Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, needs heart surgery. A surgery that is not available to him in his home province. So where does he go? No one is sure which medical facility he is in, but it is indeed in the United States of America.
My question is, where are the Canadians going to go if we make our system like theirs?
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6 comments:
I read about this a day or so ago and wondered the same thing. What more proof do we need that nationalized health care is not the answer? If ObamaCare passes, there will be nowhere left.
You people are looking at this completely wrong, which I knew Americans would. He hasn't even said why he decided to go to the U.S. and not somewhere else in Canada. Heart specialists from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal all say that they perform virtually ANY heart operation with little to no wait. DId it ever come to mind that you have a filthy rich Canadian, who decided to have his heart operation in Florida (where's he's rumored to be) vs. Toronto in the middle of winter. The same Toronto heart institute that have, in the recent past, performed surgeries on Americans. In addition, they say he will need a 3 to 12 recovery time. Hmmm, recover in Toronto in the middle of winter or Florida. I think you should be far more concerned for the untold number of Americans who will either never have that operation, because they are not covered and can't afford it, or have to sell their home to have it vs. the decision of a multi-millionaire Canadian who choses to go down south in the winter time for care.
Anoy:
This is where you go off the rails, I am not against reform. I am against government take over. Reform and government take over are two different things.
Also, the province that this man lives in is unable to perform this surgery. Yes he is a wealthy man, what about the people who live in Newfoundland that aren't wealthy that can't afford to go another province? Where do they get their surgery from?
Less than a week ago the President admited he lied to the American people. With this bill we will not be able to keep the doctors of our choice. It was "snuck in". By who we will may never know.
We need to look at the systems in Switzerland and Japan. They have private insurance that is low cost enough for all to afford. I am not exactly sure how it works, but the government somehow underwrites the high risk pool so those costs are spread out better than in our system. Everyone gets healthcare without the government having anything to do with the doctor/patient relationship.
I agree with you for the American situation. THe SWiss is a great model. However, all Swiss are mandated to have insurance, which seems to be a big sticking point with many Americans on the current bill.
Now, I'm Canadian, so let me clear things up on Newfoundland. This is a sparsely populated province, only 500,000 people, and very isolated. The largest city is only 100,000. There aren't too many States or Provinces with cities that size that have every specially trained doc doing high specialized care. Many States send patients to the Mayo clinic for example. This is no different. Whether we had more private care in this country wouldn't change the fact that not very many doctors will practice there, say vs. Toronto or Montreal. Newfoundland is beautiful, but I wouldn't want to live there. Remember, when the rare occasion that a heart patient is sent out of Newfoundland to another province, ALL medical expenses are paid. How many private insurance companies do that in the STates??
Finally, no gov't official has EVER come between me and my doctor in deciding what care I receive. Its a common myth many Americans believe about our system that simply isn't true.
there are many Canadians who are happy with the system, many are not.
I spoke to some Canadians who were here on vacation, they said the system was good for major illness, but was awful for everyday issues; long waits and denied care. I used to work for a multi-national company. Someone in the London office waited over a year for knee surgery. That is long time to have knee pain. No system is perfect. We need to fix what is broken and keep what is good. This bill does not do that.
I live in London, Ontario. The current wait times for knee replacement, which you can look up by hospital on-line in Ontario, is 61 days, 75 days, and 166 days at the 3 area hospitals. WHich means that 90% of those waiting for that operation, receive it in those time frames. That's how the wait times are measured in Ontario.
Now, I don't want to debate what you are guys are doing. I'm not disputing anything about the bill or what you want as an American. Nor do I want to tell you the way to go. That is your countries' decision. What I can't stand is the misinformation, lies, mistruths and myths told about our care. Part of the decision of many Americans on this bill is based on hearing ancedotal stories from Canada. I'm clearing those up.
FOr example, we are not denied care. I do not know anyone who was denied care. Do we have wait times for non-emergency procedures like knee replacement, yes. Now for everyday issue. Please be specific, as I have two small children having many 'everyday' issue that are dealt with quickly and by very qualified healthcare professionals. Thank you for the nice discussion.
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