American Method.

[grandfatherd]

I have been listening to a conversation ( two of my friends) they were discussing a program that both had been watching on T.V.
I think it was about an American who had an operation on camera on his scrotum. My question is not about the operation but about the answer to a question I asked. " Why had the patient not had the operation before the growth had got so large. I was told that the patient was far too poor to have it done.
My question about this is, there must be some system in a country as rich and powerful as America to help people in this type of predicament. The name Blue Cross springs to mind or is this just for emergencies Puzzled Danny.

[carolegif]

In the US if you don't have the money, you don't get the treatment. If you are on food stamps, then I think there are clinics, where voluntary doctors give their services, but otherwise zilch!

[pastafreak]

If I'm not mistaken,the gentleman in question was unemployed and in receipt of benefits. He lived in Nevada,and was not able to find a surgeon able to handle his unusual case. He then tried to raise funds via Facebook. The powers that be found out...and cut off his benefit,making him ineligible for surgery. He also could not get medical care outside of the state he lived in...
He then lived on the money he'd raised on FB...when that ran out he was then back on benefit. A surgeon heard of his case,and agreed to operate for free if I remember correctly.
Most Americans have private insurance-paid via their employer...and it costs a fortune.

[sandyRoe]

There was a television programme some time back where volunteers from Medicine sans Frontiéres, a European charity, went to a rural area in the USA and helped poor people who couldn't afford treatment.
I remember in particular a young mother who had cancer which was so advanced by the time the volunteer doctors saw her that there was nothing they could do.
In a land where the political philosophy is, 'devil take the hindmost,' he will.

[EDDIE51]

Read this it is truly shocking , you will never criticize the NHS again
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-brutal-truth-about-americarsquos-healthcare-1772580.html
Around 20% of the USA s citizens have no health insurance and 25% of all US pensioners have been forced to declare bankruptcy due to medical bills !