"public healthcare"

[shubla]

It sucks.

First, Dental healthcare.
I had some dental problems earlier this year. I called to get a time to a dentist. It took 3½ months to get to oral-hygienist (which is not even a dentist). She looked in my mouth and said that I maybe have cavity/cavities. I had to wait another 2 months to get a real dentist to get a filling. But those did not help, I still have dental problems, pain and all. Basically they did not properly inspect my mouth (no x rays or anything) or even ask me anything about how I feel when I had my appointment. This all cost around 60 euros.
One option is to go to private sector dentist. But that costs way too much. So the public-sector is the only option. Only option is to call again, and wait another 5 months to get to a dentist, who may or may not be of help.
Of course they want to save money, but its probably cheaper to rather treat my problems now, than wait until my teeth start rotting and dropping out of my mouth!

And then the more serious, general healthcare. (They divide healthcare into two parts, dental one and then all the rest)
I had, or still have some things that need to be checked out. I contacted time-reservation service of the local health center, asking for an appointment with a doctor, briefly describing the symptoms. They told me to go get blood test and stuff, and if there is something weird in them, then I may get a doctor's appointment. Which is quite weird, usually you first visit a doctor, then maybe get some tests done, no?
Well, I got the blood tests done, and then ecg, the ecg guy told me to go show the papers to some people in another floor to be analyzed because the graphs weren't entirely normal. I went to another floor, where they advised me to take a turn-number. I took a number, the numbers were in weird order, so there was no way of knowing how soon your number may be called. It took a bit more than 3 hours for my number to be called.
I thought that maybe now I finally meet a real doctor. But no, when I entered the room, there was some quite young immigrant woman, who spoke very, very poor Finnish, a nurse I presume, not a doctor at least. First she told me that I should have skipped the turn-number-queue thing, because the ecg was to be analyzed urgently. (But I was specifically advised to take a turn number by people in the reception desk, even when I explained about the ecg that had to be immediately analyzed)
She left the room with the ecg graphs (Maybe to show them to a doctor?) and soon came back saying that there was nothing wrong with them. Which is weird, because the ecg-guy told me that there was something exceptional in them. She told me that the blood-tests weren't analyzed yet and a doctor would either send SMS or call me later with the results and stuff. So far I was not given any opportunity to explain my symptoms. I tried to explain them but she did not care, and almost started laughing at one point, and then just sent me off.

And now I am at home. Still without any diagnosis, having only met nurses, nervously waiting for the call from doctor that I haven't met, and possible bill of all this to arrive.
This happened earlier this week on Wednesday, so it has been more than 2 full days since that, still no call or anything else.

[ChildhoodObesity]

finland is the greatest country of all time

[shubla]

finland is the greatest country of all time

"free" healthcare does sound good on paper though, as long as you wont have to ever use it, that is.

I think that maybe its not healthcare, but a hospice. They are trying to make you feel more comfortable about the approaching death, because when you die, you wont have to deal with the healthcare system anymore!

[Kaios]

Well, that's what universal health care is. You can't expect top quality from a free service and yet that's exactly what most people imagine when they think of universal health care. In reality however, hospitals and doctors have to prioritize their services based on their financial capabilities and so if they aren't making enough money in certain departments those departments lose funding and individuals that actually pay for health care insurance will of course maintain first priority over those who rely on universal health care.

You might think it would be nice living in Canada or some other country that provides free health coverage and not paying for health insurance but I promise you the money you put towards your health care is well worth it if you are receiving proper treatment on a timely basis.

[overtyped]

nah, the issue is they try to run public healthcare like a corporation.
The less they can spend the better, and the longer the wait times, the less chance those people actually go see a doctor, thus saving money.

Same with minimal treatment, they get you in and out because it's cheaper. They can afford to remove the waiting time, they can afford to give you good treatment... but
If there is one thing you can always count on it's human greed, and public healthcare didn't include that inevitability.

It's much more benificial for a country to fix someones disability and be done with it and have a functioning work force, instead of prescribing them medicine to treat the symptoms, but from a corporations perspective, they can save money by not giving you the treatment you need, and treating the symptoms for the rest of their life. Sometimes it makes me sick to be human..

[AntiBlitz]

glory to finland, greatest of country.

on a side note, i just made a dentist appointment, and its scheduled 4 days from now.

[MagicManICT]

Guess it depends on what country and what the overall healthcare system is like. I've read about a few people from Canada with this same type of complaint, but on the other hand, I've read others that completely contradict such claims.

For me, despite "Obamacare" and qualifying for state covered health care, I can't get it because my state was allowed to "opt out." So I don't know what it's like to have public healthcare. I'm stuck going to charity clinics. A dental appt is $50 at the cheapest, so the last time I had my teeth cleaned was about the time my children were born. I've had most of my teeth removed at $50 a pop because I couldn't afford all the repair work (normally about 200-300 per tooth depending on dentist and clinic, insurance provider, etc) I've got a couple teeth left to be removed, and one is abscessed. I won't bother describing the pain because, well, I just don't feel it anymore (means the nerve has been destroyed.) Oh, and it takes a minimum of three months to get an appointment... so much for that public healthcare being so terrible. There's worse... much much worse.

I don't share much about my personal life around here or on the Internet period, but on this... some people just don't know what it's like living with the alternatives. By all means, come to the US where you can have your private healthcare and don't have to deal with all the problems at home.

[shubla]

Guess it depends on what country and what the overall healthcare system is like. I've read about a few people from Canada with this same type of complaint, but on the other hand, I've read others that completely contradict such claims.

For me, despite "Obamacare" and qualifying for state covered health care, I can't get it because my state was allowed to "opt out." So I don't know what it's like to have public healthcare. I'm stuck going to charity clinics. A dental appt is $50 at the cheapest, so the last time I had my teeth cleaned was about the time my children were born. I've had most of my teeth removed at $50 a pop because I couldn't afford all the repair work (normally about 200-300 per tooth depending on dentist and clinic, insurance provider, etc) I've got a couple teeth left to be removed, and one is abscessed. I won't bother describing the pain because, well, I just don't feel it anymore (means the nerve has been destroyed.) Oh, and it takes a minimum of three months to get an appointment... so much for that public healthcare being so terrible. There's worse... much much worse.

I don't share much about my personal life around here or on the Internet period, but on this... some people just don't know what it's like living with the alternatives. By all means, come to the US where you can have your private healthcare and don't have to deal with all the problems at home.

I have also used private healthcare in some other occasions, and only have good experiences of it. Good service, friendly workers, no waiting and they treat you well. Of course, 10 minute appointment costs 100€, which is the only downside. The things that they did me earlier this week would have cost around 600-800€ on private sector.

[Granger]

But those did not help, I still have dental problems, pain and all.

Hope you manage to get well quick and completely.

Regarding the rest of your rant I think overtyped nailed it with

nah, the issue is they try to run public healthcare like a corporation.

While private healthcare sounds nice in theory... it's only nice in practice when you're rich.
Being middle-class wealthy (owning a house and stuff) can be taken from you (in fucked up countries like the US where you get nickeled and dimed) by the bill from one catastrophically enough medical emergency hospital visit.

[shubla]

Being middle-class wealthy (owning a house and stuff) can be taken from you (in fucked up countries like the US where you get nickeled and dimed) by the bill from one catastrophically enough medical emergency hospital visit.

I guess that if you really get hurt in Finland, so badly that you have to go to hospital. It costs like nothing and you will probably get treated.
But if you arent like, close to death, its difficult to get any treatment or even diagnosis.