State of the healthcare system in America: Let's discuss why it's failing

Kate Collins67 said:Look, if you follow the news, it’s always the same old story—every other headline is some exposé attacking a mistake here or a failure there, someone being blamed, someone being accused of negligence... but you almost never see a front-page story about an oncology patient advocacy group begging for more hospice care. I get it, you don't call the shots on what gets published, but I'm just calling it like I see it in the American press.

Sure, people can be weirdly indifferent, but that isn't just on the medical staff. Just look at how little anyone cared when the unions organized those strikes over pay cuts a year ago—or whenever that was. They didn't exactly break any attendance records, did they?

The truth is, both you and I are going to have a hell of a time fighting for anything just by "gathering people together"—because real change doesn't just happen overnight.
My take? We need to spread awareness about the actual, underlying issues through every channel possible. Eventually, that critical mass will build up, and maybe then we'll start seeing a shift in the collective mindset.

Of course we're pushing for a hospice to open! Should we just stay silent about it?! The newspapers are being way too soft anyway; what would they even write? You've got people waiting three months for radiation, patients being denied meds because of some "cost-effectiveness" nonsense, and then they're just left to die like dogs. The government isn't doing its job—even though they explicitly promised to—and they aren't being held accountable. This isn't about whether a building has been constructed yet; this is about human lives and dying with dignity.
We've been around since 2007, and considering how few of us are actually active, we've pulled off miracles in these two years within the society we live in. We hunt down media coverage like hyenas whenever we can, and we launched a website that gets massive traffic specifically to educate, inform, and provide support.
We are all very aware that a crowd doesn't gather overnight, but someone has to kick things off, stir the pot, and get everyone else riled up. That's where the initiative is lacking.

And regarding that show link I posted—in this case, a doctor stood up and spoke out, but his own colleagues turned their backs on him in public. The only public support he received came from a patient.
Once the pressure mounted, the problem was fixed. The hospital received emergency funding and the limits were raised.

Angela Wright As specified by:
Honestly, I think you and anyone else sharing that mindset are just manufacturing excuses to avoid getting stuck in the trenches and actually rolling up your sleeves to get dirty.

This guy has actually been an honest and high-quality contributor to this forum, so I completely get why he doesn’t want to play Don Quixote in his real life. There is a massive difference between a patient complaining—which might just be their way of dealing with treatment discomfort (unless they wait to file a lawsuit later, of course)—and a doctor turning around to sue the very institution that pays their salary and manages their budget. Honestly, the state of healthcare today is just a mirror held up to society; it’s a political minefield that nobody seems brave enough to step into.

Angela Wright As stated by:
It’s exactly what you'd expect from a society conditioned to believe that someone else should swoop in and fix everything for them. We've been raised on this idea of instant gratification—where a problem exists, and an immediate solution should just be handed to you on a silver platter. Honestly, it applies to everyone, from the doctors to the patients themselves.
If you're just sitting there with your head stuck in the sand, you don't get to complain. Honestly, nobody wants to hear it. You only earn the right to grumble if you actually stepped up, tried to change things, and failed. Anything else is just noise.

It’s a sad reality that the American professional community tends to follow a "keep your head down and endure" philosophy—basically, don't poke the bear. Nobody seems to have the guts to actually speak up against injustice. That’s exactly why we see these ridiculous situations where bags full of gems end up in court because two powerful people had a falling out, yet those absurdly overpriced contracts for X-ray machines never face scrutiny simply because the big players stayed on the same page. That lack of backbone is precisely why our history of privatization was such a disaster, leading directly to the era of tycoons and the broken economy we’re stuck with today. Let’s be real: no foreign investor is going to swoop into America and suddenly hand us our rights on a silver platter. If Americans themselves aren't willing to fight for their own interests, they shouldn't be surprised when they end up without them.

@ Angela Wright

Look, when it comes to the issues facing the country right now... they're all over the place.
We have a healthcare budget—it is what it is. We have to work within the actual constraints we've been handed.
If we tried to guarantee absolutely everything for everyone, we’d be chasing a pipe dream. So, let's get back to reality.

I hope we can all agree that it’s impossible for everyone to get access to every single thing—at least not under a socialized healthcare model. It just isn't practically feasible. I could easily quote the patient advocacy group from that link above, "Open Access," who basically said: "We simply need more money."

Prevention, without question, equals savings. But for prevention to actually work, we have to go back to step one: university education is subpar, and that's where the change needs to start.
Step two: in a socialized healthcare system, a patient shouldn't be able to just decide whenever they feel like it which tests they want to undergo. Tests should only be performed based on a doctor's indication—and those doctors need to be held to strict criteria based on medical algorithms that, frankly, don't even exist yet. If we implemented that, we'd see massive savings and a genuine boost in the quality of care.
Step three: if you want to do whatever you want, whenever you want? Go private.

Alexander Lewis said:

Angela Wright As specified by:
Honestly, I think you and anyone else sharing that mindset are just manufacturing excuses to avoid getting stuck in the trenches and actually rolling up your sleeves to get dirty.

This guy has actually been an honest and high-quality contributor to this forum, so I completely get why he doesn’t want to play Don Quixote in his real life. There is a massive difference between a patient complaining—which might just be their way of dealing with treatment discomfort (unless they wait to file a lawsuit later, of course)—and a doctor turning around to sue the very institution that pays their salary and manages their budget. Honestly, the state of healthcare today is just a mirror held up to society; it’s a political minefield that nobody seems brave enough to step into.

Angela Wright As stated by:
It’s exactly what you'd expect from a society conditioned to believe that someone else should swoop in and fix everything for them. We've been raised on this idea of instant gratification—where a problem exists, and an immediate solution should just be handed to you on a silver platter. Honestly, it applies to everyone, from the doctors to the patients themselves.
If you're just sitting there with your head stuck in the sand, you don't get to complain. Honestly, nobody wants to hear it. You only earn the right to grumble if you actually stepped up, tried to change things, and failed. Anything else is just noise.

It’s a sad reality that the American professional community tends to follow a "keep your head down and endure" philosophy—basically, don't poke the bear. Nobody seems to have the guts to actually speak up against injustice. That’s exactly why we see these ridiculous situations where bags full of gems end up in court because two powerful people had a falling out, yet those absurdly overpriced contracts for X-ray machines never face scrutiny simply because the big players stayed on the same page. That lack of backbone is precisely why our history of privatization was such a disaster, leading directly to the era of tycoons and the broken economy we’re stuck with today. Let’s be real: no foreign investor is going to swoop into America and suddenly hand us our rights on a silver platter. If Americans themselves aren't willing to fight for their own interests, they shouldn't be surprised when they end up without them.

Look, we realize that, but man, if you let us open the door so we can fight for better working conditions through this platform, don't go slamming it in our faces.
People are so terrified they won't even dare to speak up. What’s the point of having an oncologist or a radiologist with all that specialized expertise and dedication if the patient is stuck waiting three months just to get radiation therapy? This isn't just about some dirty WCa equipment at the clinic; this is something fundamentally more broken. It raises the question: how moral is it to stay silent about this? Personally, I couldn't do it—but hey, that's just me. Of course.

