A bunch of questions

No - the public health care system in Washington state (as mandated by federal Medicaid regulations) did serious damage to my son. To think it would be better when the orders come from the other side of the continent defies credulity. In contrast, when I could choose what treatment he would have because I was paying, the underlying problem was corrected quickly. Why anybody would choose to throw away all control of their health care is beyond me.

When I had to pay for his treatment myself I was poor. So I did what I had to - I got a second job that I worked for 11 years and left my job that had topped out at $10/hr for one that started at $14/hr and increased rapidly with experience. The tradeoff is that I sell more hours of my life - I am on call even when on vacation and worked until midnight one night when I was supposed to be on bereavement leave following the death of my mother. It hasn't been easy and there were no guarantees except for harder work and more responsibilities. Such was my lot in life and I rose to the challenge, and I am a better man for it.

I used to work with a man who is still a Swedish citizen. We were talking about the health care system in Sweden, and he said it was adequate for most people if you weren't in a hurry or misdiagnosed. It seems initial diagnoses are carved in stone - if you have "an allergic reaction" and it is really leukemia, you aren't likely to live long enough to get a second opinion. In addition, emergency room waits for conditions that aren't getting worse - like fractures - are often 12 hours or more.

Mike

Mike,

Please don't get me wrong, Mike, because I don't question your son's experience nor your friends comments. I have a Canadian friend who loves their healthcare system. Individual experiences don't provide the overall picture, however. Remember the old saying "analysis without synthesis reduces all to the chaos of multiplicity"?

At the link below you will find the conclusion of a comprehensive and uncontested study of health care in the U.S. as compared to the national health care systems in every other modern nation. The U.S. stands with South Africa as the only modern nations that don't have a system for national health care. You will discover that we pay about twice what these nations pay for better care.

My primary health care provider is the U.S. Veteran's Administration. I can afford private care but the V.A. is so much better than private providers I've used as to make the V.A. an easy choice. In fact, they ranked ahead of private U.S. providers in a recent, well publicized study. I wasn't the least bit surprised by the results of that study.

Bill