Re: Australian medical care [New...and just too tired to do this.

[Guest guest]

Boy that sounds good to me!

I haven't had health insurance (I live in US) since 1986.

I still have huge hospital bills from 2006 when Lyme caused me to make an

emergency visit to a hospital.

I haven't been to a dentist in a year. There is a clinic for dentistry where I

can get charity care, but it is such a pain in the (neck) to wait on one line,

wait on another, to get an appt 6 months in the future, then come back in 6

months and wait hours to be seen.

so I put it off, altho I know I shouldn't.

I am grateful tho for the clinic, I can use it for medical too for a relatively

low cost.

Maybe not the best care in the world, but better than nothing. Many people in

the US have NO access to health care.

I am 63 and hope I do not get serious illness until 65 when I am eligible for

Medicare, altho the way things are going, I don't know if there will be any

Medicare.

Americans have been bamboozled by people paid by the insurance industry to be

afraid of nationalized health care.

sad.

ellen

> > >

> > > KM,

> > > i am interested in knowing how a governement supported health care system

> > > has been positve or negative for you in regards to lyme since we here in

the

> > > US seem to be headed that direction and i am very concerned.

> > > thanks,

> >

> > don't expect any good from that ...

> >

> > I'm from the Netherlands where everyone (including people who don't pay the

mandatory health insurance or taxes) is entitled to 'unlimited free healthcare'.

You need extra insurance here for certain medical procedures/services that are

considered 'luxury' or non-essential from a medical point of view.

> >

> > From what I understand, much of Obama's healthcare plan is based on the

experience in the Netherlands. But it looks like they have been wrongly informed

about the costs and the benefits of the Dutch system. Spending is totally out of

control here as well, and has been growing by 10-20% a year or so for many

years, while more and more services are excluded from coverage.

> >

> > Some forms of alternative medicine (e.g. acupuncture) are partly paid for if

you have extra insurance, but in practice the 'free healthcare' is very

effective in elimination alternative medicine because most people have to pay

for that out of pocket.

> >

> > Despite the 'free healthcare' you are lucky if you can get an ABX

prescription of more than 2 weeks for Lyme. If you want a reliable test (Western

Blot, PCR etc.) instead of the basic , you often have to pay out of pocket.

Negative test = no treatment, and chronic lymies are totally out of luck because

according to the medical community chronic lyme does not exist.

> >

> > While ABX are used in huge quantities for farm animals, you cannot even buy

some ABX for selftreatment if you want to pay for it out of pocket (well, you

can if you order them over the internet from another country, or if you know a

vet ...).

> >

> > Most of the Lyme patients here who are treated by a medical doctor (instead

of self-treating) go to doctors outside the country, e.g. in Germany or former

Eastern Block countries where they don't follow all the stupid IDSA ideas about

Lyme disease...

> >

>