It's a sad reality that the American medical establishment basically follows a "keep your head down and endure" policy—they won't poke the bear. Nobody dares to raise their voice against injustice. That's exactly why we see those scandals involving bags of cash hitting the courts only when powerful people start fighting, while weird procurement criteria for X-ray machines never reach a courtroom because the elites are in agreement. That's how we ended up with the privatization era, the tycoons, and the economy we have now... No foreigner is going to fly into America and suddenly fix everything for Americans, and clearly, even Americans don't seem interested in fighting for their own rights, which is why they don't have them.

Well, we dared to speak up. We make noise whenever and wherever we can. Honestly, once you've faced a cancer diagnosis and the "gift package" that comes along with it, what else is there left to fear in this life?🙂
And nobody has threatened us yet. I guess they realize there's nothing to gain from that. For the most part, they respect us and frequently give us exactly what we ask for just so we'll stop bothering them.
People, be a nuisance.👍

Kate Collins67, I'm right there with you.
The algorithms—meaning the actual guidelines—are being drafted, but the big question remains: who is pulling the strings and what criteria are they actually using? According to the Resolution on malignant tumors passed by Congress, patient advocacy groups should have a seat at the table when crafting the National Cancer Plan. Supposedly, this plan is already in the works, yet we have zero clue who is behind it, and nobody has reached out to our committees. This whole thing was supposed to be finalized ages ago to meet our commitments to the European Union.
But don't sweat it too much; this won't stick, I promise you 😉 They'll just fumble through it.

The issues are laid out plain as day. Of course, we can't fix everything overnight, but for heaven's sake, we need to stop stalling and start solving. That’s where public pressure comes in.

Angela Wright said:Of course we're pushing for a hospice to open! Should we just stay silent about it?! The newspapers are being way too soft anyway; what would they even write? You've got people waiting three months for radiation, patients being denied meds because of some "cost-effectiveness" nonsense, and then they're just left to die like dogs. The government isn't doing its job—even though they explicitly promised to—and they aren't being held accountable. This isn't about whether a building has been constructed yet; this is about human lives and dying with dignity.
We've been around since 2007, and considering how few of us are actually active, we've pulled off miracles in these two years within the society we live in. We hunt down media coverage like hyenas whenever we can, and we launched a website that gets massive traffic specifically to educate, inform, and provide support.
We are all very aware that a crowd doesn't gather overnight, but someone has to kick things off, stir the pot, and get everyone else riled up. That's where the initiative is lacking.

And regarding that show link I posted—in this case, a doctor stood up and spoke out, but his own colleagues turned their backs on him in public. The only public support he received came from a patient.
Once the pressure mounted, the problem was fixed. The hospital received emergency funding and the limits were raised.

I honestly have just one question here. So, they raised the limit for this particular hospital? That means from our pool of imaginary $33 hospitals, instead of having $6.75, we now have $10. All the other hospitals, the clinics, the community health centers—they've all been stuck with $27 until now, and suddenly this one gets bumped up to 70? Look, for someone to gain, someone else has to lose. It's just that harsh reality of life again, isn't it?
One-off fixes don't solve anything in the long run, but hey, I suppose everyone has the right to fight for their own life and their own dignity.

Kate Collins67 said:Browsing through various threads on different forums, I’m noticing a pattern: there is a massive amount of general dissatisfaction with the US healthcare system among the general population (the ones actually online—and honestly, it terrifies me to think what the people who *don't* know how to use the internet are thinking). Usually, this frustration gets boiled down to just bashing the medical staff—which, let’s be real, is sometimes justified and sometimes isn't.

Here are a few points that people really ought to understand, assuming anyone here is actually interested in a deeper discussion...

1. Medical school in the States, much like the rest of our education system, doesn't provide an adequate foundation in my opinion (I've experienced this firsthand—it takes way too long and provides far too little).

2. Physician working hours—though not necessarily the hours for other medical staff, based on what I see around me—violate numerous labor laws (if I’m interpreting them correctly). For example: we're looking at roughly 60 to 80 hours of paid overtime every single month due to those 24-hour shifts that stretch into 25 hours minimum, every month of the year. Last year, I spent about 100 days pulling 25-hour stretches at the hospital; last month alone, I had 88 overtime hours, plus another 8 that nobody even bothers to record anywhere.
Let me be clear: we don't have a choice whether we pull these shifts or not. Anyone who hasn't spent 24 straight hours on the job should probably hold their tongue before commenting.
When you're in a state of exhaustion like this, it’s absolutely insane to expect a smile, warmth, or a good mood—even though I still try my best to provide that, I'm finding myself giving in more and more and becoming just like the people who make you so angry in the first place.

3. Primary care has completely failed (I don't know the exact reasons, but I see the results): it's likely a mix of administrative headaches and a total lack of oversight regarding "home visits" during those final hour and a half of the workday (have you noticed your primary doctor finishes up around 1:00 or 1:30 PM, even if their shift goes until 3:00 or 4:00 depending on whether they start at 7:00 or 8:00?). Then there's all this maneuvering regarding leasing offices versus running actual private practices. The bottom line? Very little actual MEDICINE is being practiced in general practitioner clinics.

4. In field EMS services across the country, with a few exceptions, the jobs are being filled by people who aren't quite up to the task—mostly young grads fresh out of med school with zero days of actual work experience. Of course, you shouldn't blame the individuals who are just trying to earn a living; you have to look at the Ministry for that. We might see some change in 5 to 10 years when the first true emergency medicine specialists finally emerge (from what I understand, specialists in urgent medicine already exist in places like Mexico—so much for our progress compared to our neighbors).

5. At hospital ERs, it’s usually residents or brand-new specialists on duty—again, not through any fault of their own (you notice the pattern: in the places where experience is most critical, you get people without it). In some hospitals, they have decent supervision from senior colleagues, but in others, they're basically flying solo because proper supervision isn't provided. Don't get me wrong, I personally believe supervision is ESSENTIAL; ultimately, it should be legally mandated, because residents are still in training and shouldn't be working without oversight. (That’s just my personal take.)

6. Here comes a crucial point that most people either don't grasp or simply choose to ignore, and it concerns the patients themselves.
Anyone using the ER for every little thing (and there are a huge number of such patients) is directly endangering patients who are in real, life-threatening situations. We urgently need to implement a system of sanctions—whether financial or otherwise—that can be applied to patients who abuse emergency services and hospital ERs.

7. We can go further if there's interest... in the hope that "tomorrow" we might actually have a functional healthcare system.

Kudos to you for having the guts to post that. I don't live in the States myself, but I find myself visiting quite often. I actually have family over there who work within the US healthcare system, and they’ve also dealt with it from the patient side of things, so I figured I’d weigh in.

Kate Collins67 said:Browsing through various threads on different forums, I’m noticing a pattern: there is a massive amount of general dissatisfaction with the US healthcare system among the general population (the ones actually online—and honestly, it terrifies me to think what the people who *don't* know how to use the internet are thinking). Usually, this frustration gets boiled down to just bashing the medical staff—which, let’s be real, is sometimes justified and sometimes isn't.

