your lives in a societal arrangement:
The US seems a prime example of too much emphasis on GDP and limited focus on quality of life. I'd rather be homeless in Cuba than in the US albeit all wealth and quality of life indicators are better in the US.
My wife needed her gall bladder out last year the most expensive part of the whole week-long ordeal was paying for parking at the hospital. She has private medical insurance through her work, but needing to deal with the paperwork and all that from the hospital wasn't worth the effort.
The fact that people have to choose between bankruptcy or dying of preventable illness is kinda like school shootings: the fact that you tolerate this at all - let alone having a major party campaign on "these things are actually good and you should be happy about them" - is pretty much proof that all of you are completely insane.
I just feel bad for y'all. Most Americans I've met are at least nice people who probably deserve healthcare.
"Probably" made me chuckle.
In Australia, it's not too uncommon to hear people have conversations about how fucked the US system is. That's partly a symptom of how intertwined my life is with the topic of medicine and healthcare systems though, I'm sure most people have far fewer discussions about those topics than I do.
Having said that, I have certainly said "Thank God I'm not in the US" and received emphatic agreement in conversations.
I've also had a doctor say "well at least you're not in the US" to me during an appointment, after I expressed some displeasure at how much something was going to cost me - because i wasn't considered a valid demographic for that specific drug to receive the subsidy.
Socialised medicine doesn't mean free medicine, sadly. And our system has been run down by the ruling class attempting to emulate the US version's money-churning machine.
Socialised medicine doesn’t mean free medicine, sadly.
It does in Scotland.
In some ways America is a third world country. Healthcare is a fundamental human right, full stop.
Honestly? I think Americans are by and large bad people for not doing anything about it.
Americans seem to be huge on politics, they talk about all these things. But they do nothing, just just come up with excuses.
Change your voting system, change your laws. The power is in the hands of the voters.
NGL, I was offended at first but I'm not sure you're wrong.
There's honestly this constant apathy that the vast majority of people take towards politics. Then some of those people are simultaneously apathetic and regular voters. It's kind of like a fan of Ferrari that doesn't really pay attention to Ferrari or its competition; they're just sure their car is the best.
Then there are those that are completely crazy.
Then there are those that actually pay attention.
It's gotten worse the past few years because instead of getting more people that paid attention we've gotten more apathetic but yet somehow passionate Ferrari lovers.
That plus people don't seem to understand Congress is where stuff actually gets done. There's so much hoopla about the president but Congress is where the focus should be. Way too many people have no idea what their reps are doing.
The power is in the hands of the voters.
That's a really hot take. Tell me, who should I vote for to bring about these magical changes I have the power to effect?
The political party I think you want is on the other side of the current democrats. Ideally, as a nation, you've gotta go left so hard that the current dems would split into right and left. It is a daunting task, and a number of elections in the making...
I honestly think it is too far gone now for it to be turned with only elections. The power is too concentrated and the methods of control are too refined. At minimum, I think it will require mass "illegal" protests along with strong voting. As a bystander in another country, I fear for you all.
you’ve gotta go left so hard that the current dems would split into right and left.
That's great in theory, but if we do that, we're giving the government to the GOP in the interim, and they've made it quite clear that if they get power, they don't intend to give it up again. Not to mention, the effects of this would extend well beyond our borders. I've advocated very strongly for exactly this sort of action in the past, but now is simply not the time.
Best guess, the left of the democrats in the primaries, for a start.
It's not that you lack politicians who agree with the changes that are needed, it's that they are seen as less electable than the guy who did tons of fraud and at least one confirmed rape, somehow. I don't know that Americans are "bad people", but the fact that these common sense positions aren't the default, centrist view across both major parties is baffling.
It's a clumsy way to put it, but it's not wrong that the lack of universal consensus around these things in the US is confusing and unreasonable.
The amount of propaganda we're subject to here is just astounding. News programs, print media, billboards, web articles, everywhere. Just looking at the way a given issue is framed completely differently in different states or cities or from different news sources is pretty eye opening. That, combined with rampant gerrymandering, makes it really hard to blame voters for voting against their self-interest; we're just being bombarded with media designed to make us think, act and vote a certain way. I'm completely sure my own views are influenced by it, too, to be clear - I'm not claiming to be some pillar of purity.
It's not that Americans are 'bad people' any more than the people in any other country are. It's just that a relatively few voices are given very large platforms and basically dictate the discourse.
I don't know, how can you possibly expect me to answer that. What options do you have as your local representative? Maybe run if there is no one good enough.
Incidentally, ranked choice voting was on the ballot where I live in 2020. I actually did spend some time trying to spread the word and drum up support. It didn't pass, so we're right back where we started, and I live in one of the most liberal states in the country.
Our state senators, representatives and local government are actually pretty alright, as American government goes, but the fact of the matter is that the country is being held back by a tyranny of the minority and those of us who don't live in the handful of battleground states that define elections don't really have much power to influence that.
Getting any sort of federal-level change into effect is basically an impossibility, because (it is my view that) corruption is so rampant. We'd have to oust the majority of the House and Senate and replace them with reasonable people to have any chance of getting the votes for something like that. At this point all we can really do is hope to hold off the fascist wave that's building.
