Prompt treatment for medical conditions
Apr. 28th, 2019 06:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcIn general I am blessed with good health but a notable exception to that is susceptibility to skin infections. I work out at home partly to avoid contracting fungal infections and warts from shared locker rooms but I am still battling a wart that first appeared back when I was swimming every weekday. It has now survived many rounds of prescription-strength acid and cryotherapy and I have talked my doctor into referring me to a dermatologist. While I wait for an appointment the wart slowly spreads and perhaps deepens further.
In a good few cases now with family in Britain I have seen the NHS take many weeks to move from suspicion to confirmation then to treatment, even including with cancer, confirming what I read in the newspapers. At least when relying on private insurance, in the US I was often impressed with how quickly one would progress from initial doctor visit to effective treatment. Back in England when I worked for the European Molecular Biology Laboratory I enjoyed private insurance coverage* (which a colleague attributed to getting their cancer sufficiently quickly addressed) but I don't see that the University of Dundee offers staff a special deal with any insurers. As I wait for my own (less critical) medical referral I am increasingly thinking that were I ever again to look for work in Britain I should aim to return to having an employer that offers a private insurance plan.
Of course, it's not all roses in the US: I am privileged to be a broadly skilled engineer able to get jobs that provide decent health insurance and even then it comes at the cost of high administrative overhead. One needs to be on top of one's own case because time-limited doctors probably aren't, one must telephone one's insurer to sort out provider billing issues, etc. At least in my case I look forward to returning to that system even though it so badly fails the less fortunate. I am not holding my breath for Her Majesty's Government to adequately fund and manage the NHS any more than I am expecting them to aggressively transition the country to far better environmental stewardship so I do not want to find myself relying on the NHS if suffering some progressive but treatable condition rather more severe than my current one.
*In the US it is commonly believed that in Britain we are obligated to rely on state-provided healthcare. We're not, we have our choice of private plans; insurers regularly market to me. The effect can simply be to queue-jump past state-funded patients.
In a good few cases now with family in Britain I have seen the NHS take many weeks to move from suspicion to confirmation then to treatment, even including with cancer, confirming what I read in the newspapers. At least when relying on private insurance, in the US I was often impressed with how quickly one would progress from initial doctor visit to effective treatment. Back in England when I worked for the European Molecular Biology Laboratory I enjoyed private insurance coverage* (which a colleague attributed to getting their cancer sufficiently quickly addressed) but I don't see that the University of Dundee offers staff a special deal with any insurers. As I wait for my own (less critical) medical referral I am increasingly thinking that were I ever again to look for work in Britain I should aim to return to having an employer that offers a private insurance plan.
Of course, it's not all roses in the US: I am privileged to be a broadly skilled engineer able to get jobs that provide decent health insurance and even then it comes at the cost of high administrative overhead. One needs to be on top of one's own case because time-limited doctors probably aren't, one must telephone one's insurer to sort out provider billing issues, etc. At least in my case I look forward to returning to that system even though it so badly fails the less fortunate. I am not holding my breath for Her Majesty's Government to adequately fund and manage the NHS any more than I am expecting them to aggressively transition the country to far better environmental stewardship so I do not want to find myself relying on the NHS if suffering some progressive but treatable condition rather more severe than my current one.
*In the US it is commonly believed that in Britain we are obligated to rely on state-provided healthcare. We're not, we have our choice of private plans; insurers regularly market to me. The effect can simply be to queue-jump past state-funded patients.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-28 12:02 pm (UTC)It's tragic that no insurance system seems to be able to cover people well unless they have sufficient money to pay for it.