Here are a few points that people really ought to understand, assuming anyone here is actually interested in a deeper discussion...

1. Medical school in the States, much like the rest of our education system, doesn't provide an adequate foundation in my opinion (I've experienced this firsthand—it takes way too long and provides far too little).

2. Physician working hours—though not necessarily the hours for other medical staff, based on what I see around me—violate numerous labor laws (if I’m interpreting them correctly). For example: we're looking at roughly 60 to 80 hours of paid overtime every single month due to those 24-hour shifts that stretch into 25 hours minimum, every month of the year. Last year, I spent about 100 days pulling 25-hour stretches at the hospital; last month alone, I had 88 overtime hours, plus another 8 that nobody even bothers to record anywhere.
Let me be clear: we don't have a choice whether we pull these shifts or not. Anyone who hasn't spent 24 straight hours on the job should probably hold their tongue before commenting.
When you're in a state of exhaustion like this, it’s absolutely insane to expect a smile, warmth, or a good mood—even though I still try my best to provide that, I'm finding myself giving in more and more and becoming just like the people who make you so angry in the first place.

3. Primary care has completely failed (I don't know the exact reasons, but I see the results): it's likely a mix of administrative headaches and a total lack of oversight regarding "home visits" during those final hour and a half of the workday (have you noticed your primary doctor finishes up around 1:00 or 1:30 PM, even if their shift goes until 3:00 or 4:00 depending on whether they start at 7:00 or 8:00?). Then there's all this maneuvering regarding leasing offices versus running actual private practices. The bottom line? Very little actual MEDICINE is being practiced in general practitioner clinics.

4. In field EMS services across the country, with a few exceptions, the jobs are being filled by people who aren't quite up to the task—mostly young grads fresh out of med school with zero days of actual work experience. Of course, you shouldn't blame the individuals who are just trying to earn a living; you have to look at the Ministry for that. We might see some change in 5 to 10 years when the first true emergency medicine specialists finally emerge (from what I understand, specialists in urgent medicine already exist in places like Mexico—so much for our progress compared to our neighbors).

5. At hospital ERs, it’s usually residents or brand-new specialists on duty—again, not through any fault of their own (you notice the pattern: in the places where experience is most critical, you get people without it). In some hospitals, they have decent supervision from senior colleagues, but in others, they're basically flying solo because proper supervision isn't provided. Don't get me wrong, I personally believe supervision is ESSENTIAL; ultimately, it should be legally mandated, because residents are still in training and shouldn't be working without oversight. (That’s just my personal take.)

6. Here comes a crucial point that most people either don't grasp or simply choose to ignore, and it concerns the patients themselves.
Anyone using the ER for every little thing (and there are a huge number of such patients) is directly endangering patients who are in real, life-threatening situations. We urgently need to implement a system of sanctions—whether financial or otherwise—that can be applied to patients who abuse emergency services and hospital ERs.

7. We can go further if there's interest... in the hope that "tomorrow" we might actually have a functional healthcare system.

It’s true that the process drags on way too long, especially once you factor in the residency requirements. But if you ask me, the quality is essentially on par with the University of California—not exactly breaking any records. At the end of the day, money makes the world go round, and in those institutions, people have managed to secure cushy positions despite having scientific careers buried under layers of dust. Nepotism is rampant there. How many of your colleagues in med school had parents who were already doctors? I’d bet it’s a staggering number. It’s honestly sad, but if you don't have those family connections in the States, you're looking at two options: either grab a job outside of a major hub like New York or Chicago, or face an uphill battle finding steady employment. It’s probably why medical school is becoming such an unpopular choice for students.

Kate Collins67 said:Browsing through various threads on different forums, I’m noticing a pattern: there is a massive amount of general dissatisfaction with the US healthcare system among the general population (the ones actually online—and honestly, it terrifies me to think what the people who *don't* know how to use the internet are thinking). Usually, this frustration gets boiled down to just bashing the medical staff—which, let’s be real, is sometimes justified and sometimes isn't.

Here are a few points that people really ought to understand, assuming anyone here is actually interested in a deeper discussion...

1. Medical school in the States, much like the rest of our education system, doesn't provide an adequate foundation in my opinion (I've experienced this firsthand—it takes way too long and provides far too little).

2. Physician working hours—though not necessarily the hours for other medical staff, based on what I see around me—violate numerous labor laws (if I’m interpreting them correctly). For example: we're looking at roughly 60 to 80 hours of paid overtime every single month due to those 24-hour shifts that stretch into 25 hours minimum, every month of the year. Last year, I spent about 100 days pulling 25-hour stretches at the hospital; last month alone, I had 88 overtime hours, plus another 8 that nobody even bothers to record anywhere.
Let me be clear: we don't have a choice whether we pull these shifts or not. Anyone who hasn't spent 24 straight hours on the job should probably hold their tongue before commenting.
When you're in a state of exhaustion like this, it’s absolutely insane to expect a smile, warmth, or a good mood—even though I still try my best to provide that, I'm finding myself giving in more and more and becoming just like the people who make you so angry in the first place.

3. Primary care has completely failed (I don't know the exact reasons, but I see the results): it's likely a mix of administrative headaches and a total lack of oversight regarding "home visits" during those final hour and a half of the workday (have you noticed your primary doctor finishes up around 1:00 or 1:30 PM, even if their shift goes until 3:00 or 4:00 depending on whether they start at 7:00 or 8:00?). Then there's all this maneuvering regarding leasing offices versus running actual private practices. The bottom line? Very little actual MEDICINE is being practiced in general practitioner clinics.

4. In field EMS services across the country, with a few exceptions, the jobs are being filled by people who aren't quite up to the task—mostly young grads fresh out of med school with zero days of actual work experience. Of course, you shouldn't blame the individuals who are just trying to earn a living; you have to look at the Ministry for that. We might see some change in 5 to 10 years when the first true emergency medicine specialists finally emerge (from what I understand, specialists in urgent medicine already exist in places like Mexico—so much for our progress compared to our neighbors).

5. At hospital ERs, it’s usually residents or brand-new specialists on duty—again, not through any fault of their own (you notice the pattern: in the places where experience is most critical, you get people without it). In some hospitals, they have decent supervision from senior colleagues, but in others, they're basically flying solo because proper supervision isn't provided. Don't get me wrong, I personally believe supervision is ESSENTIAL; ultimately, it should be legally mandated, because residents are still in training and shouldn't be working without oversight. (That’s just my personal take.)

6. Here comes a crucial point that most people either don't grasp or simply choose to ignore, and it concerns the patients themselves.
Anyone using the ER for every little thing (and there are a huge number of such patients) is directly endangering patients who are in real, life-threatening situations. We urgently need to implement a system of sanctions—whether financial or otherwise—that can be applied to patients who abuse emergency services and hospital ERs.

7. We can go further if there's interest... in the hope that "tomorrow" we might actually have a functional healthcare system.

