Posted by alexandra_k on January 16, 2014, at 23:31:31
In reply to Re: state hospitals v.s regular psychatic hospials, posted by sigismund on January 16, 2014, at 21:29:54
well, now, i think it depends.
when i was in north carolina... they considered me to be local, or a resident of the state. because... i was currently residing in the state. i didn't need to have been currently residing in the state for x amount of time... i just needed to be currently residing. and so i was considered a resident. and so i got in state (local) benefits when it came to health care. and i was on the equivalent of a graduate student living stipend... which put me below the poverty line, apparently, and so i got fairly much free health care from the university teaching hospital.
but that is the state of north carolina. when you live in the vicinity of a teaching hospital.
i did have health insurance (as a condition of my visa)... but... well... i'm not sure that i would have needed it as an inpatient? since i was considered local? i don't actually know. i don't know.
in australia... when i presented to the ER... i purposely went to the private hospital (they have public and private wings, actually) and then they shipped me to the public hospital because they didn't have any beds... and the public hospital kept me in the corridor (somewhat apologetically) overnight because they didn't have any beds either... only to ship me back to the private hospital the next day once they had a bed open up (they said that it would be much much much much much better for me over there).
i think that generally speaking... the quality of a private hospital is thought to be higher. because the people working there get paid more than the people working in public hospitals. that means they are able to work less hours. which means they aren't chronically overworked and underpaid... which means they tend to be more favorably disposed in general. which is really rather important. for quality of care.
in my experience, anyway.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1058688
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140104/msgs/1058725.html