Today The New York Times posts an article (free registratioin required) that says that the third rail of Canadian politics has shorted to ground and is being ripped up by the populace. I speak of Socialized Medicine. Private clinics and hospitals are opening all across the country and public doctors and hospitals are referring patients right and left. WHY? If you were diagnosed with cancer, how would YOU feel about waiting almost a month and a half before starting chemo or radiation? If you needed a hip replacement how would you feel about waiting almost a year before getting one? THAT’S why it is being dismantled. You can read more here and here.
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Why shouldn’t this surprise many of us. Slowly, but surely, Canuckistan is moving away from the leftist bastion it had become over the last several years. Their future really depends on it. Watch for their gubmint funded healthcare system to resemble ours more and more over the years to come.
Oh, and by the way…. first.
But that is one of the left’s most sacred institutions… Socialized Medicine.. and Canada was the poster child. How about their gun confiscation policies too?
I heard that you can get an MRI, Chemo, or other procedure done faster on your dog through a vet than you can on one of your family members…..
Not to stick up for the lefties, but Cannuckada has not been one of the countries that people who know what they’re talking about use as a successful example. There are other europeeaannn countries that have much better run national healthcare programs. Canada’s is just plain shtoopid. Our horrible healthcare here in the states still has the best medicine in the world.
#3, The incoming Conservative government has already vowed to end the Long gun registration program, so even the gun grabbers are coming around. The fact that the registry cost 100 times what it was supposed to and was an abject failure probably had something to do with that.
I hope Canaduh will come around. Costs in this country would go down if we got rid of the third-party payor system (insurance companies).
#7, wrong. Health insurers are much more adept and cost effective at administrating the fiscal end of things than any governmental bureaucracy ever will be. It all boils down to shifting unacceptable risks to institutions that can afford to accept those risks in exchange for a known manageable risk, ie. premium payments, whether they be personally funded, or subsidized by an employer or the gubmint. Then there are always the government funded programs for the indigent and near poverty level, as well as the uninsurable (whose state risk pools are funded by insurance carriers and each state’s gubmint).
CRK
#8
You are absolutely right. I want less government in all areas. But that was not my point. If there were no third-party payor, prices for medical services would go down. Look at the way the contracts are set up between insurance companies and hospitals. The hospitals give 50 to 60% discounts (and sometimes more), if their claim is paid within a certain amount of time. The hospitals aren’t doing this out of kindness. Their bills are over-inflated and even with 60% discounts, they will be making money. It’s the same with doctors and clinics. I’m sure you have seen hospital bills charging $40 for a Tylenol™
I read the article in the NY Times. It is good news for the Canucks and I wish them well. I must admit, though, I was surprised that no government drone was quoted in the article as saying that the problem was a lack of funding. Isn’t that what the statists always say whenever one of their programs invariably falters (consider the wonders of American education)?
Gotta pay for those malpractice premiums somehow…
What’s so bad about a month’s wait for chemo? My mother’s been waiting for _five_ months since the CAT scans, thanks to Medicare insurance foul-ups and lying office managers who say they’ve sent the info when they haven’t.
ubu - That’s why you never take people’s word for things. Always take notes including date and time of call, person’s name and phone number including extension. You have to get proactive to make sure that things are handled the way they should. It would be worse if gubmint workers were involved. When Medicare’s involved, it’s a pain in the a$$.
What’s funny about socialists like Shrilly is you tell them that socialism doesn’t work, has never worked and never will. They then respond that it would work if the right people (like me) were in charge!
Liberalism is indeed a mental disorder. (Michael Savage)
#9 So instead of insurance companies involved, who would assume the liability for medical expenses? The government, then the cost would really go up, and the payment of medical charges would really be longer than when an insurance carrier is involved. Those $40 Tylenols are because of a number of things. One of them being the fact that hospitals get stiffed when they provide care to illegals. Why do you think you can buy private medical insurance in just about every socialized medicine country? Because you get what you pay for.
If we don’t get the illegals under control nothing will change. Right now you have a 3 hour wait minimum at Conroe Regional because of all of those seeking free medical care. Thanks to bush and hilary this is still the case this why I will not vote for any incumbent Democrats or Republicans (perry, dewhurst, hutchinson, brady, hope).
Even the local TML representives running for state senate have started saying they will vote to do something about the illegals. What they don’t say indicating they are liars about this issue and appraisal caps.
I watched them for the last two years when they couldn’t find my wife’s aunt’s pancreatic cancer. She died in November. My liberal sister in law didn’t have alot to see about their great health care system in Canada. Small wonder why my wife gave up her Canadian citizenship and became an American!
CRK
#15
The answer is let the individual be responsible for his/her own treatment. There are cafeteria plans out there, but if you don’t work for a big employer, start your own health care savings account. The prices for medical services would go down, the illegals would have to pay for any non-emergency health care. Then, if you have spent a lot, you get a deduction on your tax return. You could also have a catastrophic policy for any big surgeries, cancer, etc.
Think about it, they take medicare out of your salary every payday.
#18 - Actually we are on the same wavelength, but didn’t realize it. HSA’s really are the wave of the future in healthcare funding. They put the consumer in the driver’s seat, but also cede’s the liability for large medical expenses over to the deeper pockets of an insurance carrier in exchange for an affordably assumable premium. Insurance is not to pay your bills, it’s to cover your assets against catastrophic losses. HSA’s do exactly that. Getting the entitlement minded liberals to think like this is another story. Not to mention that the demonrat party wants to take over 1/7th fo the nation’s economy by socializing medicine.
#5 CRK
Thre are a few exceptions, but most are as bad or worse. The Netherlands has social medicine and you should hear how people complain about the slow service. One fellow I know had to wait over a year for a hernia operation, and his situation was both serious and painful. The hospital in Leiden is literally half empty because there are not enough health care professionals to go around. This is in turn caused by the lousy pay that doctors and nurses get over there. Social medicine is like socialism in general. There’s simply no motivation to excel.