It’s a sad reality, honestly. We are looking at a direct consequence of a massive physician shortage. Fewer people are entering med school, and even those who do are being squeezed out because hospitals are mismanaging their funds. Instead of allocating enough budget to ensure doctors can cover shifts without working themselves into an early grave, they blow through cash on questionable expenditures. There’s zero oversight on equipment procurement, which is where the real money moves—controlled by directors who, more often than not, were appointed for political reasons rather than merit. Hospital doctors are caught in this impossible vice between Medicare, which refuses to provide decent pay or workable conditions, and patients who rightfully expect humane treatment. It’s tragic, but you see it all the time: frustrated doctors start moonlighting or running side gigs just to stay afloat. When that happens, they either fail at communicating with patients or the quality of care takes a hit, which is something I find hard to forgive. On top of that, there is this blatant "closed-door policy" in our hospitals. You sit there in a crowded waiting room like a ghost, staring at the wall, with no idea if you'll be seen in five hours or eight. It’s pure apathy—a "don't bother me" attitude that is fundamentally inhumane. Is it really that difficult to just share some numbers and say, "Hey, expect a four-hour wait"? How much common sense does it take to actually plan a workday?

Kate Collins67 said:Browsing through various threads on different forums, I’m noticing a pattern: there is a massive amount of general dissatisfaction with the US healthcare system among the general population (the ones actually online—and honestly, it terrifies me to think what the people who *don't* know how to use the internet are thinking). Usually, this frustration gets boiled down to just bashing the medical staff—which, let’s be real, is sometimes justified and sometimes isn't.

Here are a few points that people really ought to understand, assuming anyone here is actually interested in a deeper discussion...

1. Medical school in the States, much like the rest of our education system, doesn't provide an adequate foundation in my opinion (I've experienced this firsthand—it takes way too long and provides far too little).

2. Physician working hours—though not necessarily the hours for other medical staff, based on what I see around me—violate numerous labor laws (if I’m interpreting them correctly). For example: we're looking at roughly 60 to 80 hours of paid overtime every single month due to those 24-hour shifts that stretch into 25 hours minimum, every month of the year. Last year, I spent about 100 days pulling 25-hour stretches at the hospital; last month alone, I had 88 overtime hours, plus another 8 that nobody even bothers to record anywhere.
Let me be clear: we don't have a choice whether we pull these shifts or not. Anyone who hasn't spent 24 straight hours on the job should probably hold their tongue before commenting.
When you're in a state of exhaustion like this, it’s absolutely insane to expect a smile, warmth, or a good mood—even though I still try my best to provide that, I'm finding myself giving in more and more and becoming just like the people who make you so angry in the first place.

3. Primary care has completely failed (I don't know the exact reasons, but I see the results): it's likely a mix of administrative headaches and a total lack of oversight regarding "home visits" during those final hour and a half of the workday (have you noticed your primary doctor finishes up around 1:00 or 1:30 PM, even if their shift goes until 3:00 or 4:00 depending on whether they start at 7:00 or 8:00?). Then there's all this maneuvering regarding leasing offices versus running actual private practices. The bottom line? Very little actual MEDICINE is being practiced in general practitioner clinics.

4. In field EMS services across the country, with a few exceptions, the jobs are being filled by people who aren't quite up to the task—mostly young grads fresh out of med school with zero days of actual work experience. Of course, you shouldn't blame the individuals who are just trying to earn a living; you have to look at the Ministry for that. We might see some change in 5 to 10 years when the first true emergency medicine specialists finally emerge (from what I understand, specialists in urgent medicine already exist in places like Mexico—so much for our progress compared to our neighbors).

5. At hospital ERs, it’s usually residents or brand-new specialists on duty—again, not through any fault of their own (you notice the pattern: in the places where experience is most critical, you get people without it). In some hospitals, they have decent supervision from senior colleagues, but in others, they're basically flying solo because proper supervision isn't provided. Don't get me wrong, I personally believe supervision is ESSENTIAL; ultimately, it should be legally mandated, because residents are still in training and shouldn't be working without oversight. (That’s just my personal take.)

6. Here comes a crucial point that most people either don't grasp or simply choose to ignore, and it concerns the patients themselves.
Anyone using the ER for every little thing (and there are a huge number of such patients) is directly endangering patients who are in real, life-threatening situations. We urgently need to implement a system of sanctions—whether financial or otherwise—that can be applied to patients who abuse emergency services and hospital ERs.

7. We can go further if there's interest... in the hope that "tomorrow" we might actually have a functional healthcare system.

If you’re interested, I know this from firsthand experience: it is absolutely infuriating how much mindless administrative busywork primary care doctors are forced to deal with just to satisfy Medicare. You have people who spend years studying to become physicians, only to end up wasting an hour or two every single day buried under a mountain of paperwork. On top of that, they’re being terrorized by constant billing audits and shifting thresholds for contract renewals. A portion of the costs gets pushed directly onto the primary care physician, creating a broken system that essentially exists only to feed the bureaucracy at the Medicare local offices.

Kate Collins67 Asks:
Across the field emergency services throughout the US, with a few rare exceptions, you’ll find people who are woefully underqualified for the job. Most of them are just kids fresh out of med school without a single day of actual hands-on experience. Of course, if you want to point fingers, don't blame the paramedics and EMTs just trying to pay the bills; look toward the Department of Health and Human Services instead. If we follow that logic, things might actually see some improvement in five or ten years—once the first wave of true emergency medicine specialists finally emerges. It’s almost laughable, considering how much more advanced neighboring countries are in establishing dedicated emergency specialists while we're still stuck in this loop.

Some people argue that Emergency Medicine is actually the highest quality sector of the entire US healthcare system. I get why they say that, but let's be real. It’s definitely not the most glamorous place to build a career. You’re dealing with relentless stress, working out in the field, and pulling shifts at hours that defy logic. That explains exactly why you see so many rookies flooding the ER. It becomes the default landing spot for medical school graduates who don't have some well-connected uncle or family ties ready to pull strings and land them a cushy, prestigious position at a top-tier private clinic or a specialized hospital wing. When you lack those connections, you end up on the front lines.

meritas As stated by:
If you look at most ER departments around the country, you’ll notice a recurring pattern: the front lines are usually manned by residents or doctors who just finished their training. It isn't exactly their fault, of course, but there is a glaring irony in the fact that the places where you need seasoned experience the most are often staffed by those still finding their footing. In some hospitals, there’s at least a decent level of oversight from a senior attending, but in others, these junior doctors are essentially left to fly solo because the necessary supervision simply isn't available. Don't get me wrong—this is just my personal take—but I firmly believe that strict supervision is absolutely essential. These residents are technically still in training; they shouldn't be expected to operate without a safety net. In my view, we should probably have laws mandating that kind of oversight to ensure patient safety isn't left to chance.

