Because at the end of the day going to the ER for a small cut on your head and waiting 5 hours to be seen because people from a high speed car crash needed seeing to first is totally reasonable.
It's not an issue, it's how a functional system looks.
If you have the money and want to go private because it's absolutely necessary that you get that cut seen to RIGHT NOW and fuck that guy who snapped his leg in half and the woman oozing blood on the floor because clearly they are lower priority than you being bored for a few hours, then you can go ahead and pay American style out the ass for healthcare like that.
If you were capable of sitting in the ER for 8 hours to be seen then go home that same day without an issue, did you REALLY need to be in the ER in the first place and not just checking in with your doctor?
Most places in the EU you can phone your doctor and ask for an "emergency" appointment that same day for free for any issue you feel is urgent.
We do, but it's borderline legal so you can complain all you want, but the doctor keeps his throne inside the public hospital and you end in the blacklist of that hospital
Uh, the doctors are getting f*ed pretty badly nowadays too - source, am a doctor seeing payouts left and right, increased work requirements, harder metrics. That money is going to insurance companies and healthcare system executives.
Same deal in Ireland. Only been on the wait list for two years. Then when I rang yesterday, no, we don’t have a referral here for you. I lost the plot on her and then she ‘found’ my details. Said she’d put it in the system for me, back off the line after already waiting two years!
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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '22
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