Quote:
Originally Posted by kane
A lot of early detection falls on the patient and not the doctor. Doctors know certain things like if you are at or past a certain age you should be screened for certain things. They don't know what you don't tell them. If you have a family history of cancer, for example, the doctor has no way of knowing that unless you tell them. If you don't actively participate or understand how you should you won't get the quality of care you need.
|
I don't think the difference between survival rates between UK and US is because US health care customers are more informed and are able to better manage their health care or are more open about their family history, etc...
one of the reasons why early detection may be more common in the US is simple, US doctors have in a way skin in the game, there is $$ to be made...
let me illustrate with an example: imagine 50 year old man going to a doctor with a flu...
UK:
the doctor is overworked, gets flat salary from NHS or whatever they call it... so he talks with the guy for 5 minutes prescribes him some antibiotics, sends him on his way... thought of mentioning prostate exam crosses his mind, but figures "fuck that, I'll have to fill out a form, and it's 6pm already with 20 people still waiting to see me, so I'll mention it next time since chances of him having cancer are pretty slim anyway..."...
US:
the doctor has pretty free schedule, he is self employed, so he collects $100 or whatever for each visit... he talks with the guy for 5 minutes prescribes him some antibiotics, and on the way out... "by the way, I see you are 50 years old, at this age it's good idea to perform a prostate exam.. talk to my secretary and make an appointment and we'll do it next week"... patient gets "upsold", doctor makes more $$, but as a result he gets better healthcare = everyone is happy
so paradox of free healthcare that many seek, is that as more and more people have free healthcare, the situation turns more from one labeled as "US" to one labeled as "UK"... and no one really wins as a result, on average everyone ends up with worse healthcare (as illustrated by cancer survival rates earlier)