Immigrating to New Zealand? Not if you're sick.

[Skilless]

Perhap one of our northern nieghbors could correct me, but I believe that in order to imigrate to Canada you must have $100,000 in the bank, have a degree or viable trade, and be under 40.  Apparently I'm not the only American that's tired of the culture of violence and rediculous politics...

[J_A_B]

"The emergency room/ hospital would not let just let her sit there and die. Any life threatening issues are treated, even non-life threatening."


You're awfully naive regarding the nature of the health-care industry.  But then, most people are.  Few individuals except those who work in the industry know how horribly corrupt the industry actually is.

First of all, you aren't a person.  You're a commodity, and if you don't have money, then you're worthless.  People without money to pay are allowed to sit there and die every day.  It's commonplace.  Even the poor who do get "care"  typically get service which is the absolute minimum the facility can get away with providing.

The entire subject of the health-care industry ususally falls into the "out of sight, out of mind" category.  Most people think they know what it's like, but don't find out just how wrong they are until it's too late.  Hospitals are horrible enough, and nursing homes are hell on earth.  

J_A_B

[NUKE]

JAB

My brother didn't have insurance when he dislocated his hip. He went to the emergency room and waited while they called a specialist in to fix him up.

People are brought in everyday from car accidents, heart attacks, job injuries.....even non citizens, and they get treated and operated on regardless of insurance. Tell me I'm wrong.

I went to have my face stitched up a few weeks ago. I have no insurance, yet they got a docter to stitch me up, give me a subscription (prescription rather, lol) and send me on my way. My bill was $250.00, which was sent in the mail.

[J_A_B]

"People are brought in everyday from car accidents, heart attacks, job injuries.....even non citizens, and they get treated and operated on regardless of insurance. Tell me I'm wrong."

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.  

Yeah, I know of poor people who were fortunate to get treatment they needed.  Unfortunately I also know of people who were deliberately killed by nursing homes and hospitals because it was cheaper to kill them than treat them.  I know of *lots* of people who didn't get *adequate* treatment because they couldn't afford it.

The health care industry is corrupt to a degree which makes the oil companies look like a bunch of saints by comparison.   I trust Exxon more than I trust the local hospital.

J_A_B

[Jackal1]

Originally posted by NUKE
Sorry Curval, I didn't realise treatment wasn't available there.

If it had happened in the US, she would have been treated. We don't import people to have free medical care though.

What a lot don't seem to realise is that you cannot be refused treatment in the US, regardless of ability to pay......that's all I was saying.

And once again.......yea right. That all looks really cool on the signs, but the fact is it`s BS. A condition such as the one mentioned above requires a neurosurgeon. Neurosurgeons don`t do diddly unless thier bill is guaranteed beforehand.
Community emergency rooms will treat such things as broken bones, cuts, fever, etc , etc. If it gets deep and requires you to have treatment from someone other than staff you can and most likely will be referred, shuffled and dropped through the cracks.
Another trend is community hospitals are being sold out to the Big Dogs. Go to one of them and you are SOL if you are not covered.

[NUKE]

Originally posted by Jackal1
And once again.......yea right. That all looks really cool on the signs, but the fact is it`s BS. A condition such as the one mentioned above requires a neurosurgeon. Neurosurgeons don`t do diddly unless thier bill is guaranteed beforehand.
Community emergency rooms will treat such things as broken bones, cuts, fever, etc , etc. If it gets deep and requires you to have treatment from someone other than staff you can and most likely will be referred, shuffled and dropped through the cracks.
Another trend is community hospitals are being sold out to the Big Dogs. Go to one of them and you are SOL if you are not covered.

Ever hear of a trauma center? You sometimes might have noticed helicopters picking up people from the road and transporting them to have life-saving surgery by specialists.

The helecopter crew doesn't check to see if anyone has insurance, they just get them to the trauma center where they are treated and lives saved if at all possible.

And the neurosurgeon gets paid by the hospital, who then bills the patient.

[NUKE]

Also, I have been treated for cancer under areas my insurance did not cover. I was still treated.

[Fishu]

Originally posted by Tuomio
Some people learn it the hard way. Don't travel without insurance.

