Actually, American insurance companies have sometimes denied PAYMENT for treatments which they had determined were outside of the bounds of the policy they agreed to. They never deny, or guarantee, that anyone will or will not receive a particular treatment. Premium payers have possible avenues of relief that they wouldn't with an all-encompassing governmental system. They can hire a lawyer to fight with the insurance company if they have a case, they can find another way to pay for needed treatment as well.
Liberal plans would ban self-payment.
BULLSHIT. Liberal plans don't ban self-payment. They ban "extra billing". And government health care doesn't pre-approve care. Government health care, pays for care post treatment.
Government health care leaves treatment between the patient and his/her doctor. This is yet another scare technique to keep the private health care gravy train rolling for Big Medicine.
Ummm, you know nothing about how Medicare work here then because you have to get authorization and be in network because Medicare has supplemental insurance attached to it.
So before you discuss our healthcare system you better know what you are writing about because I have worked in the industry since 2004 and can tell you for a fact you need to get authorization and have to be in network or the patient will pay out of pocket...
I swear the left need to learn how medicare works with part b plans that have supplemental insurance.
Also the patient pays for the extra insurance and is out of their pocket and not paid by the taxpayer...
So learn about the medicare system before you comment!
I know how Medicare works, I have American family and friends who complain about Medicare for their adult parents all of the time.
What is being proposed isn't American style health care, where you need supplemental insurance to cover co-pays and shit Medicare doesn't pay for. What is being proposed is "Canadian style" health care which eliminates supplemental insurance for the elderly. I have no copays on doctors or hospitals EVER. No pre-approvals, no paperwork, no supplemental insurance, nor do I need it. I have a swipe card which I present when I check in for my Doctor's visit, hospital admittance, and at the pharmacy when I hand in my prescription. I have a small copay with prescriptions - under $10.
I listened to Bernie last night, and his plan goes further than ours, and includes glasses, dental for all (ours has dental for children and the elderly only). Currently your Medicare functions pretty much the same as private insurance, with pre-approvals and co-pays. The "Medicare for All" candidates are proposing to change Medicare to eliminate pre-approvals, co-pays and supplemental.
Oh boy, Canadian style healthcare! So I only have to wait 40 weeks to get my broken hip replacement!
Wait times for medical treatment getting longer: report
If your hip is broken, it's replaced immediately. If it's not broken, and you can still walk, you can always go to the USA, pay $32,000 and get a new one. Or you can wait a few weeks and pay $0. I like keeping my money in my bank account. You may like to give your life savings to the Medical Industrial Complex, and Big Pharma. I don't.
I watched my mother have to sell our house, our car, and cash in their life's savings, to pay for my father's last year of life - most of it spent in hospital. At the end, she had to take out a loan to pay for his gravestone. He died in 1961, before Canada had universal health care.
Americans are having their life savings bled white by 5 figure health insurance premiums, co-pays, and out of network treatments. $1 trillion dollars in wealth taken from the working and middle class and given to the top 1%. Keep supporting the billionaire class, who did this to you, and you too will die broke.