Maybe run if there is no one good enough.
Gonna fund that? Pay for their time off?
Crowd source if need be? No other country, even poorer ones have this issue?
What the hell you guys on about.
I don't think you understand how it works in the US, nor how much time/effort which the working poor simply do not have. There's a reason why most in politics are rich there.
When i hear these stories i think im so grateful to not be born in such a horrible country. A country that can not look after its own isnt a country i want to be in
Everytime, I read a horror story about US healthcare, I am like can't be the norm, it should be a made up clickbait article based on an exception
Please US friends, tell me you have a decent coverage.
Moreover, everytime I read about before insurance prices it doesn't compute. How can an US doctor charge like 10 times the prices on our side of the pond ?
How can an US doctor charge like 10 times the prices on our side of the pond ?
There's an unspoken assumption that when doctors quote a price, the insurance companies will widdle that down to a fraction of that amount when they pay out, so if a procedure actually costs $X.00, doctors will bill the insurance for $X * Y, so insurance actually ends up paying what it actually costs.
The side effect is that we pay co-pays or deductibles or non-100% coverage amounts based on what insurance was billed, not what the procedure actually cost. It's actually cheaper in some cases (especially with regards to medications) to not use insurance because then, we'll get billed what it actually cost, not the grossly inflated amount, and if our coverage is only, say, 50% for a given procedure, or if we have a co-pay on medication, we end up paying less. Meanwhile we're still paying the insurance companies for the coverage we're not taking advantage of. The whole system is fucked beyond belief. We know it, we just can't do anything about it.
"Vote for the politicians who want to fix it!" only works if they actually do want to fix it, and will follow through if elected.
American here, we have amassed more wealth than Rome at its peak, yet a disgusting number of our citizens live in third world conditions. Another disgusting amount of people live in relative comfort, but also in impossible debt that threatens them daily. They will be homeless soon, and they know it.
Our wealth inequality is worse than France before the Revolution, and it increases constantly. The wealthy don’t care. They just want more. They’ll burn the entire fucking planet to ash if it makes them a little more profit.
And Americans pay their utility bills with credit cards. And their grocery bills with credit cards. Their wages go to rent and booze/smoke to get by. Look at the mental health numbers in America and factor in the people worried about getting fired if they admit they’re struggling and ask for help. Factor in the ones who don’t have health insurance and can’t even ask for the help they need.
It’s a fucking nightmare here. And it’s getting worse every day. Trump is going to win for a reason.
We haven't amassed shit. The wealthy have stolen it all.
If you are sufficiently wealthy in the US, you can afford what we have as routine in Europe, which is healthcare. In the US, there are many who cannot afford insurance, and even with insurance, the policy is unlikely to cover your needs, especially for anything other than acute care.
I didn't read the article, but I read your story, OP. Your situation sounds shitty. As a Canadian, we take our kid to the doc when we feel it's necessary. We live in a rural community and we don't have a family doctor, so that usually means a trip to the ER, but we consider the cost in time (ie, how many hours will I have I take off work), rather than money.
I think it would be fair to say that we take our kids to the doc too often. I'm not proud of that, but I'll happily pay taxes for other parents to do the same.
Having to think about price when your boy is having difficulty breathing sounds dystopian.
The one thing even Americans who have health insurance don't realize about single payer healthcare systems, is that we don't worry about it.
We don't consider it when switching jobs, we don't think about it when we're sick, we don't worry about medical bills.... we just go to the doctor/hospital, and worry about getting better or dealing with the work implications of taking time off.
The weight for that piece simply doesn't rest on our shoulders or minds at all.
You've been tricked and brainwashed you into thinking what you have is normal, and it's disturbing how many of you think it's a reasonable way to continue.
Sadly, the brainwashing has been so effective that those who buy it never noticed that those gaslighting people into believing that no government system (eg, single payer) could ever work are the ones (Republicans) doing their best to ensure that government remains as broken as possible.
More people believe that our system is fucked than those who think this kind of system is normal.
We're just faced with so many hurdles, gerrymandering, red states that exist only because of minority representation have more power over larger population areas (districts by size and not population, electoral college) ... The majority of the country is merely surviving and the apathy sets in. I remind people that voting fascists out is the only way things are going to change and often the response is "Well, I tried that once and it didn't work." So they stop showing up to vote. Or they buy into the 'both sides' BS and post lame memes on Facebook and Reddit.
A lot of us really are painfully aware of how fucked it is.
I'm American and trust me, in no way does it feel normal even after living with it my whole life. Simply hearing what you describe - not thinking about it - feels so deeply right and reasonable that it reminds me just how much weight of "this is not normal" we carry around.
I do like that in my country, if there's an emergency, you don't need to think about it. You just get help without fear of being financially crippled for life.
I feel bad for Americans that you can't easily get medical help, even in emergencies.
It makes me think that the US is as weird and dumb as current state of most Europe.
I find this reassuring as an American in a backwards sort of way.