Re: Omega 3 fish oils and testing strips

In article <495dd6a7-d889-4c5b-bcaa-1e6d45f5d7c5
@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, spk_gbv@xxxxxxx says...
On Jan 17, 3:15 pm, hlmw <hl...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

After that I was on my own because the health system failed.

Lorna if I may ask... We hear a lot of hyperbole from both sides of
our political spectrum regarding the Canadian health system. As a
Canadian with diabetes how would you rate the performance of the
system specifically in regards to the needs of a diabetic? I'm
curious and would much rather hear information from actual users of
the system than from pundits on either side of our political morass.

Sean

Sean:

I don't know what province Lorna is in, or what size town she is near. I
live in Windsor, Ontario, literally 2 miles as the crow flies from
downtown Detroit, Michigan. Windsor's population is just over 200,000,
and the metro area is about 300,000.

I was referred by the local renal dialysis clinic (kidney transplant
1995) to the Diabetes Clinic, where I was set up for a regularly
scheduled diabetes class ( 4 - 5 sessions). I was given a meter and
shown how to use it. I was then referred to an Endocrinologist who works
with the clinic, and within a year, NPH insulin before bedtime was
prescribed. The diabetes clinic gave me a choice of pen dispensers (they
rarely recommended syringes unless you insisted). I also had two or
three appointments with the renal unit's registered dietitian. I have
been offered an appointment with them each year, but I now rarely need
them for any advice. I get all I need online. The diabetes classes were
about two months after I got my meter and had been browsing online, so
although they were fine, especially for most of the other patients, they
were nothing new for me. Except for the podiatrist (foot surgeon), which
was very eye-opening. Over the years, I have seen three cases of foot
ulcers, one of them fatal.

Basic care in Ontario is covered by provincial health insurance (our
version of medicare). All the above was covered. Prescriptions depend on
private insurance. Provincial prescription coverage, with deductibles,
is geared to income, and is better than two thirds of the other
provinces.

All care relating to the specialists and family doctors is covered. I
got fifteen months of dialysis, three arm surgeries for fistulas, and a
kidney transplant, and 12 years of follow-up care, all for free.

My kidney condition was discovered while I was in university and still
under my parents' private health coverage. When I graduated, I had what
is know in the U.S.A. as a pre-existing condition. American medicare
would have let me have dialysis, which varies in quality considerable in
the U.S.A. At the time of my transplant, U.S.A. medicare rules would not
have paid for a kidney transplant, and even later, would have only paid
for it if I could prove in three years post-transplant that I could pay
for my own meds, or was on permanent disability.

In the U.S.A., I would have been dead 8 to 10 years ago. End of
comparison.

Before he died, my father had: seven surgeries to remove recurring brain
tumors; more than a dozen angiograms, CAT scans and MRI's; and numerous
appointments with neurosurgeons, cosmetic surgeons, oncologists, and
cancer clinics; all over the space of twenty years. The only time
anything had to be paid for was Gamma Knife surgery (overnight stay and
discharge) in Detroit, Michigan to extend his life a bit. The only thing
they were interested in at the hospital was how was the bill being paid.
Ontario negotiated a US $25,000 payment a few months ahead of time, as
the nearest available facilities in Canada then were Montreal or
Edmonton. Toronto was totally booked up.

As I see it, if you are poor in the U.S.A. or have inadequate insurance,
you get vastly inferior care. In Canada, you get adequate care one way
or another. Yes, we have a shortage of family doctors, because the post-
boomers don't want to work 90 hours a week, and even if they do become
G.P.'s, they would rather work for more lucrative salaries for shorter
hours in walk-in clinics. What good is a surplus of doctors if none of
them will take patients with insurance that pays below what they
consider to be inadequate re-imbursements. Ask Julie.

Dennis (Type 2, Kidney Transplant 1995)

.

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