In the US, patients are generally left wide open. If a doctor makes a significant blunder, the odds of actually proving it—without a bunch of colleagues stepping in to downplay the error or "adjust" the medical records to cover their tracks—are incredibly slim. And even if you have an older physician overseeing things, what are the chances they’ll actually step up and do their job instead of just nodding along while the junior staff sleeps through a crisis because they know there won't be any accountability?

Kate Collins67 said:Browsing through various threads on different forums, I’m noticing a pattern: there is a massive amount of general dissatisfaction with the US healthcare system among the general population (the ones actually online—and honestly, it terrifies me to think what the people who *don't* know how to use the internet are thinking). Usually, this frustration gets boiled down to just bashing the medical staff—which, let’s be real, is sometimes justified and sometimes isn't.

Here are a few points that people really ought to understand, assuming anyone here is actually interested in a deeper discussion...

1. Medical school in the States, much like the rest of our education system, doesn't provide an adequate foundation in my opinion (I've experienced this firsthand—it takes way too long and provides far too little).

2. Physician working hours—though not necessarily the hours for other medical staff, based on what I see around me—violate numerous labor laws (if I’m interpreting them correctly). For example: we're looking at roughly 60 to 80 hours of paid overtime every single month due to those 24-hour shifts that stretch into 25 hours minimum, every month of the year. Last year, I spent about 100 days pulling 25-hour stretches at the hospital; last month alone, I had 88 overtime hours, plus another 8 that nobody even bothers to record anywhere.
Let me be clear: we don't have a choice whether we pull these shifts or not. Anyone who hasn't spent 24 straight hours on the job should probably hold their tongue before commenting.
When you're in a state of exhaustion like this, it’s absolutely insane to expect a smile, warmth, or a good mood—even though I still try my best to provide that, I'm finding myself giving in more and more and becoming just like the people who make you so angry in the first place.

3. Primary care has completely failed (I don't know the exact reasons, but I see the results): it's likely a mix of administrative headaches and a total lack of oversight regarding "home visits" during those final hour and a half of the workday (have you noticed your primary doctor finishes up around 1:00 or 1:30 PM, even if their shift goes until 3:00 or 4:00 depending on whether they start at 7:00 or 8:00?). Then there's all this maneuvering regarding leasing offices versus running actual private practices. The bottom line? Very little actual MEDICINE is being practiced in general practitioner clinics.

4. In field EMS services across the country, with a few exceptions, the jobs are being filled by people who aren't quite up to the task—mostly young grads fresh out of med school with zero days of actual work experience. Of course, you shouldn't blame the individuals who are just trying to earn a living; you have to look at the Ministry for that. We might see some change in 5 to 10 years when the first true emergency medicine specialists finally emerge (from what I understand, specialists in urgent medicine already exist in places like Mexico—so much for our progress compared to our neighbors).

5. At hospital ERs, it’s usually residents or brand-new specialists on duty—again, not through any fault of their own (you notice the pattern: in the places where experience is most critical, you get people without it). In some hospitals, they have decent supervision from senior colleagues, but in others, they're basically flying solo because proper supervision isn't provided. Don't get me wrong, I personally believe supervision is ESSENTIAL; ultimately, it should be legally mandated, because residents are still in training and shouldn't be working without oversight. (That’s just my personal take.)

6. Here comes a crucial point that most people either don't grasp or simply choose to ignore, and it concerns the patients themselves.
Anyone using the ER for every little thing (and there are a huge number of such patients) is directly endangering patients who are in real, life-threatening situations. We urgently need to implement a system of sanctions—whether financial or otherwise—that can be applied to patients who abuse emergency services and hospital ERs.

7. We can go further if there's interest... in the hope that "tomorrow" we might actually have a functional healthcare system.

Are you suggesting that someone experiencing a dramatic medical crisis needs to be a medical expert or pass some objectivity test before they're allowed to show up at the ER? That completely undermines the fundamental principle that an insured citizen has a right to care. If I decide right now that I have a headache and it’s worrying me, I have the right to use my insurance to head to a hospital with an emergency department and ask for an evaluation. The sad reality in America is that many people flock to the ER because when they try to go through regular channels, they're told they won't see a specialist for months. That is a direct consequence of how the system treats patients. If regular appointments were processed within reasonable timeframes, the surge at the ER would naturally drop.

Kate Collins67 said:Browsing through various threads on different forums, I’m noticing a pattern: there is a massive amount of general dissatisfaction with the US healthcare system among the general population (the ones actually online—and honestly, it terrifies me to think what the people who *don't* know how to use the internet are thinking). Usually, this frustration gets boiled down to just bashing the medical staff—which, let’s be real, is sometimes justified and sometimes isn't.

Here are a few points that people really ought to understand, assuming anyone here is actually interested in a deeper discussion...

1. Medical school in the States, much like the rest of our education system, doesn't provide an adequate foundation in my opinion (I've experienced this firsthand—it takes way too long and provides far too little).

2. Physician working hours—though not necessarily the hours for other medical staff, based on what I see around me—violate numerous labor laws (if I’m interpreting them correctly). For example: we're looking at roughly 60 to 80 hours of paid overtime every single month due to those 24-hour shifts that stretch into 25 hours minimum, every month of the year. Last year, I spent about 100 days pulling 25-hour stretches at the hospital; last month alone, I had 88 overtime hours, plus another 8 that nobody even bothers to record anywhere.
Let me be clear: we don't have a choice whether we pull these shifts or not. Anyone who hasn't spent 24 straight hours on the job should probably hold their tongue before commenting.
When you're in a state of exhaustion like this, it’s absolutely insane to expect a smile, warmth, or a good mood—even though I still try my best to provide that, I'm finding myself giving in more and more and becoming just like the people who make you so angry in the first place.

3. Primary care has completely failed (I don't know the exact reasons, but I see the results): it's likely a mix of administrative headaches and a total lack of oversight regarding "home visits" during those final hour and a half of the workday (have you noticed your primary doctor finishes up around 1:00 or 1:30 PM, even if their shift goes until 3:00 or 4:00 depending on whether they start at 7:00 or 8:00?). Then there's all this maneuvering regarding leasing offices versus running actual private practices. The bottom line? Very little actual MEDICINE is being practiced in general practitioner clinics.

4. In field EMS services across the country, with a few exceptions, the jobs are being filled by people who aren't quite up to the task—mostly young grads fresh out of med school with zero days of actual work experience. Of course, you shouldn't blame the individuals who are just trying to earn a living; you have to look at the Ministry for that. We might see some change in 5 to 10 years when the first true emergency medicine specialists finally emerge (from what I understand, specialists in urgent medicine already exist in places like Mexico—so much for our progress compared to our neighbors).

5. At hospital ERs, it’s usually residents or brand-new specialists on duty—again, not through any fault of their own (you notice the pattern: in the places where experience is most critical, you get people without it). In some hospitals, they have decent supervision from senior colleagues, but in others, they're basically flying solo because proper supervision isn't provided. Don't get me wrong, I personally believe supervision is ESSENTIAL; ultimately, it should be legally mandated, because residents are still in training and shouldn't be working without oversight. (That’s just my personal take.)

