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onpatrol98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 09:34 PM
Original message
NHS bars woman after she saw private doctor (UK)
From The Sunday Times

"Jenny Whitehead, a breast cancer survivor, paid £250 for an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon after being told she would have to wait five months to see him on the NHS. He told her he would add her to his NHS waiting list for surgery.

She was barred from the list, however, and sent back to her GP. She must now find at least £10,000 for private surgery, or wait until the autumn for the NHS operation to remove a cyst on her spine."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article7100968.ece
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virgogal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 09:41 PM
Response to Original message
1. I find this rather frightening.
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onpatrol98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 10:02 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. So do I
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 09:46 PM
Response to Original message
2. My insurer did something similar here, though not about anything as serious.
I need my three remaining wisdom teeth out (I paid out of pocket for one because I was in pain and needed it done ASAP.) I have THREE referrals, from my regular dentist, my oral surgeon, and a second oral surgeon. My insurance covers the same oral surgeon I already used. But because the quack dentist on their plan won't write me a referral (he didn't even take an x-ray!) they won't pay to get my remaining wisdom teeth out. So I guess I'm waiting for them to get infected one by one, at which point it'll be more expensive and riskier to have done on an emergency basis, but they'll cover it.
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onpatrol98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 09:56 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. Amazing...
It's amazing how they play with people's lives and health.
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Ken Burch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 09:58 PM
Response to Original message
4. Actually, she just has to go to the back of the queue at the NHS
And they'd have far less of a queue(line)if New Labour hadn't wasted all that money on the insane wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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virgogal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 10:05 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. I think most of us know what a queue is.
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onpatrol98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 10:07 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. Intense Pain
She says she's in intense pain, though. Isn't 18 weeks a long time to wait?
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Ken Burch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 10:08 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. In the U.S. system(which this article is pimping for)she'd often have to wait that long
If she didn't have the cash on hand to pay for the operation.
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onpatrol98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 10:20 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Article Pimp
Edited on Sun Apr-18-10 10:23 PM by onpatrol98
An article pimp, that's an interesting perspective. You bring the matches, I'll bring the books.

This is an article about a breast cancer survivor trying to get health care. It stands alone. It is provided simply for people who like to read and discuss.

I wish her the best.

The comments on the newspaper's website are informative. I see private health insurance is still a part of the equation. I guess that's a beast that never dies.
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Ken Burch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 11:13 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. I have sympathy for this woman's situation
but getting people to feel that was never solely what that article was about. Those who published it have an agenda both of stopping universal healthcare in the U.S. and in dismantling the universal healthcare system in the UK.

It's all about the larger agenda.

And again, she'd face the same problem in a private insurance system, if she didn't happen to be able to pay the cost of the procedure out of pocket. Our healthcare "providers" are not very willing to work with people on payment plans in cases like this.
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pnwmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 11:41 PM
Response to Reply #8
16. Not if she had a decent insurance plan, which NHS is supposed to be. n/t
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pnwmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 11:40 PM
Response to Reply #4
15. She "just" has to wait another 18 months? n/t
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paulsby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-19-10 01:01 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. i was bummed because i had to wait a WEEK
for a major shoulder surgery.

a WEEK.
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bemildred Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 10:36 PM
Response to Original message
10. 250 pounds for an appointment?
So basically, the Doc extorts 250 pounds from her to bump her up the list, and she gets screwed for it. I mean he had to know about the rules.
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onpatrol98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 10:42 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. Exactly!
So? Is it like one-list for my paying customers? And, another list for my "NHS" customers? This is the same doctor and the same patient, right? For a cool sum of money, you're off one list and on another. I don't understand. Shouldn't there be one list for everyone?

It really did sound a bit like extortion to me.

Benefiting from her pain, at that...
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bemildred Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 10:49 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. Well, he's the guy I would be talking to about all this, is all I'm saying. nt
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HuckleB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-18-10 11:19 PM
Response to Reply #10
14. Exactly!
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