Important Stuff -- Or Not: Ask an Ex-patriate

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Ask an Ex-patriate

Why is it no news show goes to France, UK, Germany, Italy or any of them and asks one Ex-Pat how you like the healthcare here? What would they say? ...well the ones I know in Italy and UK and Germany...HATE IT. They LOVE they don't have to worry about the cost of going to the doctor, checkups, etc. and that they won't lose their house if they do get sick and need surgery or treatment. HOWEVER...they all purchase private health insurance policies on the side thinking it might help with the kind of care they already have. They can afford it because they are rich. But actually the private supplement doesn't really help but at least the doctors who do take it have clean offices and no long lines. So they pay for it anyway. Ex-Pat's buy private health insurance on the side because....THE HOSPITALS ARE GROSS...they look like most prisons here. The hospitals are dirty...they don't even have mattresses. My bed in Rome had a board with a thin prison mattress on top, and I was in the best hospital in Rome when I had my son. The hospitals make you wait weeks and months for surgery which we already know about. My friends were mortified when the saw the condition of the hospital I was at in Rome in the background of a lot of my pictures. And a lot of Ex-Pat's think that getting the side insurance will make it more like home (U.S.)....because they pay more and go around the system. But of course that is only for rich people. They love the US healthcare just not the COST...which everyone agrees is ridiculous because of what we let insurance companies get away with. Most ex-pats come back to the US for a lot of treatment. Makes no sense to me...why anyone would want to trade in Health insurance that they HATE for the government to be their health insurance?...And consider this an improvement!! Like I want to go to a hospital that will remind me of a post office or a prison or most state or county buildings offices. Many hospitals in Italy and Germany are filthy and reuse items we would never imagine here. But they can do whatever they want - they are the government - the people who make the rules also run the show over there...and people think that is a good idea HERE!

3 comments:

Mark said...: That's a very good point, Tonto. If the Government ran health care, they could run it any way they want and no one could do anything about it. If there is no choice for the patient, they are like a monopoly.

Remember the SNL spoofs of Bell telephone?

"We may be the only phone company in town, and we act like it."; 10:24 PM
Lone Ranger said...: This is news to me. I thought you were happy about your medical care. Can you send me those pics?; 11:29 PM
Tonto said...: I will send those pics. I was very very happy with my medical care...those Italian doctors have the best bedside manner -hands down - of anyone anywhere. The nurses were the best too...BUT the facilities...not so much. I will post a few pics over the weekend if I get a chance.

They used glass bottles for the babies because they do not get the freebie formula from manufacturers like here in the U.S. so bottles were washed and reused. They pinched every penny where they could.

The preemie ward was tiny and cramped but they made due.

Other than the preemie diapers - it was the only thing I saw new in the place.

The blankets and mittens and hats for the preemies to keep their body heat up had to be knitted by the nurses - knitted!!! ...they were old and ratty too.

The breathing machines and incubators were old style as well.

In fact, the doctors there - who have become my friends and I speak to often - even said if I were at home I would have had better equipment for my baby.

The drs are very aware of their limitations with the equipment and hospitals conditions they have to use. That is why they were so proud to do such a fine job and get my baby home...because they also knew what often goes wrong/they can't do.

There is no doubt in my mind I had the best drs. I know I did. US drs have told me they know of the drs I had there and how good they were...but that doesn't make up for the conditions of the BEST hospital in ROME.

In fact, a nurse friend went to ROME and wanted to see where my son was born and so the drs set up a tour for her.

Needless to say - she was SHOCKED but didn't know how to tell me and I said don't be - I know. But the drs and nurses and the human care made up for anything lacking.

Not so sure I could say the same here if I was in a US hospital in the same condition.

If a hospital kills you with bad care in one of those countries you can't SUE anyone but you can sue the dr in a limited way...its so hard it is just not done.; 10:17 AM

Post a Comment

Talking Points

I don't use talking points, I create them.

1. Hate makes people stoopid.

2. There is nothing so impenetrable as a closed mind.

3. A stupid person is not someone who can't learn, but someone who refuses to learn.

4. It is a small mind that has no room for God.

5. You can take Stalin out of the gene pool, but you can't take Stalinism out of liberals.

6. The best way to sabotage a bad plan is to follow it to the letter.

7. The race card is the first refuge of people who have nothing to say.

8. Ignorance is the cornerstone of arrogance.

9. Which is more racist, to hate someone who is not white or to assume someone is racist because he is white?

10. Children are not stupid. If a child is taught, the child will learn. If a child is not learning, the child is not being taught.

11. To express righteous indignation, one must first be righteous. And that's a label that doesn't stick to liberals.

12. Profanity is ignorance made audible.

13. An open mind is a liberal's worst enemy.

14. Paternalism is the purest form of racism.

15. People who bend the truth, usually bend it in their favor.

16. If you always stand in opposition to liberalism, you will never be wrong.

18. Life is simple. People who make it complicated usually have an agenda.

19. Getting your news from the corrupt, liberal media is like sticking your head in the sand, except you don't get grit in your teeth.

20. Liberals' emotional development stops at the age of 16.

21. To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell the truth.

22. Idealism seldom matches up with reality.

23. Those who don't hate communism have never lived it.

24. This was a much more civil country when men walked about heavily armed.

25. This economy will never heal as long as Obama keeps picking at the scab.

26. Liberals don't think outside the box; they ARE the box.

27. You cannot change the hearts and minds of liberals, because they possess neither.

28. There is no such thing as a kind liberal.

29. Reading Democratic Party platforms is like reading the history of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in this country.

25 Immutable Truths About Liberals

Over the years I've been writing this blog, I've been throwing out little self-evident truths that seem to have no exceptions that prove the rule. I've made a list of some of them and will add to it as I remember them or make up more. Most of this list I've come up with myself. A few I've borrowed from others.

1. Always expect the worst from a liberal and you will never be surprised.

2. Never try to reason with a liberal. They disregard any evidence that conflicts with their beliefs.

3. You can always tell what liberals are up to by what they accuse conservatives of doing.

4. Liberals don't debate, they argue.

5. The only standards liberals have are double standards.

6. Liberals feel, conservatives think.

7. Whenever you don't understand a liberal's motives, just look for the money.

8. Liberals cannot be embarrassed. They lack the gene to blush.

9. The Liberal Golden Rule is, "Do unto others but scream bloody murder if they do unto you."

10. Liberals don't have leaders, they have demi-gods.

11. There are no honest liberals. If they were honest -- especially to themselves -- they would be conservatives.

12. A liberal's business is nobody's business, but everyone's business is a liberal's business.

13. Liberals have an inflated sense of self-worth. They are like house flies that criticize the air-worthiness of a Stealth fighter. (Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, ad infinitum are morons.)

14. Liberals lack a sixth sense that conservatives have in abundance -- common sense.

15. Liberals never stop hating.

16. There are only two types of liberals -- the deceivers and the deceived. The difficulty is telling them apart.

17. Every time liberals get on their high horse, they get bucked off.

18. Liberal programs are so wonderful that they have to be forced on people.

19. Liberals always choke on their own medicine.

20. When given a moral choice, liberals always come down on the wrong side of the fence.

21. The only way liberals can build themselves up is by tearing others down.

22. Liberals not only refuse to learn from their mistakes, they refuse to admit them.

23. Liberals have only two political positions -- blind devotion and blind hatred.

24. Liberals are incapable of attacking the message, so they always attack the messenger.

25. Liberal diversity is only skin deep.