Canadian Premier having surgery in the U.S., Canada health care anyone???

[JeffreyLebowski]

That's funny, my Aunt came up to Canada to have both of her kids so she wasn't saddled with huge hospital bills. :hmm:

KT

So you're saying your aunt is incapable of providing for her family and thus essentially has to steal service?

 

[KeithTalent]

Really, I know a guy that knows a guy....

Oh sorry, I did not know personal family experience was irrelevant.

KT

 

[KeithTalent]

So you're saying your aunt is incapable of providing for her family and thus essentially has to steal service?

No, she's a dual citizen and decided, after weighing the options with her husband (an American) that coming up to Canada for care was the best option in that situation.

KT

 

[nerp]

Oh sorry, I did not know personal family experience was irrelevant.

KT

Apparently anything that doesn't involve sucking someone's cock isn't relevant on this message board.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

No, she's a dual citizen and decided, after weighing the options with her husband (an American) that coming up to Canada for care was the best option in that situation.

KT

See info like that wouls be pertinent in your original post as to not confuse the issue. S it was worded originally it sounded like she took a trip to the Canada and oops, her water broke, have to deliver them now. (kinda like what Mexicans do along the border.

 

[moshquerade]

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.
Deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday, but would not reveal the location of the operation or how it would be paid for.
"He has gone to a renowned expert in the procedure that he needs to have done," said Ms. Dunderdale, who will become acting premier while Mr. Williams is away for three to 12 weeks.
"In consultation with his own doctors, he's decided to go that route."
Mr. Williams' decision to leave Canada for the surgery has raised eyebrows over his apparent shunning of Canada's health-care system.
"It was never an option offered to him to have this procedure done in this province," said Ms. Dunderdale, refusing to answer whether the procedure could be done elsewhere in Canada.
Mr. Williams, 59, has said nothing of his health in the media.
"The premier has made a commitment that once he's through this procedure and he's well enough, he's going to talk about the whole process and share as much detail with you as he's comfortable to do at that time," she said.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2510700
:awe:

oh snap.

 

[Train]

Here is a pretty good read on the privatization (yes you read that right) of Canadian and European systems.

People and doctors are fed up with getting stuck in these systems so are creating private alternatives, which are growing rapidly. It even talks about how some had to go to the Canadian supreme court just for the RIGHT to practice medicine privately.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_3_canadian_healthcare.html

 

[senseamp]

See info like that wouls be pertinent in your original post as to not confuse the issue. S it was worded originally it sounded like she took a trip to the Canada and oops, her water broke, have to deliver them now. (kinda like what Mexicans do along the border.

How much does a birth cost out of pocket in the US?
If someone's only options are rip off Canada or get ripped off by US medical establishment, then even if she went to Canada as an American I wouldn't hold it against her.

 

[yllus]

No Canadian will deny the best high end health care in the world is in the US. HOWEVER, for the average 80% of us Canadian health care is better.

Sounds about right.

Leave it to the National Post (right-leaning newspaper) to run a story like this, which is a veiled shot at public health care.

The reality is that Newfoundland is one of the poorer provinces in Canada and also has one of the smallest populations. It's entirely conceivable that the particular heart specialist he requires cannot be found in Newfoundland, so he has to go elsewhere.

It's not a veiled shot - it's a shot made in plain view, and it makes a valid point.

The fact that the specialist he requires isn't even in the same country as him isn't an argument in your favour: The specialist might have been local (or at least somewhere in Canada) if he had the ability to earn whatever the market would offer him here. We're literally running elite talent out of town because of our idiotic laws against private care.

 

[lord_emperor]

"He has gone to a renowned expert in the procedure that he needs to have done," said Ms. Dunderdale, who will become acting premier while Mr. Williams is away for three to 12 weeks.
"In consultation with his own doctors, he's decided to go that route"

His doctors advised him to see a renowned expert in a specific procedure.

I see no problem with this or with our healthcare system paying for this procedure.

I would take issue if he recieved special treatment and this procedure were not offered to any other person in the same circumstances.

 

[Train]

Oh sorry, I did not know personal family experience was irrelevant.

KT

When you try to use one person as an example when an entire province has 10 month waiting period for maternity beds.... ya, its pretty fuckin irrelevant.

 

[Train]

How much does a birth cost out of pocket in the US?

I just got a bill for $917 of the $14k it cost to deliver my baby. And we'll get a $1500 tax credit, so, my wifes Blue Cross insurance (which is like the shittiest kind you can get in the US) aint so bad afterall.

 

[yllus]

His doctors advised him to see a renowned expert in a specific procedure.

I see no problem with this or with our healthcare system paying for this procedure.

I would take issue if he recieved special treatment and this procedure were not offered to any other person in the same circumstances.

Pretty selective copy and paste you did there. What about this part?

"It was never an option offered to him to have this procedure done in this province," said Ms. Dunderdale, refusing to answer whether the procedure could be done elsewhere in Canada.

If we pretend that it's not obvious that Mr. Williams didn't bother looking at his in-country options because he knew they didn't measure up, how is it that he couldn't find a doctor in all of Canada that could perform this procedure?

Of the tens of thousands of medical professionals in this country, not even one is the equal of the one he's selected in the United States? If not, why not? Why are the best of the best always somewhere else?

 

[KeithTalent]

I just got a bill for $917 of the $14k it costs to deliver my baby. And we'll get a $1500 tax credit, so, my wifes Blue Cross insurance (which is like the shittiest kind you can get in the US) aint so bad afterall.

Using one person to represent...ahh, nevermind.

