Comments for My dear American neighbours »
Posted By greenmac 7 months, 1 week ago in Health & FitnessThis is an interesting comparison. On the issue of wait times....it depends on geography and what the issue is. Personally I have no problem waiting a few weeks for a check up and I have never had a wait time for anything of a serious nature. Not having the thoughts of high medical costs far out weighs any wait time I may encounter. In the US I understand wait times are also an issue based on geography and medical bankruptcies are common.
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greenmac7 months, 1 week ago
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I am quoting one of the responses from this article....I believe it sums it up for me.
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"Having been given superlative service during my treatment of cancer, I can only say that had the added stress of worrying about paying for it all been dumped on me at the same time that I was struggling to survive this hideous disease, it would have been quite unbearable. That is one huge difference with our systems and a very big one. Worry and stress do not help one get better. Plus, with a health care system in place with access for all, I believe I read that countries with these systems tend to have check-ups more frequently, thereby catching potentially dangerous diseases much earlier meaning more successful outcomes becuase of much earlier treatment." -
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Charlson7 months, 1 week ago
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"If you have money or gold-plated coverage, you're probably better off here the way things are now."
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"If you can't afford insurance or you're a working stiff struggling to pay your premiums, you're probably better off in Canada."
That, my friends, is what's wrong with the American health care system. The rich benefits from it and the poor and middle class suffers. No equity nor empathy for those who can't afford health care or it's insurance.-
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BB647 months, 1 week ago
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I'm confused by this article. In Canada there is no private health care insurance. It's against the law.
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As to bills from your health care, if you have a PPO or HMO, you won't see them either. I think if the USA creates a national health care system, we the employers should be able to offer our own health care and permit our people to opt out. Many of our key people have come from nations with national health and they're not big on it. They prefer selecting their own doctors and going to their own centers of excellence.
If you want private insurance you should be able to buy it. If you want national health, you should buy it. Let the consumer make the choice. Oh, that's the problem you don't want to pay for your own health care, you want someone else to. As a taxpayer, you're going to pay for it. Either to a company or the government. Nothing is ever free.-
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chuck-the-canuck7 months, 1 week ago
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“I'm confused by this article. In Canada there is no private health care insurance. It's against the law.”
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That’s not exactly 100% accurate. Both my wife and I have health coverage at work. While our national system does pick up all the essentials there are some things that aren’t covered, dental, private rooms, drugs, etc.
But the bottom line is, if you are seriously ill, you will not be allowed to fall through the cracks, nor will your treatment bankrupt you. -
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awongscreen7 months, 1 week ago
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It is simple. The Canadian universal health care system is based on the principle that health care should be equal to everybody, whether you are rich or poor. This is a contrast to the capitalist society which dictates that the rich can get all the health care he/she can afford while the poor can simply die.
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The Canadian system is socialism at its best. Not to say that there are no problems with the system. There are problems with abusive usage, difficult to retain doctors and nurses, etc. However, these problems pale in comparison with who has a better right to be healthy and who has a right over others to stay alive. -
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CaptainLucid7 months, 1 week ago
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"If you want private insurance you should be able to buy it. If you want national health, you should buy it. Let the consumer make the choice. Oh, that's the problem you don't want to pay for your own health care, you want someone else to. As a taxpayer, you're going to pay for it. Either to a company or the government. Nothing is ever free."
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That is a good estimate of the problem. I cannot but health insurance. My dad cannot either because he is diabetic. It isn't a matter of money. If you have a prexisting condition you are SOL unless you get in with an employer like my dad and his government job. I used to have Kaiser coverage in California. It is one of the top HMOs in the country. They are heavy on preventitive medicine. I would like to see a national program where we see people before a problem becomes ER material. I think it saves money to put someone on some cholesterol drugs than to wait until they have a heart attack and need surgery. If I pay for it either way I would rather solve small problems than big. -
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cowboygrandpa7 months, 1 week ago
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BB64:
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I live in CA.
The minimum wage here is $8.00 an hour. That won't pay the rent let alone, food, insurance,clothes,utiliities. But that is what industry thinks a liviable minimum wage is in CA.
Get a clue rich man or wanna be rich man. Sooner or later the people get sick and cost a lot more to take care of than if they had access to medical care.
Why do ya think we are in such a crappy way here ??? Because the poor get health care, or because the wealthy get away with paying slave wages to illegal immigrants and drive down the wages of the legal residents. And don't even begint o quote me how much more cheaply one can get labor done over seas. You want to support Chinese labor, move there and get the hell out of America.
Let me ask you something, would you work for 8 dollars an hour when it won't even put a roof over your head ???
Many do.
