OTb Where have all the baggers gone?

You have good coverage where you are. My wife has been in hospitals in four different states. Some six figure bills covered with no copay. A couple of times a year I travel through about 14 different states.

Too many stories of poor coverage, refusals of certain procedures and such so I'm not risking it.

I do not hate capitalism.

There are some things that should not be left up to the highest bidder and health care is one of them.

If true capitalism why don't doctors put out a catalog of say how much they charge you to operate on a broken arm, save you from a heart attack, remove your kidney stones ? Then you could choose which doctor you want to go to.

There are some things in the US that while it is not called a union it might as well be. That is the medical and lawyers. For many things in the US anyone can start a business, however you can not just start being a lawyer without their sayso.

We have Medicare and Humana Supplemental but mistakenly got a letter a couple of months ago that Christiana Care, the states largest hospital and provider, would not accept Human Medicare Advantage in the new year.

An update on checking the UK does not put an age limit on hip replacement. I do know from a friend that waits are very long.

A while back a friend in the UK was irritated as they gave him hell for being late to a doctor's appointment as he was stuck in traffic. He said while they always get there on time, the wait for the doctor was always long.

I also learned from friends in the UK that companies might provide supplemental health insurance to get faster service.

I do not like controls either but it bothers me that even with supplemental insurance I pay nearly 4X the cost of the same med in Canada.

Iy might help if you live near Walter Reed.

Exactly. Too many instances of that. I'm not taking the risk even though I've not needed a hospital.

Friend of mine finally decided to get it done. It is about 8 weeks from the time she decided, so Feb. 5. She is 78.

I know of one doctor that cancels you if 10 minutes late. Only one I heard of.

Humana Supplemental is a Medigap plan, NOT and advantage plan. There is no reason they should have any problem with it. Stick with it. It is way safer than any advantage plan.

Wife was about 15 minutes late due to traffic. We live about 40 miles from the doctor which is in a large city. Many times we have to wait on other doctors. Worse case was when she was to get a mammogram and we had to wait 3 hours as did several others that were in the waiting area. Several months later we had to wait over an hour.

Seems that doctors do not mind us waiting, but do not make them wait.

Walter Reed is NOT a VA hospital. It is a military treatment facility, part of the military health system. It is a DoD facility, not a VA facility.

Reminds me in the first part of the pandemic they were doing telephone appointments. I had one with my cardiologist and sat by the phone waiting maybe over an hour in the morning to have it postponed til afternoon. Sat maybe another hour and when called I said, "The late doctor so and so." Dr. so and so was pissed.

Hospital emergency room is the worst place and a couple of times I had 5 hour waits.

If testing equipment is at the hospital, waits can be long because emergency cases have priority. Better to find a satellite location with the service.

I run into that confusion all the time with my civilian friends and neighbors, as well as some of my extended family members. As many times as I've explained it, they still don't see much difference between the military health system and the VA. I'm a USAF retiree and I get (some of) my treatment at the local MTF. My next door neighbor is a Navy vet and gets her treatment at the VA. She understands the difference, of course, but other people look at us and say we're both ex-military so we must surely get our medical care in the same way, but we don't.

I'd be pissed too. Perhaps you have unrealistic expectations, but there's no need to be a prick about it.

Sure, they'll make you wait to bandage that cut on your thumb. It's a f****ng emergency room. For a real emergency, they'll take you immediately.

About 40 years ago I went in with a broken ankle. Took for-f****ng-ever.

About 4 months ago I went in with "I fell down the stairs, hit my head, and was unconscious for a few minutes." "Right this way, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton".

Many places now have "Urgent Care" for when you have the sniffles so you don't clog up the ER.

First time my wife had a problem we were returning home from vacation so I found a hospital by seeing one of the blue signs on the highway exit. We went in and to the desk. They put her in a wheelchair, check her heart rate (192) and she was whisked away for treatment. Seem to irk the people that had a runny nose.

Yes the urgent care places are the first line. I have been stitched up there maybe three times.

The long waits I remember were the time I had a pulmonary embolism and ended up with surgery and spent 12 days in the hospital. Then I had a prostate biopsy and was crapping a lot of blood and could not contact a doctor. By the time they saw me the bleeding had stopped.

There were times with chest pains they took me right away and I spent days in the hospital. If you have a heart or stroke problem they whisk you in right away.