Anyway, as I stated above, I don't think it's perfect up here, but you guys seem to think we are all dying as we wait in line to get something done because a wealthy individual went to the US to get treatment.

KT

 

[Train]

Using one person to represent...ahh, nevermind.

Anyway, as I stated above, I don't think it's perfect up here, but you guys seem to think we are all dying as we wait in line to get something done because a wealthy individual went to the US to get treatment.

KT

All the people giving birth are wealthy individuals? Or did you miss that part? You seem to have pretty selective reading. Or what about the link I posted? It pretty much dispels the myth that "only rich people" are fleeing to private options. You might want to try reading it. Most of the info comes from Canada's own doctors who are trying to fix the broken system.

 

[senseamp]

I just got a bill for $917 of the $14k it cost to deliver my baby. And we'll get a $1500 tax credit, so, my wifes Blue Cross insurance (which is like the shittiest kind you can get in the US) aint so bad afterall.

So basically an uninsured person (there are people who have it shittier than Blue Cross) would be out of $14K, assuming no complications?

 

[Cookie]

When you try to use one person as an example when an entire province has 10 month waiting period for maternity beds.... ya, its pretty fuckin irrelevant.

Do you have a legitimate link for this accusation? Not only does it sound absurd I can guarantee you there are available maternity beds in BC if you walked in right now about to give birth. Some hospitals may be full, but certainly not all of them.

 

[Train]

Do you have a legitimate link for this accusation? Not only does it sound absurd I can guarantee you there are available maternity beds in BC if you walked in right now about to give birth. Some hospitals may be full, but certainly not all of them.

Quoted it in my original post, but forgot the link, here's another one:

http://looktruenorth.com/liberty/po...635--ten-month-wait-for-a-maternity-ward.html

Canadian dependence on the United States is particularly true in health care, the most eminent Canadian idea looming in the American context. That is, public health care in Canada depends on private health care in the U.S. A small news story from last month illustrates this:

"A Canadian woman has given birth to extremely rare identical quadruplets. The four girls were born at a U.S. hospital because there was no space available at Canadian neonatal intensive care units. Autumn, Brook, Calissa, and Dahlia are in good condition at Benefice Hospital in Great Falls, Montana. Health officials said they checked every other neonatal intensive care unit in Canada, but none had space. The Jepps, a nurse and a respiratory technician were flown 500 kilometers to the Montana hospital, the closest in the U.S., where the quadruplets were born on Sunday."

There you have Canadian health care in a nutshell. After all, you can't expect a G-7 economy of only 30 million people to be able to offer the same level of neonatal intensive care coverage as a town of 50,000 in remote, rural Montana. And let's face it, there's nothing an expectant mom likes more on the day of delivery than 300 miles in a bumpy twin prop over the Rockies. Everyone knows that socialized health care means you wait and wait and wait -- six months for an MRI, a year for a hip replacement, and so on. But here is the absolute logical reductio of a government monopoly in health care: the ten-month waiting list for the maternity ward

 

[KeithTalent]

Do you have a legitimate link for this accusation? Not only does it sound absurd I can guarantee you there are available maternity beds in BC if you walked in right now about to give birth. Some hospitals may be full, but certainly not all of them.

It's true, my boss' wife had their baby via c-section on Friday. Oh right, not allowed to use examples from real people, I forgot.

KT

 

[Train]

It's true, my boss' wife had their baby via c-section on Friday. Oh right, not allowed to use examples from real people, I forgot.

KT

As reported by the BBC, not some douche on a forum who can make up whatever he wants to support his position. But you keep glossing over that obvious distinction.

 

[KeithTalent]

All the people giving birth are wealthy individuals? Or did you miss that part? You seem to have pretty selective reading. Or what about the link I posted? It pretty much dispels the myth that "only rich people" are fleeing to private options. You might want to try reading it. Most of the info comes from Canada's own doctors who are trying to fix the broken system.

No, I did not read your link, but I did read the story in the papers and in a lot more detail, when it originally came out. Depending on which paper you read there were statistics and opinions backing up both sides of the debate (no surprise). That case, while crazy, is not the norm, but providing an excerpt of it is something people like to do when bashing the Canadian system, Universal Health Care in general.

KT

 

[Train]

Depending on which paper you read there were statistics and opinions backing up both sides of the debate

What debate?

Health officials said they checked every other neonatal intensive care unit in Canada but none had space.

What statistics? What opinions? Thats a statement of fact. Every article on it has the same facts. The mother was a friggin Nurse for crying out loud.

The only way you would debate that is if your a friggin troll.

 

[KeithTalent]

What debate?

What statistics? What opinions? Thats a statement of fact. Every article on it has the same facts. The mother was a friggin Nurse for crying out loud.

The only way you would debate that is if your a friggin troll.

I think it was pretty obvious that it was about about the health care debate in general. I don't think you actually read my posts, you just like to curse and call people names.

KT

 

[Train]

I think it was pretty obvious that it was about about the health care debate in general. I don't think you actually read my posts, you just like to curse and call people names.

KT

Right, right, I should be reading a post from some guy on the internet about how he knows a chick who had a baby in Canada, and I should ignore a BBC article about how there wasnt a single maternity bed available in all of Canada. Because having a 10 month wait for something most chicks only know about 9 months in advance isn't something that speaks very well for a country's healtcare system, right?

Because that would be the logical course of action.

 

[Turin39789]

What debate?

What statistics? What opinions? Thats a statement of fact. Every article on it has the same facts. The mother was a friggin Nurse for crying out loud.

The only way you would debate that is if your a friggin troll.

LOL troll says troll.

outlier.