SDo stop with your bull crap. Most businesses don't care about their employees at all anymore. They look at the bottom line and gey the cheapest insurance they can.
I know because I have went from good insurance, to why even have it, it cost so much and has a $1500.00 per person minimum before even starting to cover anything.
So blow your propaganda out your kazoo.-
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Charlson7 months, 1 week ago
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Our system of health care is broken for the poor, a step from disaster for the middle class but humming along for those who are wealthy. That's a system that rewards only the rich. I'd like to see a system that is more equitable for the 80% of Americans that aren't fabulously wealthy and can afford the best.
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Beau78907 months, 1 week ago
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This seems a fair look at the Canadian healthcare system. But it can't be compared to anything likely to come of American healthcare reform--no one here who's actually in a position to implement reform is asking for a single-payer system like Canada's.
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CaptainLucid7 months, 1 week ago
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We already pay. Every time someone who can't pay shows up in an ER we taxpayers pick up the bill. What I am in favor of is getting them into the hospital and get them some antibiotics before it becomes pneumonia and they are in the hospital running up a taxpayer tab. I own a car. Also it isn't a matter of democrat vs republican deficit. It is a matter of why. W ran up the deficit about letting rich people have more money to play with and trying to steal a crapload of oil. Obama ran one up trying to keep our country functioning after W completely F ed everything up. Its like debating whether you should cut off early on Fridays with a pay cut and at the same time party on the credit card vs. my hours were cut at work but my kid needs some medicine to stay alive so I have no choice but to put the medicine on credit. W chose deficit because he is an irresponsible cheerleader who has never run anything succesfully in his life. Obama did it because if he didn't things would get far worse.
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lvrofwolves7 months, 1 week ago
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My best friend and I were just talking about this a few hours ago, if she or my Son (both have no insurance) got something like cancer, they would get care, AFTER, no pretesting no screening, most likely no biopsies etc...just wait till you need to go to ER because you are sick as hell, take off work, no pay that day etc...and some can't even go then because they can't afford to miss work, can't afford even 1 Dr visit.
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her Mom was complaining about national health care, she doesn't want it, but then on the other hand she was bitching about having to pay almost 300.00 of the 10,000 her recent, screening, testing, biopsy and ex rays cost, and 300.00 was her co pay.
Some will bitch regardless I guess. -
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chuck-the-canuck7 months, 1 week ago
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No system is perfect, but I wouldn’t trade our system for any system on earth.
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I suffered a heart attack a couple of month ago and received the best of care. Not only have I fully recovered, but my family and I have not been left bankrupt trying to pay the bills.-
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Dionys7 months, 1 week ago
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"No system is perfect, but I wouldn’t trade our system for any system on earth."
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I hear you. I have a friend here in the US who was a dual citizen US/Canada. He had to have bypass surgery and had what is considered good health coverage here in the US. That said he would have had to wait 2 years, possibly dying in the process of waiting, in the US and ended up paying more than 45k (at first glance, likely more) -- leaving his family in debt. He decided to go the Canada route, got scheduled in under 6 months and wasn't left with any bills other than travel to Canada. He decided to stay after he realized just how 'unamazing' America is compared to how it sells itself in the world.-
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Endoscopy7 months, 1 week ago
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What caused the wait in the US? That is not the norm. You can get in for surgery as soon as the doctors schedule permits. Usually withing a month or two and many times within days. I just had a test and was told a lot of if then options. If the test was too bad they could just have kept me in the hospital to do the bypass surgery within a day. If not quite that bad I would have to wait a couple of weeks. That two years is nonsense unless he had other problems or lived in a saturated area. He could have easily gone somewhere else and had the surgery very quickly.
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wtagg7 months, 1 week ago
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Here is a personal story about care here in the States.
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My father was going through radiation treatment for lung cancer at a significant hospital in Cleveland Ohio. Let's call it the most significant hospital in Cleveland. Heck one of the most significant in the country, if not the world. Anyway, they burned his back with radiation. Third degree. This necessitated that they treat the burn with 200 dollar treated pads twice a day. They attempted to charge my mother for this treatment. She got the first bill after his death, partially caused by the radiation. 21 days, twice a day, times $200.
After arguing with them for almost a week, they decided that it would be best to remove those charges, but without providing a reason or rationale for removing them. My guess is to provide plausible deniability in any potential lawsuit.
When we mentioned this to the primary care doctor on the last day of his life, she said that was impossible, that the hospital would never do such a thing. She was removed (reassigned) from his care that same afternoon.