CRK
#119
Yeah, I knew were on the same wavelength! I just had to explain myself a little better.
Are you in the insurance business, BTW? I’m thinking about doing this next year.
I have been in the insurance business for over 20 years now. I predominantly handle corporate employee benefits. I have done many Health Savings Accounts. It still amazes me that congress has allowed such a good deal to exist for taxpayers. The only client that doesn’t get a charge over the deductibility of the acct deposits is my brokeback hairdresser/friend/client/ who never claims much of his cash income and thereby doesn’t have much taxable income either. He keeps whining about the bank account fees. Banks are such a ripoff. Sooner or later as HSA account balances get larger, more and more mutual fund wholesalers will start handling HSA’s.
I still dont understand why there is a wait for socialized medicine. Are the doctors sitting around playing cards and not seeing people? If they are that busy why dont they open up more clinics?
As far as free medical care i think there should be some sort of basic free medical service for everyone especially kids. Just because they are born to poor parents shouldnt mean they have to suffer. Its not their fault.When a kid needs surgery and they call Marvin Zindler he seems to get a doctor to do the surgery without charge. Think about it. We get a lawyer if we need to be defended supplied by the courts. Might not be the best but it is free to you. When you call the police to your house they dont make you pay for the call.Same with the fire department. Doctors should be able to deduct the care of the poor and children off their taxes. Maybe that would help.
We shouldnt have a system where you get treated and made well only if you can pay for it. I would think we can treat each other better than that.
CRK
How do HSA’s work in the corporate world? Do you have to have a minimum number of employees participating? Can you do this individually?
Gregg
Any person can be treated in the US. Go to any emergency center and by law, they cannot ask about your insurance or how you are going to pay for the treatment, until after you are treated.
There are clinics who treat children, give them their shots, etc. mainly free of charge or a very low fee, depending on their parents income. When I was “independently poor” I went to these clinics to get my daugher’s shots, etc. because they were much cheaper than going to the doctor, paying for an office visit and the shots.
There is free healthcare for the indigent, it’s called Medicaid. And, like any governmental program, it has it’s limitations, like timeliness and whether you will get the best physicians handling your healthcare needs as opposed to just any Dr. Tom, Dr. Dick and Dr. Harry. In regards to your comparison to legal defense, do you really think that court appointed atty’s are anything close to the caliber of top trial atty’s? I live in a fairly affluent area now, there have been three murders in the last few months within a couple minutes from my hacienda. We really do have pretty decent patrols in the neighborhood (btw it is HPD). On the other hand, in lower income neighborhoods that have a significant amount of crime, the police manpower are always stretched to the brink. There’s always going to be a limit to what gubmint funded programs will pay for. In affluent areas with well funded property owners associations there often are privately funded security patrols that make these neighborhoods even safer. Hard, smart work with an education under your belt and good ethics generally will afford one the finer things in life. Like a good cowbell.
The simple answer is: there aren’t any doctors. In a system of socialized medicine, doctors simply can’t make what they’re worth. Some kids decide not to go to medical school, and others practice down here.
In countries with completely socialized medicine, it is illegal not to participate in the government medical program. It’s not like here, where Dr. Smith can say “screw that Medicare hassle” and accept cash.
Not to mention the government, like any health maintenence organization, will only pay for certain things and then only so much. And since they have to pay for everyone’s care, the docs are given a bandaid and some neosporin and told to go forth and save lives. You need the newest chemo treatment to treat your metastizing lung cancer? Or Gamma Knife or Positron Therapy for your otherwise inoperable brain cancer? Don’t expect to get it in Canada. You have a car accident and need an MRI to check for a Subdural Hematoma? If you are still alive 2 months later you can have one (but of course if you are still alive two months later, you probably either didn’t need one to begin with, or the damage is done and it is too late to do anything about it.), but you’ll have to be transported to the ONE MRI in the whole dang city. What? You don’t live in Edmonton or Calgary or BC? You’ll have to be transported there to have it done.
Matt - In addition, in jolly old England, physicians retire from the gubmint healthcare system and then practice for pay once they’re retired.
CRK
See my #24. Thanks!
Does your company have a website?
#23:One of the problems is that when anything is considered to be “free”, people will avail themselves of the services at a greater rate. Why not? It doesn’t cost them anything, except maybe a little time. As to why patients are not triaged within the system as to seriousness of condition, I do not know; but I suspect, as with any government program, red tape, inertia, and unquailfied personnel may all play a role.
Why the heck does so many people think Socialism works? It has failed miserably everywhere it has been tried.
(Slaps forehead)
Oh I forgot they don’t teach what socialism is or give exmaples of where socialism has failed in schools any longer. Never mind.
Squawk
#32
See my #14 above. It all has to do with arrogance. If you are arrogant enough you can believe anything. Like Hillary saying,
We ARE the President! Arrogance is the road to socialism.
pmartin - Sorry, I was out at Taco Milagro. They have great fish tacos.
Group HSA plans are available from pretty much every carrier at this point. Generally employers implement them in dual option plans where another more traditional benefit plan is made available along with some type of HSA product. Most carriers today do not require minimum participation limits to be met with an HSA plan option.
Most of the HSA’s I have done are individual. I even have one myself.
CRK
#34
Yeah, they DO have great fish tacos!
Could you contact me or give me your website. I am serious about looking into this. Obviously, I don’t want to post my email address here. You can give your’s to Squawk and he will make it available for me.
Thanks! I appreciate your help!
CRK
Or vice versa - Squawk knows my email address and I hereby authorize him to forward it to you! Sheesh!