My Healthcare Nightmare

[saltnlightful]

Thank you for sharing your experience. In Canada - we never have to worry about the cost of the health care - but the cost of the drugs is another story (although even they are cheaper in Canada than in the USA). You won't lose your home over a hospital stay. America - spend the money on yourselves instead of wars.

[jay24871]

Hey Thr89ust if the goal is to make it where people don't die because they can't afford healthcare, then what about the people who can afford it but choose not to buy it? Should those people be supported too?

[inkey2]

this was a good story.....watched the whole thing with great interest

[inkey2]

well of course they can afford to offer it at 40 bucks a month....they are not giving billions away to foreign countries in aid, rescueing 30 million illegal aliens, fighting 3 wars, protecting allies etc

[chemykl]

Healthcare is a huge control business, probably #2 after banking. We have control of the masses down to a science. Not so hard to make people to against their own interests when they can't get an education.

The ruling class is so far detached and so different from the population at this point that the population is only a resource in their mind.

[hotfudgemoney]

Systems such as that work in Europe because they aren't usually run by greedy individualistic fucks. Most people in Europe grew up under generations of collectivist thought, you can't make Americans act that way.

Not to mention free education in Europe, is worthless where it matters.

I'll tell you something that doesn't exist there, innovation. harhar...

[0ddGIRL0ut]

The sad thing is I have health insurance and I still can't afford my medical bills, I have to wait 6-10 weeks to get an appointment with my doctor, 2-4 hours in the waiting room for my appointment, and god help me when the doctor orders lab work, I'm out 6000 grand.

[magx01]

Up here in Canada, we too are wondering....WHAT THE FUCK?

It's sad how the people have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into fighting against their own best interests.

[DroogieSteve]

Damn right. Not paying for healthcare is one of the best things about living in the UK

[BrianJunglist]

fuck copay's man...

my company i work for is offering me health insurance and my copay is 45 dollars and for my plan to even take effect the bill has to be above 500 dollars..

witch isn't to hard to rack up lol.. but still..

and it costs me 175$ a month..

[philateliceun]

I pay around 80 euro's in health insurence. While this doesn't cover everything it sure as hell is little. And you now the best part about it? I get 60 euro's BACK from the government each month so in theory I only pay 20 euro's a month for coverage. And no it doesn't ruin our HC system, if you look at the stats (and I have, extensively) you will see that we own the US on health care. Epic ownage.

[jjorge730]

Well the czch republic I don't think they have bases and waste billions on military pork projects and probably do not debase their own currency and don't have astronomical trade deficits like the US. The czch republic probably does not have to get into debt in order to have this system. The US does. BTW bro how much do they take off in taxes on your pay check? Just curious. If you do not feel comfortable telling me then its ok

[nightmathzombieethan]

Don't you love how we can spend 100's of billions of dollars on blowing up people/stuff in other countries, and yet the moment someone wants taxpayer dollars to be spent on taxpayers, it's socialism! Welcome to The New Rome people!

[Thr89ust]

Good point well made. The idea of being refused treatment because you cant afford it is retarded.

[hergs]

Dude... subscribed.

Great story, great storytelling, great message. CZ has obviously figured out how to create a stable health care system that is focused on health, and not just profit.

Meanwhile in the US, instead of informing us about the issues, and how the rest of the industrialized world has achieved success with the same issues, the insurance-connected media here is talking about the sideshows, not the issues themselves.

[bryanrtyler]

Cheap health care and morphine at the ready? I'm moving in with you, Jer :D

[BagOfEyebrows]

40 dollars for insurance plus four dollars for meds. People have to get paid to teach at those universities, to run those hospitals, to provide all the services offered by any government-run business, so if this is given to the public for 'free', how are the people providing the services paid? And costs for electricity and other costs of running a hospital or school? Something doesn't add up here. I read just yesterday that the Norwegian government had a budget shortfall of NOK9.5 billion?

[chrispollock]

you're right something doesn't add up. america is morally bankrupt and won't take care of its own citizens because it wants to protect the rich elite over the right for everyone to have medicine. once i save up, i'm moving out of this fucked up country of america where they have no compassion apparently for their fellow man anymore

[steffenml]

In Norway, the annual fee at university is ranging from 60 to 120 dollars :p

[gkirkdawg]

Why'd you live in czech?

[DamNationDiplomat]

...the weirdest thing to me is how to reconcile the idea that people actually WANT to pay for healthcare...I mean...why don't you want to get free stuff? I like free stuff...especially free expensive stuff!

[Sean2046]

read an economics book. people that don't want "free" health care know it's not free. unlike people that don't know anything about how government's pay for things.

[Thr89ust]

I got brought back to this page by a reply to one of my comments. I love how you put free in quotation marks as though we are under the illusion that healthcare funds appear from mid-air...

