Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

kabayiri

Generali wrote: »

...
Health care will always need to be rationed as there isn't an infinite number of doctors, nurses and hospitals. The only question left is how to ration it. The NHS seems to use a crazy system of rationing by queue based on political imperative. We use a system where we are encouraged by the tax system to self-fund for the most part and encouraged by the health system to use only as much health care as we need.
...

IMO the most effective rationing comes from consumers of the service making intelligent decisions.

The only way I know how to introduce this is to add in a pricing mechanism.

LydiaJ

Generali wrote: »

The way it works is this...

[details removed because anyone who wants to read them can scroll up the page a bit]

One of the things that really annoys me about the UK public health debate is this ridiculous false dichotomy that is raised that you can have the UK or US system. If the NHS really is the envy of the world then why doesn't anyone else copy it?

Thank you. As a means of integrating public and private medical services, it seems infinitely preferable to the US model. I could quite happily live under the system you describe, whereas I would not want to live under the US system.

Out of interest, with the NHS, a lot of the things you do have to pay for (prescriptions, dental work, eye tests...) are free for children regardless of parental income. Does the Aussie medicare system have a similar "children for free" ethos, or does it cost the same for kids as for adults?

kabayiri

I take the view that if I had a personal physician at my beck and call 24/7, taking my readings all the time, then I would be able to make intelligent decisions about my health and be proactive in dealing with issues rather than reactive.

Of course, that personal physician is not practical today, but in a few short years the chips required will be available to be fitted internally.

In short, I want a step change to medical capability. Some in the NHS will actually fear this because it would mean an end to their work roles.

Generali

LydiaJ wrote: »

Thank you. As a means of integrating public and private medical services, it seems infinitely preferable to the US model. I could quite happily live under the system you describe, whereas I would not want to live under the US system.

Out of interest, with the NHS, a lot of the things you do have to pay for (prescriptions, dental work, eye tests...) are free for children regardless of parental income. Does the Aussie medicare system have a similar "children for free" ethos, or does it cost the same for kids as for adults?

Kids get some stuff free that adults pay for, get some extra subsidies and pay the same on some stuff. For example, my daughter 'needs' glasses (TBH I think they're a nice to have not a need). Medicare paid for her eye test and health insurance got her a pair of glasses. If we'd had no insurance she'd have had to pay for the glasses although the eye test would have been paid for still. That is exactly the same deal as me.

Funnily enough, opticians split into two sets over here: posh ones selling Ray Bans etc and normal ones. The normal ones all manage to sell you two pairs of glasses (one normal one sunglasses) for exactly the amount of money that your health insurance will cover. What a coincidence! Once you break down the health insurance and payouts than I probably spend a bit over $1,000 in a year where I don't get sick of the insurance company's money. 3 of us wear glasses plus I get The Boy sunnies. Then Mrs Generali and I get a few massages each year. Plus dental.

It is a criminal act as someone caring for a child to deprive them of medical care. If you spend the money on beer instead the courts will take a very dim view in the same way as if you bought cigarettes rather than food for a child.

Generali

kabayiri wrote: »

I take the view that if I had a personal physician at my beck and call 24/7, taking my readings all the time, then I would be able to make intelligent decisions about my health and be proactive in dealing with issues rather than reactive.

Of course, that personal physician is not practical today, but in a few short years the chips required will be available to be fitted internally.

In short, I want a step change to medical capability. Some in the NHS will actually fear this because it would mean an end to their work roles.

One of the problems with the NHS is that it can resist change in this way because it is such a behemoth. There is no way at all that I would use a GP here that doesn't do Saturdays at the very least and TBH I generally use one that does Sundays too. Pretty much no GP works weekends in the UK because they can get away with it.

You'd be a very poor GP in Aus that refused to see customers on the weekend.

Nikkster

Sue! I'm so excited for you and the boys!! :j

I've mentioned before that I'd really like to go to Cuba, and I guess it should be sooner rather that later. Inspired by you I've been looking at possible options tonight. Need to make a couple of calls tomorrow as unsurprisingly there isn't much availability around Easter which would be perfect for me. Assuming that's out, I need to rethink timings and get on with booking the flipping trip instead of dreaming about it. I don't really feel I can afford it, but I guess I never will.

Which leads me onto my other similar NP train of thought... I think I'm going to plan to extend my house (single storey). The lean-to conservatory needs replacing anyway, so why not? Can go out 4m from house but I think 3m would be plenty to give a kitchen/dining area. Can then make the current kitchen into a utility room and downstairs loo.
Will take a fair amount of time to save up for but at least I have something to aim for I guess.

I think I need to win the lottery. And soon.

