potpourri

[ciroccoj]

It is freaking hot (33.3°C - 91.9°F), we just came back from our first date in... way too long, I still have to post pix of Justin's dance recital where he was the only boy among about 150 little dancers, I have no idea what the difference is between R-rating and NC17-rating, Siam Bistro has really good food, we're going to Hawaii, and Canadians healthier, have better access to health-care than Americans: study and the kicker of the study is that There was one area where Americans fared better than Canadians. Despite being less healthy and having less access to a vastly more expensive health-care system, Americans are happier with their care than Canadians are. Which is funny because we were just talking about this over dinner on our date.

That's my day in a nutshell.

Comments

Just had to share this bit of L&O-fare

[ninja-kat.livejournal.com]

Check it out:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=67919.0

[snarkhunter.livejournal.com]

I think we just expect less. In essence, we expect to be screwed over, so we're happy with what we have.

[lizzie-omalley.livejournal.com]

I don't know... I know that it is frustrating to worry about paying more and not being able to afford things but there are advantages. When I sprained my foot in England and thought I may have broken it I went to the emergency room in Canterbury. I waited for a long time before I was taken to be x-rayed. The doctor had told the x-ray tech how she wanted to the picture taken but the Tech did it his own way even when I told him my ankle, which is what he was x-raying was not the part that hurt and even when I showed where the bruise on my foot was. He went ahead and x-rayed the ankle. I then had to wait for a considerable time to see the doctor and then longer to get the foot x-rayed and then some more for the doctor to tell me that it wasn't broken and to go home keep it elevated and keep it iced.

I don't know how that compares to Canada but I know that if the doctor had ordered a foot x-ray in the US she would have gotten a foot x-ray and not an ankle one.

It might have been free, even to me a non-citizen, but it cost me something like 5 hours waiting.

When I did break my leg here and needed to have it pinned I was greatful beyond measure that I got the doctors that I got because they did an amazing job fixing things. I am also greatful that because I had an emergency claim that was accepted while I was under the care of one doctor I did not have to go through the normal workman's comp channels. The contract provider for my employer at the time had a reputation that was in the pits. In fact they were so bad they lost their state contract. Very hard to do. I got to have care provied by some of the best private orthopedic surgeons in Denver. It made all the difference that they were in private practice.

I do think that the US system is in bad shape and needs repair but I don't know that I want a system like either the Canterbury hospital or the piss poor insurance company in the US. Given the US govt.'s track record on every thing else these days, I don't think I want them in my health care.

[daf9.livejournal.com]

The US government is already into health care. Big time. It's called Medicare and Medicaid and you are only eligible if you are elderly or very poor. I've known several women who routinely quit their jobs when they're looking to get pregnant because it's the only way they get prenatal care. Does that make sense?

I've had access to anything from excellent to pretty good health care all the time I've lived in the US - but the time you might save not having to wait for a doctor you spend filling out paperwork or on the phone trying to figure out why some treatment was refused or why your HMO is not paying the bill because the provider reversed a couple of digits in your gallizion digit ID number. Or the bill was sent to the wrong address or one of the hundred boxes of information was filled in incorrectly or some equally trying nonsense that shouldn't have anything to do with health care. Not to mention that depending upon where you live you can have pretty long waits down here too. Unless you want to pay big time out of pocket you have to see providers that take your particular form of insurance and if there are only a couple in your area ... well if it ain't an emergency you can easily wait several months to see a specialist.

So it will probably come as no suprise that I'm not one of those American residents who think US health care is better than Canadian.