Re: R.I.P. American Healthcare

steven_nospam at Yahoo! Canada wrote:
On Nov 19, 11:01 am, bob johnson <billmath...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
steven_nospam at Yahoo! Canada wrote:

never going to happen.
Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up. ~Jesse
Jackson
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai Lama
only a dillusional pig would quote the racist jesse jacson

I love you too, Bob.

By the way, it's "delusional" as in "having a false belief or
opinion". I think there's a lot of that going around in terms of the
rhetoric I see regarding healthcare reform.

But hey, I'm in no position to say anything....We already have our
universal healthcare. My mother had her gall bladder operation last
year, and it only cost her the $30 per day for the TV rental. My dad
had a heart attack four years ago, and has a standby defibrillator in
him now...only cost was the ambulance ride to the hospital. Both are
taking various medications (Lipitor, Altace, etc) and they only pay
the annual premium for the government-run durg insurance plan.
http://www.ramq.gouv.qc.ca/en/citoyens/assurancemedicaments/regimepublic/regimepublic.shtml

And contrary to the false rumors I've heard in US news stories:
- All our treatment was done in Canada.
- When we are considered at high risk, we are treated immediately.
- All our prescription drugs purchased at legitimate pharmacies are
identical to ones in USA.

The only bad thing I've ever encountered in the Canadian system was
long wait times for elective surgeries due to doctor shortages. Why? A
few reasons:

1) The provincial government (equivalent to state level) restricts
medical licenses to allow only so many doctors per annum per area.
This is to prevent quacks from coming in and opening a practice, and
to try and get doctors to service smaller outlying areas instead of
just the large cities. They also restrict how many patients a doctor
is allowed to see in a given period. The doctor is allowed to see MORE
patients than the maximum, but he will only be paid for the maximum.

2) Many Canadian doctors are taking their skills down south to USA,
where they know they can open a private practice and earn more money
than they are making here in Canada. That's because they can charge
obscene prices or take more patients down there, which they are not
allowed to do here.

The Canadian system is certainly not perfect. But from what I
understand, that is not what is being proposed for the American system
anyway.

The more important question is not whether "healthcare for all" should
be implemented in a civilized western society like USA. I think that
the question should be asked "How is it going to be implemented so
that it does not cost an arm and a leg (forgive the pun), and how can
you prevent people from abusing the system?"

I'll be flamed for whatever I say just because people react
emotionally on this topic. They don't understand it and think that
their taxes will go up like crazy because they will end up paying all
the bills for that homeless guy opening the door at the McDonald's in
Vernon, CA. I'm just saying that you should research the topic and
make an informed decision, instead of listening to the 30second spot
the pharmaceutical lobby is plugging on TV between episodes of Family
Guy and reruns of AFV.


No flaming necessary. You're spot on with your evaluation. People tend to rely on what they're spoon fed rather than investigating it themselves. What's sad is that today we have all that information available at our fingertips.

I spoke to a health care worker today. She was in the US and was admitted to the hospital for a small matter. Her travel insurance covered everything, but as she was there, she watched a nurse entering the stuff needed to treat her along with the cost.

A syringe - $120.
A pill - $25.

In Canada, she knows they would cost less than a dollar total.

She also spoke about a recent study that tabulated the number of people who went bankrupt after being diagnosed with cancer.

In the US, the number was over 100,000 annually.

In Canada, zero.

The Canadian healthcare system has treated my family members with leukemia and prostrate cancer as well as one who had a stroke. All survived and only paid out incidental expenses like travel. Others I know have survived breast, brain and lung cancer (early detection).

Today, a friend is in the hospital getting surgery for breast cancer. Even with H1N1 delaying some surgeries, hers was deemed priority and is going ahead. They expect her to make a full recovery.

Total cost to her: $0.00

Health care for profit is obscene.

..

--
We must change the way we live
Or the climate will do it for us.
.

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