OK; that’s called an angiogram here in the UK. High resolution image of all the blood vessels.
Standard procedure if you have exertional angina (chest pain during exertion).
Not many people know that to regain an FAA Class 1 or Class 2, after almost any cardiac “blockage” issue, you need a repeat angiogram. I feel really sorry for US airline pilots, especially as it costs $20k over there (£6-8k here). A single stent adds maybe £5k. Don’t give EASA any ideas in case they too adopt this crazy route. I am told that if you did an angiogram on every working airline pilot, maybe 20-30% of them would not meet the requirements for a re-issue.
This stuff is what stops most “older” pilots flying. Most cardiac issues can be fixed and you can regain your medical, but most people don’t want to do it. It’s also expensive, say 5k to start with, and ~1k a year for ever afterwards.
I don’t understand why having an angiogram (thanks for teaching me this term) costs extra money, it would all be paid for by public health insurance here as it is a medical necessity anyway, independent of the medical (of course the repeat angiogram would not be paid for unless there is a medical reason for it).
Generally, if you have coronary heart disease that requires treatment, you would treat it because you want to live longer, keeping or regaining the medical is just a side effect. And if there is a medical indication for treatment, health insurance pays for it, no matter if public or private, at least in Germany.
Of course there may be cases of asymptomatic stenosis, which you correctly allude to with the line about 20-30% of airline pilots getting problems with their medical if examined this way. But as long as they don’t know about their condition, neither does their AME…
Yes you can get this done on the NHS but the waiting list for a cardiologist is c. 6 months, during which time they give you a nitro spray to sniff every time you need to walk up the stairs to the loo 
A pilot will be grounded for that time. An angina diagnosis is an instant grounding. Then a wait for the procedure (months) and then another 6 month grounding in EASA-land before they will even look at you. That’s at least a year.
Going private for medical stuff is arguably the most effective use of money. Then for £200 you see the consultant within days, and a stent, ~10k, is say 2 weeks. 1 week later you can drive (6 weeks for a bypass, though some get additional problems with the legs).
The problem with a free health service is that most people do absolutely anything to get it for free That is the main problem here in the UK; people turn up with an ingrowing toenail… reportedly. Obviously if you don’t have the cash then you have no choice but then you probably aren’t flying a plane either. The ones with the cash just can’t see the wood for the trees.
Peter wrote:
The problem with a free health service is that most people do absolutely anything to get it for free
Actually the opposite is true. Most people are afraid of being “a bother” and won’t go to the doctor unless they are actually suffering some immediately life threatening condition.
Maybe on the IOM but not in the mainland UK where the system gets pretty well abused. A part of it is the wait for GP appointments, the very short allocated appointment time (5-8 mins), the low competence of many GPs, and long waits for consultants, and this drives a lot of people to turn up at A&E where they “cannot” refuse you.
As someone who’s working in the sector, I can tell you that you are both correct: People without any critical illness tend to clog up the emergency rooms (A&E as you call it in the UK) while people with serious conditions, especially elderly men and women and middle aged men, tend to postpone going to the doctor until it is either “too late” or at least significantly harder to treat them…
I know this suggestion met with some derision previously from the carnivores but this a suggestion for something you can do while confined to your house during the virus lockdown
In the UK we have a veg delivery service called Riverford which delivers wonderful fresh veg. We then juice some of it
A lot of door delivery services are over-run with demand (e.g. Ocado has cancelled all prebooked deliveries – they have apparently been ordered to deliver to those who aren’t supposed to go out at all) but you can generally still get veg – because so few people eat veg.
So few people eat veg? I find that hard to believe. Everyone I know eats veg.
+1 for the juice form. We throw whatever vegetable and fruit is on hand into the machine every morning and something drinkable always comes out, albeit some compositions can be “interesting”. As a side comment, I noticed we produce more bio waste than any other (plastic+metal / paper / waste / glass).
Peter wrote:
you can generally still get veg – because so few people eat veg.
Really? Im a hardened Carnivore, but I like to have veg with my meat… You could call me an Omnivore, Oh, hang on, Human ARE omnivores. 
