Retirement Planning - Lessons Learned

[ultrarunner]

If you are young or not yet born or in your productive years the healthcare is quite good in German speaking countries...



The downside is many things are hard to come by or withheld from elderly often

Each child goes home with a baby vaccination/well baby book. When the mother completes all vaccines and visit of the child a cash payment is made to the mother... 1,000-1500

 

[JethroB]

I spent a week once hanging around a hospital in Bellingham WA when my dad got pulled off an Alaskan cruise ship due to severe illnesses. It was interesting that some of the hospital staff were Canadian as well as a good number of the patients. Story was that Canadians who could afford it came across the nearby border for quicker or elective treatments. Highlight was getting us back home once dad had recovered a bit, a med-flight Learjet. Sure beat the Delta flight going up.

 

[arto98607]

It's a fact of life there is a 6 month wait in many Canadian Provinces for major medical operation, but what my friend was saying in Canada the wait is the same for everyone regardless of age, unlike in many European countries!

 

[Larry Caldwell]

It's a fact of life there is a 6 month wait in many Canadian Provinces for major medical operation, but what my friend was saying in Canada the wait is the same for everyone regardless of age, unlike in many European countries!

In my area, just getting an appointment with a specialist takes 3 months. After that, it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to three months to get a procedure scheduled, depending on if you are about to die. My brother in Texas just died of a surgery they put off for months. I think if it's serious they wait for you to die first so it doesn't mess with their success rate. From first symptoms to surgery it was over a year. Hmm, strange blood test. Hmm. Xrays don't show anything, do the blood tests again. Hmm. Maybe ultrasound? Hmm, better refer this to a specialist. Hmm. No, different specialist. Hmm, you're still alive? The surgery failed. Maybe if we had caught it earlier...

The US medical system is seriously screwed up.

 

[dmccarty]

Back in the 90's I was on a mailing list, where one of the members was in Canada. His job was working with the CA health system to get care for people in a timely manner. Good thing that was his job because he had a very serious health issue that required surgery NOW or he would likely die. The surgery was scheduled for many months in the future, by which time he would likely be dead. However, since he knew how the system worked, that was his job, he was able to get the schedule changed.

In Ireland, scheduling surgery is a real mess. Before the pandemic ,wait times for surgery were 12-18 months. Some of the estimates now are stretching out to two years because of the pandemic.

Later,
Dan

 

[ultrarunner]

Working in a surgical unit we have had cases same day or day before... typically about 2 weeks...

 

[KennyG]

I think we still have good access for critical care in our area. People I know who have needed care for newly discovered dangerous conditions get very quick treatment. For non-emergency situations we are seeing quite a backlog. If you want a routine physical, a look at a non-life threatening condition or dental/optical care, be prepared for 1 to 2 month waits. I expect that to become more the case if reimbursement rates continue to squeeze providers.

 

[arto98607]

In my area, just getting an appointment with a specialist takes 3 months. After that, it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to three months to get a procedure scheduled, depending on if you are about to die. My brother in Texas just died of a surgery they put off for months. I think if it's serious they wait for you to die first so it doesn't mess with their success rate. From first symptoms to surgery it was over a year. Hmm, strange blood test. Hmm. Xrays don't show anything, do the blood tests again. Hmm. Maybe ultrasound? Hmm, better refer this to a specialist. Hmm. No, different specialist. Hmm, you're still alive? The surgery failed. Maybe if we had caught it earlier...

The US medical system is seriously screwed up.

Have not checked this thread for awhile!

Sorry to hear about your brother. If you don't mind me asking was or is the waiting due to Medicare?

My experience has been basically no waiting at all, as long as I had good medical insurance (through previous employer), including a major operation about 6 or 7 years ago.


Since Medicare I've had one very minor thumb operation and I did indeed have to wait 2 or 3 weeks, but the service was excellent once it began.
All this was before the current situation.

 

[MoKelly]

In my area, the hospitals are all advertising to “come back” and have all those procedures done that were postponed due to COVID.

Lots if talk about the dangers of not doing preventive care, screenings and cancer tests.

Makes me think the hospitals do not have much of a wait.

MoKelly

 

[ponytug]

Hmmm looks kinda full from here, but that may be me. I guess that perhaps you are farther out; 11 hospitals in or near St. Louis are at more than 90% full in their ICUs, another six are over 80% full, out of 21...
https://data.democratandchronicle.com/covid-19-hospital-capacity/missouri/29/st-louis-county/29189/

Better than Alabama which had no free ICU beds yesterday, in the entire state.

If you need to be in a hospital, you need to be in a hospital, but it isn't a great time to need care.

Stay safe.

All the best,

Peter