There is such that can be improved in our current system. Not sure if a government health care is the answer, but health care insurers and providers do not want the ability to over or double charge taken away from them. The least we need to do is simplify the process so that all the accounting smoke and mirror tricks can be reduced or eliminated. Unfortunately, this is not a strong area for the US government historically.-
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BB647 months, 1 week ago
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My cousin lives in Calgary, Alberta Canada. In 1994 she was diagnosed with Acute Arteriosclerosis. She was told in no uncertain terms, bypass surgery was required ASAP. Since she wasn't experiencing any pain, she was told to go home and they would set up her surgery. When her primary called, she was told the next spot available would be in around 3-4 weeks and that she should consider "other" options. Being a person of means, she booked medical transport to Mayo and had the surgery done in 3 days. She paid for it entirely by herself. By the way it was a quadruple bypass procedure.
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The good news, she's doing very well. The better news, she's formed a company that does this for others. They make the transport arrangements and assist in finding the best centers for treatment. Again, this is for people who can afford the treatment. It's usually cash up front. But in a nation that rations care and banned competition, it's a very viable option. I support our current system and am very much against a national health plan.-
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greenmac7 months, 1 week ago
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Well I don't know about your sister , but I went to the hospital in april 2008 with back pain an jaw pain. I was immediately taken to a bed ...blood tests done..they confirmed a heart incident had taken place. From there I was taken for a stress test. and given a room for the weekend. operated on Monday ...3 stents put in...home on Tuesday. Since then I have attended a 6 week rehab program and retested. I was charged for my TV hook up.
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So ... I would have to say that your sister was not in need of EMERGENCY surgery.
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Eagle_Eye7 months, 1 week ago
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Any thing would be better than what is here in America, the current government care "Medicaid, Medicare" really sucks...and millions suffer from it....most people don't realize that to the government you are just a number and expendable, your not important and you don't matter unless you have a lot of money.
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My families experience with insurance versus no insurance is sad, my brother who lost his job was in severe pain and admitted to the hospital.....I'll give names of these Health Care givers so you know what to expect.....Orlando Regional.. and after a CAT scan there was a spot on his Pancreas. Because he had no insurance the hospital discharged him after 5 days even though he was in severe pain. I suggested he come up to Shands ER since he was in such horrible pain and they referred him to one of their top Pancreatic Doctors who then denied seeing him because he was out of service area...again more valuable time lost.....I told him not to go back to Orlando Regional but go to Florida Hospital because they were run by the Seven Day Adventists, not government, and are more interested in saving lives and care giving than money. Bingo, he was admitted, they did more tests and he has Pancreatic cancer which has spread. Had he gotten help the first time it wouldn't of spread and he wouldn't be where he is right now, fighting for his life.
Then there is myself....I thought since I was near Shands and established as a patient we could drop me from my husbands which costs us $350. per month and I could go back to Medicaid. Well to make a long story short Medicaid denied the surgery I need to fix my slipped disks in my neck so now I have to wait till January when I can get back on to my husbands to have the artificial disk replacement for my neck. This time though I will go to a "Private" Neurologist for the surgery, Shands will not make one cent on me for what they have done. When I had hubby's pricey insurance I saw the top Doctors, the "Professors" of medicine, now I get the low man on the totem pole flunkies.
Every American should have the right to good health care, not just those who can afford pricey insurance. If we had good preventive care then there would be a difference in our Health Care system, but as long as the all mighty dollar rules Medicine the wealthy get wonderful care and the poor get nothing unless they are diagnosed with a fatal illness.....
Then there is the Pharmaceutical companies, that is a whole other rant but it is pretty much the same, the all mighty dollar.
/end of medical rant, whew, I feel better now, thanks greenmac!!-
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Endoscopy7 months, 1 week ago
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Well Obama wants to give everybody the dumbed down Medicare/Medicaid type of health care. It is what Daschle wrote in his book and what the Democrats are using as a template for health care. Cost effective and safe instead of effective and safe. That extra word means that the older you get the less cost effective a procedure is. Also if one procedure is cheaper than another you must use the cheaper one even if it is not good enough. If the procedure is too costly you do not get it even though it will save your life.
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Eagle_Eye7 months, 1 week ago
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Wrong, every one will get equal treatment and care, unlike today where only the wealthy get the great coverage and care and the poor are side lined and fall into the cracks.
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Because of todays economy, many middle class are now unemployed and uninsured, this is leading to significant problems finding quality health care....no insurance...no care....at least with Medicaid/Medicare you get to see a Doctor and get care, Right now Insurance companies are making the calls on what procedures you can and can't have. I put my trust in my Doctor, not my provider.
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thesatyr017 months, 1 week ago
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Funny,not a single one of my friends in Vancouver have anything good to say about Canadian health care. They only use Canadian health care for minor things. When they have something more serious they go down to Washington State for medical care.
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