6. Here comes a crucial point that most people either don't grasp or simply choose to ignore, and it concerns the patients themselves.
Anyone using the ER for every little thing (and there are a huge number of such patients) is directly endangering patients who are in real, life-threatening situations. We urgently need to implement a system of sanctions—whether financial or otherwise—that can be applied to patients who abuse emergency services and hospital ERs.

7. We can go further if there's interest... in the hope that "tomorrow" we might actually have a functional healthcare system.

Honestly, I think the odds of the American healthcare system being better tomorrow than it is today are pretty much zero. Financial deficits will grow as abuses increase, Medicare administration costs will climb, we'll see fewer doctors, patient dissatisfaction will skyrocket, and new therapies will just get more expensive...
On top of that, even now, doctors often suffer from a reputation of being corrupt, indifferent, or just plain incompetent. That image is only going to get worse thanks to media outlets obsessively focusing on medical catastrophes—you know, the stories about losing a limb after surgery, a pregnant woman dying because the OBGYNs were watching a game, or surgical tools being left inside a patient. It's fueled by a population frustrated by endless waiting lists, closed doors, and surly faces in hospitals. But most importantly, it's driven by the fact that politicians won't dare touch a rotting system that is financially doomed to fail, because they know it's a political minefield. Look, if a corporation refuses to pay its payroll taxes, how can its employees expect full health coverage when the funds aren't there? But what can you do? Denying them healthcare is political suicide. Punishing the company is impossible because the CEO or owner is usually a major donor to the party in power; you don't touch them. So, we just keep pretending everyone is entitled to everything, when in reality, there isn't enough money to go around. Doctors work until they collapse, basic supplies and reagents run out, and total chaos ensues. Nominally, everyone has rights to everything, but in practice, nobody can actually access them in this century—yet we all play dumb about that little detail.

Kate Collins67 said:I honestly have just one question here. So, they raised the limit for this particular hospital? That means from our pool of imaginary $33 hospitals, instead of having $6.75, we now have $10. All the other hospitals, the clinics, the community health centers—they've all been stuck with $27 until now, and suddenly this one gets bumped up to 70? Look, for someone to gain, someone else has to lose. It's just that harsh reality of life again, isn't it?
One-off fixes don't solve anything in the long run, but hey, I suppose everyone has the right to fight for their own life and their own dignity.

Look, those quick fixes actually saved lives in the oncology ward, and based on what our members in Rijeka are telling us, things are still running smoothly.
Let me remind you: people had their medication therapies cut off—meds that were specifically approved for them and listed on the hospital's formulary—simply because the clinic blew through its budget limit. And why was that limit slashed? Because the director botched his job. Next time he tries to play fast and loose with the numbers, I guarantee he'll think twice.
Someone definitely lost out here, but it wasn't because of the people screaming for help; it's because the ones suffering stayed silent.
Believe me, this wasn't done at the expense of the patients. Maybe a few less buckets of paint were bought for St. Roch, but that's about it.

Alexander Lewis said:Kudos to you for having the guts to post that. I don't live in the States myself, but I find myself visiting quite often. I actually have family over there who work within the US healthcare system, and they’ve also dealt with it from the patient side of things, so I figured I’d weigh in.

It’s true that the process drags on way too long, especially once you factor in the residency requirements. But if you ask me, the quality is essentially on par with the University of California—not exactly breaking any records. At the end of the day, money makes the world go round, and in those institutions, people have managed to secure cushy positions despite having scientific careers buried under layers of dust. Nepotism is rampant there. How many of your colleagues in med school had parents who were already doctors? I’d bet it’s a staggering number. It’s honestly sad, but if you don't have those family connections in the States, you're looking at two options: either grab a job outside of a major hub like New York or Chicago, or face an uphill battle finding steady employment. It’s probably why medical school is becoming such an unpopular choice for students.

It’s a sad reality, honestly. We are looking at a direct consequence of a massive physician shortage. Fewer people are entering med school, and even those who do are being squeezed out because hospitals are mismanaging their funds. Instead of allocating enough budget to ensure doctors can cover shifts without working themselves into an early grave, they blow through cash on questionable expenditures. There’s zero oversight on equipment procurement, which is where the real money moves—controlled by directors who, more often than not, were appointed for political reasons rather than merit. Hospital doctors are caught in this impossible vice between Medicare, which refuses to provide decent pay or workable conditions, and patients who rightfully expect humane treatment. It’s tragic, but you see it all the time: frustrated doctors start moonlighting or running side gigs just to stay afloat. When that happens, they either fail at communicating with patients or the quality of care takes a hit, which is something I find hard to forgive. On top of that, there is this blatant "closed-door policy" in our hospitals. You sit there in a crowded waiting room like a ghost, staring at the wall, with no idea if you'll be seen in five hours or eight. It’s pure apathy—a "don't bother me" attitude that is fundamentally inhumane. Is it really that difficult to just share some numbers and say, "Hey, expect a four-hour wait"? How much common sense does it take to actually plan a workday?

If you’re interested, I know this from firsthand experience: it is absolutely infuriating how much mindless administrative busywork primary care doctors are forced to deal with just to satisfy Medicare. You have people who spend years studying to become physicians, only to end up wasting an hour or two every single day buried under a mountain of paperwork. On top of that, they’re being terrorized by constant billing audits and shifting thresholds for contract renewals. A portion of the costs gets pushed directly onto the primary care physician, creating a broken system that essentially exists only to feed the bureaucracy at the Medicare local offices.

Kate Collins67 Asks:
Across the field emergency services throughout the US, with a few rare exceptions, you’ll find people who are woefully underqualified for the job. Most of them are just kids fresh out of med school without a single day of actual hands-on experience. Of course, if you want to point fingers, don't blame the paramedics and EMTs just trying to pay the bills; look toward the Department of Health and Human Services instead. If we follow that logic, things might actually see some improvement in five or ten years—once the first wave of true emergency medicine specialists finally emerges. It’s almost laughable, considering how much more advanced neighboring countries are in establishing dedicated emergency specialists while we're still stuck in this loop.

Some people argue that Emergency Medicine is actually the highest quality sector of the entire US healthcare system. I get why they say that, but let's be real. It’s definitely not the most glamorous place to build a career. You’re dealing with relentless stress, working out in the field, and pulling shifts at hours that defy logic. That explains exactly why you see so many rookies flooding the ER. It becomes the default landing spot for medical school graduates who don't have some well-connected uncle or family ties ready to pull strings and land them a cushy, prestigious position at a top-tier private clinic or a specialized hospital wing. When you lack those connections, you end up on the front lines.

meritas As stated by:
If you look at most ER departments around the country, you’ll notice a recurring pattern: the front lines are usually manned by residents or doctors who just finished their training. It isn't exactly their fault, of course, but there is a glaring irony in the fact that the places where you need seasoned experience the most are often staffed by those still finding their footing. In some hospitals, there’s at least a decent level of oversight from a senior attending, but in others, these junior doctors are essentially left to fly solo because the necessary supervision simply isn't available. Don't get me wrong—this is just my personal take—but I firmly believe that strict supervision is absolutely essential. These residents are technically still in training; they shouldn't be expected to operate without a safety net. In my view, we should probably have laws mandating that kind of oversight to ensure patient safety isn't left to chance.