YES we pay taxes and YES we consider it free.

I've never once been asked to show the contents of my wallet before getting treatment.

[joshphilippi]

it's still being payed for via taxes. that's why it isn't free. socialism stops working once you run out of other people's money.  you can say that this isn't socialism, but government running anything is by definition socialist. our roads and schools for example are socialized.

[Thr89ust]

Did you not read my comment? I acknowledge that the healthcare system is funded by taxes.

Second, Who mentioned socialism? I would call it the evolution of society to the admirable realisation that the right to treatment is in fact a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.

I believe socialism (at least from a marxian perspective) to be a little more than that.

Just throwing around a term like socialism does not win an arguement inside or outside the good ol' US of A.

[Sean2046]

btw i'm fully aware of how much our current health care system sucks. i don't support corporatism and government-enforced cartels that rack up prices. I just think more government is not the answer when they are the source of the problem to begin with. there's no such thing as "free" health care. you can get the government out of health care altogether to bring down prices, or you can allow a government monopoly where you pay much more (via taxes) for crappier service.

[Sean2046]

emotional appeal after emotional appeal followed by a bandwagon fallacy. give some logical economic arguments on how it benefits a societies economy. why is it that the politicians that pass health care legislation opt themselves out of their own program and fly to the US or go straight to the front of the queue in their own system (not to mention they typically don't pay into the program)? It's a good system for politicians that implement it, it's not good however for the peons that are us.

[Thr89ust]

They ALWAYS pay into it. They have no choice. After that, where they seek treatment is up to them. The point is to ensure that everyone gets treatment and people dont die because they can't afford it.

[Sean2046]

do you have any proof for this? i'll admit i'm wrong if you provide some evidence. i know for sure politicians in the US don't pay into social security, medicare, medicade, and most other social programs they come up with.

[Thr89ust]

yeh, UK and Europe. Its included in tax there is no 'opt in' or 'opt out' option. you pay for it whether you use it or not.

[Sean2046]

cite the legalese that says the politicians themselves pay into it please. because i assure you they don't. politicians have all sorts of rules for themselves (especially when it comes to taxes).

[philateliceun]

It is optional here in holland. You can choose between government coverage or private coverage. With government coverage you pay more taxes but more gets covered and with private coverage you pay less taxes but you have to pay more costs. And no it is not destroying our economy. We are still in the top of richest countries on the world.

[Thr89ust]

why did you reply to me? surely it was aimed at Sean2046....

That's interesting about your opt in policy. Do most people opt for public or private care? What is the difference in terms of level of treatment?

Sorry for all the questions, I just didn't know anything about that sort of policy in Holland.

One more: What if someone has no coverage and cannot pay...do they get treatment or are they left to die like in the US?

[philateliceun]

1- public

2- the private is somewhat better but that is beause you pay everything out of your own pocket

3- no, you get helped but they will make sure you pay the bill.

[LaceyPierson]

I knew this. Thank you... everyone needs to hear your story.

[Sk0nski]

well done

[mikethebiped]

Glad see you are better. Great video.

[dionysus91]

Aw man you totally fooled me. I was ready to hear about how bad your health care was. PLEASE keep the videos coming. Awesome video.

[gamerunknown]

We have to pay for tuition in England now, but that's because of the third way :(

[bdf2718]

We always did have to pay for tuition in Britain, but it used to be better subsidised.

You in England still have to pay subscription charges. In Scotland an Wales prescriptions are free.

[HairyGamer]

yea, here in england we have to pay for prescriptions, unless your under 16 years old, or in fulltime education, or disabled in some way, or have a low income

[libertyplayground]

health care in America is government-controlled to. It's not a private system.

Government isn't allowing freedom in commerce (the free market) to work, so of course this is what results.

Reinstate freedom, and people will make the transactions they need to.

[corthew]

5 hour wait is common for an emergency room here in the US.

[urantivirus]

yikes, and yet you hear on American news of how bad the wait times are in Canada. I've been to the e-room probably 6-7 times in my life. I've never waited more then an hour before receiving treatment.

[corthew]

Only on Fox. But they're not biased at all.

I talked with several Canadians who don't know why they are so misrepresented.

And even if the wait times for life threatening issues were as bad as Fox makes out, it would still be better than what we have in this country right now.

[TruthSeeker1988]

Our system in America is broken. I was in the Emergency room with my sister about a year ago and we sat in the waiting for literally 5 hours, then into another waiting room for about 3 more hours. Finally she was seen by a doctor and X-Rays were taken.

They said it was a minor crack on her rib and nothing to worry about, so she was sent home with some pain meds but it didnt get better. So she went to see a specialist and they sent her to a 3rd world-ish hospital in south Louisiana

[TruthSeeker1988]

...and finally after all the doctors she sent and test, they found out it was her gallbladder and had to remove it.

