Quote Originally Posted by verminaard View Post
FWIW,

Lower income people that qualify for free healthcare are actually significantly LESS likely to use medical services than people who pay for their healthcare, normally through insurance.

Of course that is part of the problem, is that people don’t go to the doctor or get the tests when they should, and end up ignoring the problem too long and end up in emergency rooms and/or developing serious, very expensive medical issues.

So Druff, you are right for all the wrong reasons.
You're also right for the wrong reasons.

It is true that low income people qualify for all kinds of free healthcare which, in many cases, is actually better than the healthcare I have. It's also true that, despite qualifying for this free care, they often ignore symptoms and don't go to the doctor until things become unbearable. And yes, sometimes that leads to higher overall costs for those patient, as treatable minor problems develop into expensive big ones.

But that's not a good example you can extrapolate upon the general population. Lower income people also tend to be less educated, which also means they are less likely to have basic knowledge about when to worry about something and when to go to the doctor. Additionally, they often either lack the time or the ability to take off work to go to the doctor for what they perceive to be minor problems. When you get no sick pay, you tend to just tough things out, which isn't always a good thing. Or if you're a single mom on welfare with 3 young kids, you don't want to drag them all to the doctor, nor do you have an easy way to do so (especially if you have no car), so again you don't go for anything you perceive to be minor.

Now, if we change our present healthcare model to where EVERYONE gets "free" healthcare, these issues will still persist for many low income people, but won't for the middle or higher classes. These people will go to the doctor for every slight perceived issue, and will never turn down an expensive test, because why bother saving the government money?

I even know this firsthand. Let's say I wake up tomorrow with my knee hurting really badly, for unknown reasons. Do I run to the doctor? No. Do I get expensive tests on my knee? No. Why? Among other reasons, I don't want to waste the money on something which will likely get better on its own.

Simply put, there's a reason that there's an 18-week wait for non-urgent tests and specialist visits in the UK. Laughably, an excuse is peddled that this is a good thing, because the 18 week wait allows people to cancel the appointment if they get better on their own in that time, thus saving the system money! LOL! But what about those who don't get better in that 18-week period? Have fun dealing with whatever ails you for 4 months before even being seen. That's not the "upgrade" to our healthcare system I want to see!