Interesting post about Canadian healthcare

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Hilary the Touched
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Interesting post about Canadian healthcare

Post by Hilary the Touched » Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:57 pm

over on Democratic Underground: http://www.democraticunderground.com/di ... 32x8540107
Eternal student shared it with me--one of my favourite points:
"I can never understand why right wingers are always worried about the government making their health care decisions when they are perfectly willing to let insurance companies do it."

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Post by Helen8 » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:03 pm

I suspect their twisted justification is the devil you know vesus the devil you don't know. As if that makes any sense: The retired right-wingers are more than happy to accept their Social Security checks and Medicare coverage, which are run by . . . wait for it . . . the Guvment.

We all know that the health insurance companies are buying off as many legislators as they can to defeat this. :roll:

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Post by Chari910 » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:47 pm

My office nurse just told me there was a woman from Canada who was diagnosed with cancer-couldn't get surgery schedule for a year-came to the US and was treated immediately. She was very vocal about how the US health system saved her life.

Anyone heard about this??

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Post by wolfsaver » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:03 pm

Char, was this the woman with a brain tumor? If so, I did hear about it.

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Post by Gillian » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:06 pm

A year? You don't even have to wait that long for elective surgery.

BTW, just checked the wait times at the Province of Ontario's website. You're looking at between a month (sometimes less) to two months (max) for either breast or lung cancer surgery.

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Post by Gillian » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:09 pm

Just checked brain cancer too. For a person living in southern Ontario the provincial target is about 84 days. That's not too shabby.

Perhaps they had a rare form of brain cancer?

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Post by Hilary the Touched » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:18 pm

In the United States, if you have enough money, you can get anything done at any time, including fertility treatments at the age of 66 (http://www.examiner.com/x-1022-Orlando- ... ring-twins). People with fewer resources, unfortunately, have fewer resources.

One of the other posts on that site quoted from a study published in 2002:
"Only 90 of 18,000 respondents to the 1996 Canadian NPHS National Population Health Survey indicated that they had received health care in the United States during the previous twelve months, and only twenty indicated that they had gone to the United States expressly for the purpose of getting that care."

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Post by Hilary the Touched » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:32 pm

The same poster wrote:
"I do know our government will send patients to the US for care and cover the cost if the following criteria is met:

services that are deemed medically necessary, not experimental, and are not available at home for whatever reason (e.g., shortage or absence of high tech medical equipment; a longer wait for service than is medically prudent; or lack of physician expertise), the provincial government where you live fully funds your care."

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Post by Hilary the Touched » Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:45 pm

The Canadian woman appearing in those ads, Shona Holmes, did not in fact suffer from a malignant brain tumour; rather, she suffered from a Rathke's cleft cyst. It is true that it was obstructing her vision, but her vision was restored to 100% by its removal. She also apparently mortgaged her home to finance the treatment she received from the Mayo Clinic.

According to CNN.com, 62 percent of the bankruptcies declared in the U.S. in 2007 were due to medical bills (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/05/ba ... cal.bills/).
"Unless you're a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you're one illness away from financial ruin in this country," says lead author Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., of the Harvard Medical School, in Cambridge, Mass. "If an illness is long enough and expensive enough, private insurance offers very little protection against medical bankruptcy, and that's the major finding in our study."

(I hope I don't sound cross with you, Char--I know you to be an extremely gracious, generous, and thoughtful woman! and I know you begrudge no one care that they need.)

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Post by Chari910 » Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:04 pm

Yes, I did a little research and found it was a cyst. Can't believe everything you hear.

What do you all think about withholding care for the terminally ill or the elderly who have chronic illnesses and offer them euthanasia instead?

Chuck told me Medicare won't pay for pap smear anymore. Old people can get cancer and hurry up and die so it won't cost too much money to the government??

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Post by Helen8 » Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:24 pm

Yeah, with all us Baby Boomers hitting old age soon, that's pretty much the sentiment: There's too many of 'em, so let 'em die rather than drain the coffers. Of course, they're already drained, so it's moot.

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Post by Hilary the Touched » Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:37 pm

I may well feel differently when I get a bit older, but at my present age, I am still a proponent of VOLUNTARY euthanasia. I think quality of life is far more important than mere continuation of cell turnover.
Check back when I'm 85 though--!

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Post by grannybear » Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:59 pm

My own story...In Aug of 04 they found cancer in my lung. Preliminary test showed it was a slow moving type called carcinoid. With all the further tests etc they did not operate until the end of Oct and they told me that was fast. Medicare and my secondary paid almost all. If I hadn't had that I would have gone thru almost everything. I don't see how people without insurance could do it.
We need a plan to help everyone. I'm a fan of Medicare and a plan like that for younger people would be perfect. Of course the financial end would be a bugger to work out.
As for euthanasia, you look at it differently as you get older but if I was really sick and in pain I think I would consider it. Maybe.

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Post by wolfsaver » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:42 pm

Chari910 wrote:Yes, I did a little research and found it was a cyst. Can't believe everything you hear.

What do you all think about withholding care for the terminally ill or the elderly who have chronic illnesses and offer them euthanasia instead?

Chuck told me Medicare won't pay for pap smear anymore. Old people can get cancer and hurry up and die so it won't cost too much money to the government??
And what standards will determine who is too old or too ill? My 90 year old aunt would not have received her first hip replacement, much less her second one. Yet now she is still independent and a vital, contributing member of her community. What about a 25 year old with advanced cervical cancer? You cannot always predict the outcome of an illness, even later in life. And haven't doctors who have assisted in euthanasia been prosecuted and convicted here? Too much ambiguity and lack of respect for the individual.

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Post by kjshd05 » Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:35 am

as a person living without medical insurance, (more than 2 yrs now) I would welcome any help I could get...living with pre existing conditions, I've got 2 doctors who've helped me, and one who will not renew my prescription, unless I pay 85 dollars every 6 months to see him...I'm considering having my general practitioner refill the script for me....for 85 bucks all the specialist does is take my blood pressure and ask me if I feel ok.....

I think a person should have the choice, whether to die or not...


my sisters best friend died 5 years after being diagnosed with breast cancer, and she took every opportunity to try and beat it....she died horribly, in alot of pain, as the cancer had spread througout her body..

I know, in these trying times, our government is stepping in and trying to help...although, you can't help/please everyone...hopefully we won't loose our right to make our own decisions....

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