News
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.
Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
7. No duplicate posts.
If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners.
The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
view the rest of the comments
I don't have good line of sight into what happens outside of the US, but are cancer treatments unlimited for those in single payer systems? Even if the person requires treatment for years? Just wondering how it works (forgive my ignorance)!
Yes, but the treatments don't cost as much to the government/taxpayer, since medications aren't inflated to the moon since insurance is supposed to pay.
Yea, that's kinda the point.
No worries about medical debt.
Mostly. Sometimes you can still get screwed by things that aren't covered like prosthetics.
Well prosthetics usually have bullshit coverage requirements, if any coverage, with the US system as well.
In Australia with the NDIS prosthetics etc are covered. So are other items related to disability. Eg shower chairs, home modifications, crutches, consumables eg special soap etc.
In Australia with the NDIS prosthetics etc are covered. So are other items related to disability. Eg shower chairs, home modifications, crutches, consumables eg special soap etc.
It depends on the country, but healthcare is much cheaper and simpler everywhere else in the developed world than in the US. We live in a corporate dystopia.
Sort of.
I live in New Zealand, so this is hyper specific to how our healthcare system is set up, other countries will have radically different systems.
The way it works in NZ is that all hospital visits are free, and all medicine dispensed within the hospital are free. Visits to your GP are free if you are under 16, over 65 or pregnant. Medicines prescribed by your GP have a price cap ($100NZ/year/person iirc), as long as they are on the "Pharmac" list.
The 2 main caveats to this:
Private medical insurance does exist, and is pretty much there to let you "skip the queue" - there are private hospitals not funded by the government that employ their own specialists (who typically also work in the public system) - or to fund drugs that Pharmac won't. Is fairly common in mid-end white collar jobs (especially finance and tech) to have private insurance paid for by your employer, but is pretty much just there for "what if I get an exotic cancer" or "what if I fuck up my knee and don't want to have to wait a few months for surgery". My wife needed her gall bladder removed a couple of years ago, and we just used the public hospital even though we do have insurance that might have paid for private - the public system is excellent for 95% of things.
This is also true in the U.S. entirely for-profit healthcare system. I had to wait over 9 months just to get an appointment with a new neurologist when my previous one retired.
It's also something that a lot of Republicans claim is a problem in countries with socialized medicine but not in the U.S., which always gets a derisive laugh from me.
This is a great explainer but I do want to let you know I chuckled at "mid-end".
Thanks for this! Starting to get my head around it 😃
Yeah, I get that from the US perspective the idea of there not really being a hard price tag on everything is a bit odd - the US system is bonkers and confusing from the outside as well (and it kinda feels like that's by design).
Another example as to how this works in practice; my daughter was born a couple of years ago
Our out of pocket expenses were
Grand total was less than $500 NZD (not counting the insurance excess), and we could have avoided the majority of those costs if we wanted to.
Not saying the system is perfect; it's functionally impossible to get mental health support publicly, dental care isn't publicly funded if you are over 18, it seems like nurses and junior doctors have to constantly fight to get pay rises that keep up with inflation, and the system as a whole has been chronically underfunded for decades - but we don't have people choosing between death or bankruptcy, and we have higher life expectancy so shrug
Unlimited? What do you mean? That is a weird question with several possible interpretations.
For years? Yes. Of course.
I mean, it isn't cancer, but I have a family member that will need IVIG infusions every 2 weeks for the rest of their life (25+ years). Here they are ~$10k each one. I know it is like 1/3 of the price outside the US, but would something costly like that be covered without limitations?
(I'm just curious how things tactically work out)
Edit: I realize that my perspective is a very US consumer one. We feel entitled to whatever we can pay for (and when it's free, like a buffet, it can be a lot). It is a pretty big mind shift to move from whatever you want to pay for even if it isnt practical to what you need. Anyhoo, this got me thinking and adjusting my expectations. 😃
No idea about that specific illness, but in general: yes it would be covered in the German system.
In general if a doctor decided you need a certain, scientifically and widely accepted treatment for a certain illness to not die or bring you back to health, it will be covered by your insurance. But it will be the cheapest version, so no extras.
And now comes the but: the insurances don't really like to pay that much over a longer time, so often chronically ill persons have to jump through loops to get the help and financing they need.
For example chronically ill people need to prove via doctors note again and again that, yes, they are indeed still chronically ill and did not get healed by a miracle in the last year. It's argued that they do this to combat fraud, but honestly, I would much rather pay a bit more in my invoices and know that those who need it are not put under unnecessary stress.
From a quick Google search, IVIG infusions are a treatment used in the NHS, so yes if a consultant started you on that treatment you would have it for life if necessary and it would cost you nothing.
Just a quick check for Australia- https://medicalcostsfinder.health.gov.au/services/Q14245/oh?specialty=020401
Costs $88 to the Gov, $0 to patients.
In the US it costs $100 an oz to manufacturer (just to get it into the bottle). It is crazy that having the gov manufacture it can reduce costs so much. Probably a poster child for single payer.
It's a big part of the reason India doesn't recognise Pharma patents - they make their own versions and don't worry about paying the huge licensing costs.