To this day she is still recovering from it.

[Killerclownmeat]

Holy crap sounds painful! it's a good thing im not allergic to morphine like my mum and bro!

[AbbeyNormal]

Good to have you back.

We really ought to be ashamed of ourselves at this point in the USA. I mean, are we still so irrationally terrified of communism that we will automatically reject anything that even slightly reminds us of it- oh, who cares.

[Bleatmop]

Great video! I totally expected to hear another story about a US health care nightmare instead of safe and competent care in an old Soviet republic.

[mambuduomally]

oh sorry, posted that comment too soon.

art school parties!!!!!!

ohhh fucking yeah!!!

[mambuduomally]

what uni did you attend in scotland?

[samOFblorx]

This is INFURIATING!

How is it Europe got all this stuff done and we're still fucking around like a bunch of masochistic apes? If I remember right, Britain did the universal healthcare thing right after a WAR that happened in their back yards! But we can't do it....

Stupid.

5* and favorite.

[jjwhite342]

I wish your username was something other than "potheadpundit".. I tried to share this with some close minded friends, and all they commented on was that you "were probably stoned". Idiots, I know, but something to think about I hope.

[Bleatmop]

Perhaps you need some more non low brow friends that can listen to an argument and judge it on its merits, not its messenger.

[brvandal]

Bravo!

[loyesj]

thank you very much always love to get your perspective on things

[realbleamer]

My fellow Americans are really pissing me off. What a bunch of fucking idiots. They're ruining it for the rest of us. Fuck off you tea bagging morons.

[MarkArandjus]

Hey Pundit I'm from Slovenia and you've put it very well, it's not that we're laughing it's a sort of WTF slash pity thing.

And yeah I'm so grateful there's no tuition, about two or three years back they were going to put up tuition here, and all the schools formed this major protest, it was on my birthday BTW so it was cool. So school's still free, keep posting!

[0penuriis]

I don't know if you knew this but in most european countries you don't even have to pay the school fees. If your on lower income (minimum wage) you can get a grant from the government.

[CousinoMacul]

That's for the video.

[narsil1984]

You sir, nailed it.

I live in France, and have a story almost like yours: got sick, excruciating pain in my belly. Seen the doctor, sent to the hospital, examined. My appendix was removed 2 hours later, I got morphin and stayed in the hospital for the week end.

...for free. Even if my actual insurance was a german one! (thanks EU).

Oh, and as a student, I paid this:

200 euros / year for university

180 euros / year for basic health insurance (+~150 optional)

Guess we're commies too ;)

[godfree2canada]

American wants to be stupid, if the masses knew they were the new Roman Empire they'd wouldn't be manipulated.

Ignorance is the enemy that must be eliminated before it eliminates us

[PoddaJawada]

I have to pay a nominal fee of 420 kroners in Norway to study at the university for one semester. That's around 70 dollars. Of course the curriculum costs alot, but I guess this is how it is everywhere anyway.

So yea, Pothead, good observation. It is a collective WTF?! when we see how things work in the USA.

[umacarrot]

I had almost the same experience about a year ago, just sub Canada for Czech republic. Your right about the pain , it's on a whole new level. My wait time was about 15 minutes , the longest 15 minutes of my whole life. Got the morphine and the child birth story as well. Doc told me about a patent who had a kidney stone while giving birth......Ouch!

[Neeboopsh]

<3 php

yeah, the whole idea is insane. the best healthcare systems in the world cost less, do more, and have no restrictions on types of care that get covered.

why doesnt every country who isnt in the top 5 or 10, restructure their system to be like one of the winners? canada's system is better than the american system but its not perfect and it should be modeled after france's system. so should everyones :) then make improvements on that system rather than try to bandaid up failed setups

[Bleatmop]

Canada has several different challenges that France does. One province is bigger than their entire country, and we have a large rural population. Simply copying their system wouldn't necessarily be the best idea, though taking the ideas that are transferable and superior to what we have here is a good idea.

[jimmym131]

Well I had to pay £3000 ish a year for uni tuition ($5000) but that still much less than the US. On the other hand, US universities generally have much better facilities than those in Europe

Also, you raised a good point on the comforts in US hospitals. I was under the impression that it was far easier and more in profitable for hospitals to compete/charge in terms of comforts rather than price/quality of care etc

[BitRobot]

That's right..

[jawtheshark]

Kidney stones? That's nothing... Try having a kidney infection... You're literally pissing blood if you have that.

Had it three times in my life... The times I had kidney stones were pure vacation compared to kidney infections ;-)

That said, take antibiotics and it's pretty much over.

As for healthcare: my wife got hospitalized two years ago. ER and then a full week in hospital. The only bill I got was for the TV and phone in her room. (Which your don't need an it's opt-in)

That was it...