SingleSue

Nikkster wrote: »

Sue! I'm so excited for you and the boys!! :j

I've mentioned before that I'd really like to go to Cuba, and I guess it should be sooner rather that later. Inspired by you I've been looking at possible options tonight. Need to make a couple of calls tomorrow as unsurprisingly there isn't much availability around Easter which would be perfect for me. Assuming that's out, I need to rethink timings and get on with booking the flipping trip instead of dreaming about it. I don't really feel I can afford it, but I guess I never will.

Which leads me onto my other similar NP train of thought... I think I'm going to plan to extend my house (single storey). The lean-to conservatory needs replacing anyway, so why not? Can go out 4m from house but I think 3m would be plenty to give a kitchen/dining area. Can then make the current kitchen into a utility room and downstairs loo.
Will take a fair amount of time to save up for but at least I have something to aim for I guess.

I think I need to win the lottery. And soon.

In the words of my parents....go for it before life deals you a sh*t hand (they are Londoners, the language can be a bit colourful at times, especially from my mum!)

I'm excited but also scared at the same time, having a wheelchair means things are not quite as straight forward as not having one. I won't be able to drive to or from the airport due to energy levels, the holiday itself may cause issues with my health due to exhaustion (a holiday in Yarmouth does the same thing) but at the same time, we also need to do something like this now before it becomes completely impossible.

I've already planned out one activity though, something which has been my dream since I was a little girl...to swim with dolphins (although it will probably just be hold onto dolphins while they pull me along as swimming is something I can no longer do either!)

There are so many places I would love to visit in the world but I fear my time of doing that is almost passed and I won't get the chance without huge expense, organisation and stress.

Tahlullah

Any service that refuses to change with the needs of its customers, will eventually fail. It doesn't matter how much money you pump into it, the fact it has lost sight of why it was set up, who it was set up to serve, will mean others will stop caring for it and eventually stop paying for it's upkeep.

The NHS is, in my opinion, overdue a restart. It will take courage for a political party to make that decision, and ultimately, Politicians are predominantly in those roles to serve themselves rather than the electorate. They won't vote for that level of change or it would be the equivalent of political suicide.

There are other alternatives to meeting the health needs of the population, but I doubt they will be introduced in my lifetime.

LydiaJ

Generali wrote: »

Kids get some stuff free that adults pay for...

Interesting. Thanks again. I approve of tests and check-ups (eyes, teeth etc) being free for kids - important not to give parents a disincentive to find out whether kids need treatment, whether or not there'll be a charge for the treatment if needed.

Nikkster wrote: »

Sue! I'm so excited for you and the boys!! :j

So am I! I hope you all have a wonderful time.

Nikkster wrote: »

Which leads me onto my other similar NP train of thought... I think I'm going to plan to extend my house (single storey). The lean-to conservatory needs replacing anyway, so why not? Can go out 4m from house but I think 3m would be plenty to give a kitchen/dining area. Can then make the current kitchen into a utility room and downstairs loo.
Will take a fair amount of time to save up for but at least I have something to aim for I guess.

Exciting! Let us know how you get on with thinking it through, even while you can't afford it yet.

I too have a "pipe dream" alteration I want to do - not an extension, but a rearrangement of walls so that a previous owner's extension will work better with the layout of the house. But I shan't be doing it any time soon. I'm not ready to cope with the upheaval.

Took DS to the OT about his hand pain today. He has new exercises, and we are to go back in 4 weeks. She mentioned that the cause of the problem may be at least partly in his neck rather than his wrist, even though the wrist and hand are where it manifests. I have had this kind of thing myself, and the thing that made most difference in making my symptoms go away was chiropractic, so I will be taking him to see my chiropractor to see if she can help.

The trouble is that it''s impossible to know whether his problems are caused by
(a) his hyper-extending finger and wrist joints (which certainly didn't come from me if they're genetic),
(b) his possible susceptibility to neck troubles (which is almost certainly genetic since my dad and I both suffer every so often), or
(c) his injuries during the accident (either the bad break to this right arm, or the head injury affecting his neck, or both).

The suspicion that it might have been triggered by the accident, even if he was already susceptible because of the other stuff, is based on the asymmetry of it - he broke his right arm, and it is his right wrist that has the problem. If this is the case, I should be able to get the defendants to pay for the chiropractor (who's not NHS). But if the problem's being caused by something wrong in his neck, then the link to the accident is to the head injury, so the one-sidedness of the problem on the side where he broke his arm isn't necessarily evidence either way as to whether it was caused by the accident or not. No idea whether I should try claiming for this or just go ahead and pay for it myself. Think I'll phone my solicitor tomorrow and see what he thinks. It's my day off and I'll be waiting in for a collection, a delivery and the piano tuner, so I'll have plenty of time for dealing with things like that.

GDB2222

DW spotted a coat she liked in Reiss a few months ago. It was rather expensive, so to be MSEs we decided to wait for the sales. Then 'Kate' was photographed wearing it, and they were all sold within a few hours.