In the US, patients are generally left wide open. If a doctor makes a significant blunder, the odds of actually proving it—without a bunch of colleagues stepping in to downplay the error or "adjust" the medical records to cover their tracks—are incredibly slim. And even if you have an older physician overseeing things, what are the chances they’ll actually step up and do their job instead of just nodding along while the junior staff sleeps through a crisis because they know there won't be any accountability?

Are you suggesting that someone experiencing a dramatic medical crisis needs to be a medical expert or pass some objectivity test before they're allowed to show up at the ER? That completely undermines the fundamental principle that an insured citizen has a right to care. If I decide right now that I have a headache and it’s worrying me, I have the right to use my insurance to head to a hospital with an emergency department and ask for an evaluation. The sad reality in America is that many people flock to the ER because when they try to go through regular channels, they're told they won't see a specialist for months. That is a direct consequence of how the system treats patients. If regular appointments were processed within reasonable timeframes, the surge at the ER would naturally drop.

Honestly, I think the odds of the American healthcare system being better tomorrow than it is today are pretty much zero. Financial deficits will grow as abuses increase, Medicare administration costs will climb, we'll see fewer doctors, patient dissatisfaction will skyrocket, and new therapies will just get more expensive...
On top of that, even now, doctors often suffer from a reputation of being corrupt, indifferent, or just plain incompetent. That image is only going to get worse thanks to media outlets obsessively focusing on medical catastrophes—you know, the stories about losing a limb after surgery, a pregnant woman dying because the OBGYNs were watching a game, or surgical tools being left inside a patient. It's fueled by a population frustrated by endless waiting lists, closed doors, and surly faces in hospitals. But most importantly, it's driven by the fact that politicians won't dare touch a rotting system that is financially doomed to fail, because they know it's a political minefield. Look, if a corporation refuses to pay its payroll taxes, how can its employees expect full health coverage when the funds aren't there? But what can you do? Denying them healthcare is political suicide. Punishing the company is impossible because the CEO or owner is usually a major donor to the party in power; you don't touch them. So, we just keep pretending everyone is entitled to everything, when in reality, there isn't enough money to go around. Doctors work until they collapse, basic supplies and reagents run out, and total chaos ensues. Nominally, everyone has rights to everything, but in practice, nobody can actually access them in this century—yet we all play dumb about that little detail.

Well, this one is a little harder to tackle.
Let me throw out a few examples of how things get abused.
1. A patient rolls into the ER during regular business hours because they’ve had a temperature of 99°F since this morning, but they don't have any other symptoms. When asked if they've seen their primary doctor, they say, "Yeah," and what did the doctor say? "Nothing, it was too crowded, so I sent them here."
2. "I haven't had a bowel movement since yesterday morning."
3. Someone gets a referral from their doctor for chest pains—something looking like a pre-heart attack state—but then tells the ER nurse that it actually burns when they pee. I call the doctor who wrote the referral, and he tells me, "No, he told me his chest had been killing him for the last hour..."
I could go on forever with this nonsense.

Kate Collins67 said:@ Angela Wright

Oncology patients represent a very specific subset of patients.
But even they split into two camps: those where medical intervention can actually make a difference, and those where it simply can't.
I’m struggling to phrase this without sounding cold, but that's the reality.

It was understood perfectly fine. Just because we can't save someone doesn't mean we can't provide them with supportive or palliative care.
To be specific, regarding that sample from the city, we were looking at people who were already mid-treatment and showing great results—meaning they were actually responding to the therapy.

Look, let me try to put it this way: you have a choice. You can spend a massive amount of money trying to treat a patient who is medically beyond help, or you can take that exact same amount of money and use it for diagnostic testing on a handful of people who might—or might not—have some illness that could be cured if caught early enough. If it isn't about the money, then it's about hospital beds. There is a finite number of beds available; you can't house everyone in a hospital.

Does it not bother you that the system essentially forces you to play God and decide who lives and who dies? Personally, I went through this at home when my mother was diagnosed with glioblastoma... so you get the picture. We were kept in the dark about how she could continue the therapy she had originally responded to after her relapse, purely so the system wouldn't be burdened. But in doing so, they simultaneously stripped us of the chance to secure our own funds to keep her treatment going. She just wanted to see her first grandchild. She defied every prognosis and lived for three and a half years with that diagnosis just to make that happen. She lived for that. They took that away from her. And because of that, she died less happy.
Do you see the distinction now?
Sure, there might be less money than there used to be, but these issues aren't new. They've been around forever, and they are the direct result of poor management of the system.
The funding might be tighter, but money is still leaking out of every crack in the system—millions being wasted on trivialities. What we need is a fundamental shift in the national mindset.
Until then, we're just patching holes.

From a purely humanitarian standpoint, everyone mentioned deserves the best possible care at any given moment. But you are still forced to choose. Do you keep a terminal patient in a hospital bed for 30 days so they can die "with dignity," or do you move them to a different bed to make room for multiple other patients—some of whom you might extend their lives by 20 years or more?

Of course a terminal patient shouldn't be occupying a hospital bed. That's what hospices are for, which is why we are pushing for them. I agree, a curative medicine facility shouldn't be tasked with palliative care. But what has actually been done to jumpstart this? Have any curative institutions actually stepped up and taken the lead to solve this problem? Anyone?

Kate Collins67 said:Well, this one is a little harder to tackle.
Let me throw out a few examples of how things get abused.
1. A patient rolls into the ER during regular business hours because they’ve had a temperature of 99°F since this morning, but they don't have any other symptoms. When asked if they've seen their primary doctor, they say, "Yeah," and what did the doctor say? "Nothing, it was too crowded, so I sent them here."
2. "I haven't had a bowel movement since yesterday morning."
3. Someone gets a referral from their doctor for chest pains—something looking like a pre-heart attack state—but then tells the ER nurse that it actually burns when they pee. I call the doctor who wrote the referral, and he tells me, "No, he told me his chest had been killing him for the last hour..."
I could go on forever with this nonsense.

🙄 😍

2. I haven't had a bowel movement since yesterday morning.

😁

3. They get a referral from their doctor for chest pains that look like pre-heart attack symptoms, but then they tell me they have a burning sensation when they pee. I call the doctor who sent them over, and he tells me he actually told them they needed to come in because of severe chest pain starting an hour ago...
I could go on forever with this nonsense.

See, that last issue would be perfectly solved if we actually had a unified system where primary care doctors and specialists were all networked together. Person xy would have a single digital file containing every single note from every medical visit. Not only would coordination and communication become seamless, but other initiatives—like follow-up studies on recovery rates for things like cancer—could actually happen.
Some altruists I know would probably build a system like that pro bono, but the problem is the government thinks such a thing would violate privacy rights. 🙄🙄🙄Think what you want.

