Has anyone watched Sicko?Shocked by what i learnt.

what'd ya think, Fitzy? ok, next up..........'rollerball'!

"liberty requires vigilance............." very well said, Hat!

i can't complain about the healthcare, i've gotten from the VA. they have to work within the parameters afforded them by the three branches of govt. what i do have a problem with is the government's handling of agent orange, gulf war syndrome (which i believe is the result of exposure to chemical weapons), and ptsd (which has has been known as 'shell shock', 'battle fatigue', and ptsd). well known and recognized since WWI, not a made up condition. if you're diagnosed while still in the service, you're given a general discharge, and since it's not a full honorable discharge, you aren't eligible for VA healthcare.

i was in III corps in vietnam, the most heavily sprayed area of vietnam. the base i was on, was totally defoliated. at the time it never struck me as strange that everything where i lived was mud. it stays in the dirt and when dry blows around and gets in everything. you couldn't keep anything clean. a truck driving by would cover you with dust before you could get back to your hooch after a shower. we ate it, drank it, breathed it, and absorbed it through our skin.........dioxin - agent orange. once in your body, it stays forever and may take decades to expose itself. exposure to dioxin is known to wreak havoc with the auto-immune system...........ulcerative colitis is an auto-immune disease. does the VA recognize UC as a result of agent orange exposure? no! my daughter was born with scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. does the VA recognize scoliosis as a result of agent orange exposure? no! but they do recognize spina bifida! it's not that i am looking for compensation, but there are a lot of guys already dead from diseases that may now be recognized too late for them, and some from diseases that still aren't recognized......all because of a nutty system of study that is predisposed to out waiting the lives of those in need. i can explain that to anyone who really wants to know. and the pattern is continuing today with a whole new generation, stonewalling gulf war vet's afflictions, and abandoning vets that gave their all only to receive a general discharge with no bennies. and if anyone doesn't believe me, go spend some time on the IAVA website. it would take the most obstinate of ostriches to not learn something there.

thanks, judy! we really didn't have much choice back then, so you can temper your praise. i am one of millions, along with my brother, and a fellow we worked with in a grocery store in high school. he didn't make it back. it was thoughts of him and the other 58,000 that made you feel somehow guilty when you came home. i wouldn't, however, trade the experience for anything. it is odd that such a short time (it didn't seem like it at the time) in your life, can become such a prism through which you view the rest of your life......an experience i think anyone who has faced down a life changing, life threatening event experiences.........brain surgery, cancer, accident, etc.

vv

I've not seen Sicko, but it's interesting to read different views from both sides. I live in the UK and yes there are times our health service can be a little frustrating. For the first few years after I was diagnosed I was seeing a consultant (one of two or sometimes a nurse) every 6 months, although I would often receive a letter from the hospital changing my appointment and putting it back by 3 months at a time, so I normally saw someone every 9 - 12 months. During this time my health would be up and down and I just put up with it. The downside was I wasn't really being treated, I was on medication but it wasn't reviewed often enough, I was advised to self-medicate when I couldn't get to see the doctor. There was no telephone or email contact so I just had to accept it.

A couple of years ago I discovered an insurance company who specialised in existing conditions, although it's not a complete insurance scheme it covers me for a set value of visits to a private hospital per year for a cost of £26 a month (about $50). I now see my consultant whenever I want, I can phone him or email him, my appointments take as long as I need rather than 10 minutes and you're out as it used to be. I now don't need to pay to park in the hospital car park and there are plenty of spaces (a big problem in most of the NHS hospitals I've been to in the past). In addition to this I now have free eye check ups, free dental work, and get a payout if I ever need to spend a night in hospital.

I do go through the NHS for any tests (endoscopy etc) and if I were to need to stay in hospital, however my consultant also works for the NHS so I see him privately then he makes my test appointments at the local NHS hospital, this way seems to work as I've never had to wait more than a week or so. I also get all my medication free as I live in Wales and everyone has in Wales for the last year or so.

So basically I feel I get the best of both systems, there are flaws in both, and the only reason my insurance is so cheap is because it's capped at a set value for hospital / consultants costs.

My concern about a national healthcare system in this country is that this is the government that brings you social security and veteran's healthcare. They have huge, expensive bureaucracies to tell you "no" in triplicate.

I totally agree with you Marty the system is good because it treats us without delay in the event of an emergency etc. But the standard of care and service in general is appalling compared to other countries, where I have served and considering I pay £197.67 a month National insurance which is the equivalent of the government taking money directly from my wage to pay for my healthcare as well as £450 (approx $900) a month in tax deducted directly from my wages, I expect to have a reasonable standard of health treatment and not be subjected to filthy hospitals where the risk of contracting the MRSA virus owing to un-cleanliness is very real.

As for waiting times I had to wait 6 months for an urgent appointment with a cardiologist,

And Marty, if I paid for private healthcare, I would never have to sleep in the corridor, apart from once when I was admitted, I spent a lot of time in a bed in the corridor with many other patients of both sexes, there was of course no privacy, no toilets close by and we were constantly being stared at by people walking through the corridor.  The UK government have got things totally wrong.  The NHS is disgraceful and the government still insists on illegal immigrants getting priority health treatment to prevent accusations that we are an uncaring nation!!!

It's all wrong!

Take care.

Dave

ediekristen

Instead of going off your meds, you should ask your doc if he can assist you in getting free medications. Many drug manufacturers offer help to patients who cannot afford their medications -- at least for a period of time.

As a depression sufferer, I cannot imagine being without my Effexor. I know that I would immediately tank and I have grave fears about that.

Please call your doctor's office today.

Mitz

Yeah, I was thinking of calling my doctor today and see if she will give me some sample packets at least for a week or two. When she first put me on Lexapro she gave me two month's worth so I can't imagine it would be a problem. I have schedule an appointment to get my yearly pap done anyway so I suppose I could casually mention it while I'm in there, as I'm sure she'll ask how the Lexapro is working. I just hate having to ask for help because I feel so useless :/

Mitz,

Thank you for putting a smile on my face. I didn't think my muscles could move that way today.
You are right, I will call them as soon as I get off work.