Healthcare Discussion AGAIN.(WAS: retirement savings)

I can't specifically answer your question, but I know retirees in the States get far better treatment than they do here. At least people don't constantly die from MRSA in the States. Be smart and stay where you are.

One more thing: if you ever go to a private doctor here, expect to pay out of your nose. Just yesterday, I went to see a private orthopaedist (for the third time) about my three-break shoulder and arm. He spent no more than five minutes looking at my X-rays and talking to me, but you should know he charged at least a hundred quid (or 200 dollars) for a useless consultation. Needless to say, IF I go back to see him on December 18, while in the meantime I've also been seeing and separately paying 80 quid a week for physiotherapy, he'll find out JUST how LITIGIOUS an AMERICAN CAN GET.

Suzanne

You make make several interesting statements in this thread, most of which I do not feel qualified to comment upon.  However, as a healthcare worker I did feel that your statement that "at least people don't constantly die of MRSA in the States..." was rather black and white.  As part of my studies I've just read a paper on the prevalence of MRSA in the States and it makes interesting reading. Here is the reference:


www.cdc.gov/eid/content/13/12/pdfs/07-0629.pdf

As I am no academic I will leave people to make their own judgments as to the prevalence of MRSA in the States.

well, seeing as the that NHS has saved my life a couple of times, delivered both my babies safely, I've gotten to see an out of hours doctor more times than i can count, whereas i went bankrupt in the US after an drunken motorist in a stolen car slammed into mine when i had no insurance, i'll take the NHS any day.

sure, you're not going to get a plush hospital room with cable TV and fine-quality dining, but you're there because you're ill.  it's not a hotel.

My mother contracted MRSA in a US hospital. It's definitely not just a problem in the UK!

My mother contracted MRSA in a US hospital. It's definitely not just a problem in the UK!

i had a university professor whose husband also contracted MRSA in a US hosptial following treatment for a heart attack.

I can't specifically answer your question, but I know retirees in the States get far better treatment than they do here. At least people don't constantly die from MRSA in the States. Be smart and stay where you are.

MRSA is all over the States...as a matter of fact it is all over everywhere and has very little to do with hospital hygiene.   

as far as retirees getting better treatment, well, my folks are retired and know plenty of people who regularly go without food to pay for their prescription meds.

my father, on Medicare, waited 6 weeks with a urinary catheter in place for a prostate operation.

and a lot of doctors won't take Medicare at all, so there are wait lists for specialist treatment there, too.

. At least people don't constantly die from MRSA in the States. Be smart and stay where you are.

As a RN who has worked in the US and the UK, I can assure you that I have dealt with at least as much MRSA in the US as I have here. And they die of complications arising from MRSA in both countries. 

I was going to say more, but really, what's the point?

My mother, who is elderly and in the US, has bedsores which are constantly being re-infected because when she has been hospitalised on various occasions, the staff have left her lying in her own waste for extended periods of time.

She has health insurance.

MRSA is all over the world and no worse in UK hospitals.

With all the media coverage and high publicity there is probably more being done in the UK to reduce MRSA rates than elsewhere.

The reason you dont hear about it so much in the USA, Suzanne, is that the media and the government collude to keep their dirty little secrets to themselves so you can carry on living in a dreamworld utopia.
 

One more thing: if you ever go to a private doctor here, expect to pay out of your nose. Just yesterday, I went to see a private orthopaedist (for the third time) about my three-break shoulder and arm. He spent no more than five minutes looking at my X-rays and talking to me, but you should know he charged at least a hundred quid (or 200 dollars) for a useless consultation. Needless to say, IF I go back to see him on December 18, while in the meantime I've also been seeing and separately paying 80 quid a week for physiotherapy, he'll find out JUST how LITIGIOUS an AMERICAN CAN GET.

Suzanne if you go to a private doctor in the US, you WILL pay through the nose - unless you have insurance. Which, incidentally, they can cancel half way through your treatment.

But why are you using a private orthopaedist? Have you got BUPA or something?

I am kind of curious about the litigious statement IF you go back to see him because you were attending a private physio.