@ Angela Wright

There’s a hell of a lot that gets under my skin... But the truth is, the longer you stay in this line of work, the more you have to start putting death, the patient, and the disease itself into perspective—otherwise, you're going to lose your damn mind.

I get the distinction, I really do, but this is just the reality of the US healthcare system. Even if they tried to accommodate everyone, it’s simply impossible.

Angela Wright said:🙄 😍

2. I haven't had a bowel movement since yesterday morning.

😁

3. They get a referral from their doctor for chest pains that look like pre-heart attack symptoms, but then they tell me they have a burning sensation when they pee. I call the doctor who sent them over, and he tells me he actually told them they needed to come in because of severe chest pain starting an hour ago...
I could go on forever with this nonsense.

See, that last issue would be perfectly solved if we actually had a unified system where primary care doctors and specialists were all networked together. Person xy would have a single digital file containing every single note from every medical visit. Not only would coordination and communication become seamless, but other initiatives—like follow-up studies on recovery rates for things like cancer—could actually happen.
Some altruists I know would probably build a system like that pro bono, but the problem is the government thinks such a thing would violate privacy rights. 🙄🙄🙄Think what you want.

People are working on it, sure, but when you're dealing with a system this massive—and let's be honest, dealing with IT-illiterate Americans—it’s an incredibly slow process. But hey, movement is happening.
Right now, most hospitals are mostly digitized, but only within their own walls. A GP's office connects to its own central hub, whatever that might be. I guess the next logical step is connecting those hospitals to the central hub, and eventually, getting everything fully networked.

But let's look at the reality here: hospital digitization started back in 2006, and even today, it's still nowhere near finished.

Kate Collins67 said:@ Angela Wright

There’s a hell of a lot that gets under my skin... But the truth is, the longer you stay in this line of work, the more you have to start putting death, the patient, and the disease itself into perspective—otherwise, you're going to lose your damn mind.

I get the distinction, I really do, but this is just the reality of the US healthcare system. Even if they tried to accommodate everyone, it’s simply impossible.

We should be striving to meet people halfway when it comes to rights that are fundamentally guaranteed to any human being.
The right to life, to health, to medical care, and to die with dignity—those aren't optional extras. No one has the authority to start playing favorites or deciding who gets full rights and who gets the short end of the stick.

Kate Collins67 said:People are working on it, sure, but when you're dealing with a system this massive—and let's be honest, dealing with IT-illiterate Americans—it’s an incredibly slow process. But hey, movement is happening.
Right now, most hospitals are mostly digitized, but only within their own walls. A GP's office connects to its own central hub, whatever that might be. I guess the next logical step is connecting those hospitals to the central hub, and eventually, getting everything fully networked.

But let's look at the reality here: hospital digitization started back in 2006, and even today, it's still nowhere near finished.

From what I can gather, there won't be any real integration between specialists and primary care doctors.
Plus, the software they're currently running is fundamentally flawed, which is a real kicker considering how much taxpayers shelled out for it.

Angela Wright said:We should be striving to meet people halfway when it comes to rights that are fundamentally guaranteed to any human being.
The right to life, to health, to medical care, and to die with dignity—those aren't optional extras. No one has the authority to start playing favorites or deciding who gets full rights and who gets the short end of the stick.

Look, it’s easy enough to agree with that in theory, but translating it into reality? That's a different story entirely.
What we're talking about here are philosophical musings that just don't hold much weight once you face practical application.
In times of war, for instance, the lives of children, women, and the elderly are suddenly treated as more precious, while young men are basically relegated to cannon fodder... There is always someone, somewhere, making calls on matters they have absolutely no business deciding.

I have to address point 3 regarding primary healthcare. It is inefficient. Expensive. Poorly organized.
For half of these things, nobody even knows who is responsible for issuing referrals for specialist exams. Take breast ultrasounds, for instance: there is zero clarity. Then there are preoperative exams: general practitioners constantly pass the buck to gynecologists simply because the surgery involves gynecology, leaving everyone wondering who will actually handle the follow-up care later.

Regarding point 6—why do patients swarm the emergency rooms? Because they can't get anything finished through regular channels, so they wait until they reach a crisis state and then descend upon the ER.
While I was preparing for extensive pelvic surgery, I spent ten days traveling back and forth between cities like Split and Makarska just to collect test results, all while feeling increasingly unwell. Was I really expected to travel 124 miles every single day just for blood work, an anesthesiologist consultation, or a simple blood type verification?
Yet, I see cases where public figures like Trbovic are admitted and operated on within three days, with every necessary preoperative test completed in that window. Is that how it works?

The reality is clear: patient treatment is inconsistent. Not everyone is treated equally. This is why people, unable to complete their tests without traveling for days to distant cities—while being too sick to move—wait until their condition becomes acute and then flood the emergency departments.

As for healthcare worker salaries, they are catastrophic. In places like Luxembourg, I read that the minimum personal income is 1,500 euros, yet here, doctors work their entire lives and still cannot command such a wage.
This happens because this country doesn't compensate actual labor, expertise, or knowledge. Instead, it rewards connections, corruption, and political maneuvering. Those are the professions that truly thrive here.
I feel for every doctor, whether honest or otherwise, working in this society. They study endlessly and work tirelessly, while someone else—the ones reaping the wealth in the US—collects the profit.

Regarding Minister Milinovic, if I were in his position, I would be ashamed to appear in the news or pose for photos when the healthcare organization is this broken. There is no accountability; nobody knows who is in charge or who is paying the bills.

But the patient? Well, the patient is expected to have a bag of money ready—enough for the required tests, or enough for a funeral, should the worst happen.

@ ruggedscout91
Look, let's be real here—everyone knows that famous faces get treated faster and better everywhere else. So why on earth would we expect anything different when it comes to the US healthcare system? 🤷

Of course people are flooding the ER, because you can't get an appointment for basically anything in a reasonable timeframe anymore.

A suspicious mole?
General practitioner: grab a referral and wait a few months
Let’s just assume for a second that the mole is malignant—what kind of damage are we looking at after waiting months for a checkup?

The Student Gynecology Clinic in downtown: unless you're actively bleeding or running a 104 fever, you need to book ahead. Expect a month-long wait.

Okay, sure, if a girl isn't bleeding and doesn't have a massive fever, maybe it's just some ovarian inflammation or something else that isn't critical *right now*, but could become a crisis or a chronic issue in a month. Or maybe it won't, but why should she have to walk around in pain for a month waiting for help?

Look, based on everything we've been talking about... my aunt was just visiting me from Norway recently, and honestly? Their healthcare isn't exactly some perfect paradise either. It’s the same old story—you’re stuck waiting forever for surgery or even basic tests. If you want things done fast, you end up paying out of pocket at private clinics, which really just widens the gap between the rich and the poor. Plus, if you go through the ER, they'll obsess over running every single test imaginable before doing anything. And yeah, not even all the doctors there are actually Norwegian. Sure, the paychecks look decent on paper, but there's a catch: they quote you the gross amount, then the government hits you with massive taxes, and you still have to set aside your own money for retirement, health insurance, and who knows what else.