I wanna turn my house into a refuge for Americans who need better health care LOL Canada is much better in that respect.

That would be lovely. I hate insurance. They tried to deny coverage for my daughter's helmet, although we won that. My big issue right now is dental insurance, though... you only get so much and then you 'run out', so I owe a toooooon of money for the dental work I'm getting next week.

Oooh yeah dental is particularly bad. Vision is regularly seperate too. Yay america! (Can i come to Canada though? It seems better there). At least you managed to get the helmet covered Calliope

Yeah, I'm pretty upset by it all. It seems no matter what I do, my care or prescriptions are going to cost me more money . . .

Looking at the US from over here in western Europe, it seems the US is a third-world country in some regards ... Can this really all be attributed only to the "everyone's a self-made millionaire, some are just temporarily inconvenienced" mentality?

Flederfalle, we are a third-world country in some respects IMHO. Like medical care, housing, the way we don't take care of our veterans . . .

Also our maternal mortality rates are TERRIBLE! Compared with other high-income countries in North America and Western Europe, the United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality despite a global trend of decreasing maternal deaths. (Nicholas J. Kassebaum et al. "Global, Regional, and National Levels of Maternal Mortality, 1990-2015: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015." The Lancet 388, no. 10053: 1775-812.) full disclosure did not read the citation just the quote about it. And "shockingly" (sarcasm) the worst mortality rate is in Georgia!

No surprise there. There are a disproportionate number of POC in Georgia . . .

Aleah

No surprise there. There are a disproportionate number of POC in Georgia . . .

What's a POC?

I have to say my family has been blessed with great health care and insurance. However, we just moved from Texas to Georgia and I'm having a hard time getting in to see a rheumatologist. Which is weird to me. We pay extra so that I don't have to deal with our insurance's referral system since I see so many specialists. But apparently the doctors here require the referral in addition to the insurance company.

FireLilly

Aleah

No surprise there. There are a disproportionate number of POC in Georgia . . .

What's a POC?

Google suggest it could be persons of colour? Statistics indicate that those are usually the poor saps who can't afford healthcare easily, hence the mortality

FireLilly

Aleah

No surprise there. There are a disproportionate number of POC in Georgia . . .

What's a POC?

I have to say my family has been blessed with great health care and insurance. However, we just moved from Texas to Georgia and I'm having a hard time getting in to see a rheumatologist. Which is weird to me. We pay extra so that I don't have to deal with our insurance's referral system since I see so many specialists. But apparently the doctors here require the referral in addition to the insurance company.

Yes POC are people or persons of color.
I'm sorry you're having a hard time seeing a rheumatologist. Health care in this country is just terrible. We must get rid of the for-profit system.

Good morning. I was supposed to have MRI's done on my neck and back this morning, but my insurance hasn't gotten around to approving them. So I had to reschedule with the clinic. Next week Thursday.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Aleah, that very thing happened to me a little while ago. I had to get my doctor to contact the insurance company and tell them yes it really is necessary. Hope you can get it resolved soon.

Thanks Ginevra! I'm disabled now and am on Medicaid and Medicare. I guess it just takes them a little longer to get things done LOL

Classic insurance. That's unfortunate. I really don't understand how it's just normal that treatments/diagnoses get delayed even in cases where it can drastically influence time of survival (like cancer) because of insurance.

"Oh, you want your blood checked? Well, you're not really sick, so we'll give you an appointment in 4 weeks."
That was the nurse at the doctor's office where my mother went for help. 2 weeks ago was my mother's funeral.

It's not just insurances. It's everywhere where some human decides that "Oh, you're just not as important as whoever *I* think has a higher priority than you."

Good luck getting this sorted out quickly! *hugs*

Oh Flederfalle I'm so sorry about your mom!!

I’m sorry flederdalle that sounds incredibly difficult

PSA to take care of yourselves!! My 56 y/o roommate was having chest pains on Sunday night, she waited till Monday afternoon to go to the hospital. They ended up putting two stents in her coronary artery because it was 99% blocked!! They said if she had waited any longer, she would have had a heart attack, and might not have made it.

Wow, that was close!