Insurance or not, the person should been transfered to a hospital with sufficient operating capabilities.
However it would been a hefty bill for the person.
Insurance just saves you the thousands of bucks used to fix you up, it isn't and shouldn't be the right for treatment -contract.
I believe theres some sort of EU directive on this and I'm amazed if the UK govt. wins the case.

[J_A_B]

Nuke--

What you're saying is an example of what I mean when I say people treat the industry with the "out of sight, out of mind" approach.  Since you haven't had or witnessed a problem (yet), you figure there is no problem.  The worst part is when you *do* have a problem, others who haven't won't care one bit about your problem because it'll still be out of sight, out of mind for them.


If you ignore everything else I say, don't ignore this:  Make sure you have a living will, and one that's extremely clear about what you do and don't want done.


J_A_B

[Jackal1]

Originally posted by NUKE
Ever hear of a trauma center? You sometimes might have noticed helicopters picking up people from the road and transporting them to have life-saving surgery by specialists.

The helecopter crew doesn't check to see if anyone has insurance, they just get them to the trauma center where they are treated and lives saved if at all possible.

And the neurosurgeon gets paid by the hospital, who then bills the patient.

You have to get on that chopper first.

Tell ya what. You locate a neurosurgeon that will accept me and I`ll see that you get a finders fee.
If you can you will beat what an entire staff has been trying to do for 4 to 41/2 years now.
In the meantime my condition gets worse with time.
A neurosurgeon has their own billing agency also. Completely independant of any hospital in most cases.. In the words of my doctor..."The majority of neurosurgeons are Aholes. They won`t every i dotted, every T crossed for them so that they enter the operating room without the preliminary hassles."
Like I said, it all looks really cool and impressive on the signs and on paper, but when it comes down to reality , it`s BS.

[NUKE]

Jackal, sorry to hear about your health problem. What exactly is it that you have, if you don't mind saying.

[Silat]

Originally posted by Jackal1
Yea right. She could have checked into an emergency room. She would have been diagnosed and referred to a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon would have reviewed the case, including researching ability to pay. If she had no insurance or ability to pay she would have been shuffled like a deck of cards and fell through the cracks.
Reality check.

Damn I almost fell off my chair .....................Jackal and I agree:)

[john9001]

from personal experance i have to agree with nuke, i seems they treat you first then try to collect.

had a friend change jobs ,so was temp without ins coverage, wife was preg, baby came early, $50,000 in bills, hosp and docs wrote off all 50K.

BTW kid is fine.

[Gunslinger]

WOW, I was so wrong about this thread.  I figured an American criticising NZ about immigration policies would erupt into a firestorm about our Mexican/Latino problem here in the states.  

For you non-yank types does the world not know about our immigration issues (IE not very puplicised)?

[Jackal1]

Originally posted by NUKE
Jackal, sorry to hear about your health problem. What exactly is it that you have, if you don't mind saying. [/QUOT

LOL I don`t think we have that much space.
The most pressing started out as C-4 and 5 in my neck. Discs and vertebrae are now deteriorating. It has progressed to C-3 .C-4 .C-5. C-6 and C-7.
The whole medical fiasco started when I was exposed to hydrogen phosphide gas on the job. That put me completely down for a period of 3 or so years before I started gaining any ground healthwise.  The place I worked for signed an agreement , along with the insurance company, to cover all medical expenses and proceedures for a period of 2 years. This included what had allready been suggested by my doctors. Phfffftt! The insurance company immediately started playing the stalling game by sending back any requests for coverage asking for more details, etc. This went on and on and on.
Long story short, they ran out the agrement period without doing squat. In the meantime the prob with the neck started. No insurance and of course with existing condition no one would cover me.
In the beginning I could have filed for SSI/SSA for medical coverage and would have more than likely got it. My pride got in my way, so I kept waiting. Enter another catch. The only work I could do was sort of limited due to on again/off again health probs from the gas. In other words now SSA is out due to not enough income in the required work quarters.
I certainly can`t afford a neurosurgeons fee. My doctors sort of have their hands tied as they cannot get any neurosurgeon to accept me without the fee guaranteed beforehand. They have tried various approachs to the problem, but it always stops cold when it reachs a neurosurgeon.