Improvements can always be made. My wife had a kidney transplant, and while I did not have insurance at the time, Medicare covered it (they cover all transplants regardless of income). Because of the plethora of pills required during the first 3 years of recovery, they will also cover prescriptions. I personally did not desire this so I financially burdened my small business with group insurance. Until the time the new policy went into effect, about 6 months, I paid for the pills myself. This is no small feat, and I found that a little conversation goes a long way. All those who claim uninsured or under insured have no relief are patently wrong. By talking to the hospitals, clinics, pharmacy’s and pharmaceutical companies I was able to reduce the costs significantly to a point where it was not a financial hardship on a monthly basis. Like I said, improvements can be made. Red-tape could be reduced if not eliminated by simple cross referencing and maybe digi-chart technology. All things considered I would never have taken my wife to another country to get this procedure, or any of the myriad follow-up procedures performed.
On the other hand-
My mother has a friend who lives in Canada. In October he was scheduled for a bone scan due to the possibility of prostate cancer, which metastasizes to bone frequently. On January 4th he got his bone scan. The cancer is now so advanced he has no hope of survival. That health system ostensibly handed him a death warrant. In America scheduling a bone scan might take 2 days.
Now I know these are only 2 examples, and I of course hand-picked them, but they ring true. This IS the modus operandi of these separate systems and this IS what makes them different. The American health system is not perfect, but it is certainly not broken to the point of needing to socialize it.
