Cost of Health Care Continues to Rise

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by whell

Single - payer systems do not seem to be faring well either. In fact, many such systems, including the Canadian system, appear to be ready to explore market - based alternatives.

http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/Canada.pdf

What an absolute load of crap. The Canadian system is not now, never was known as "Medicare" the authors appear to be totally confused, they must have gotten their information from Grassley and Hatch.

The Single Payer system is a health insurance system with a single insurer. Like any other insurance company they tell you what they will pay for and what they will not pay for. Even doctors in Canada get confused and at one point a group of doctors in Alberta asked the system to buy them an MRI machine. The response was that if they thought they could profitably operate such a machine they were perfectly free to buy one. Does Aetna buy MRI machines?

I could recount experiences of my family still in Canada but it probably would be a waste of time. I will simply suggest that you try the WHO site and see where Canadians stand vis-a-vis Americans. I believe you will find they live longer, have fewer strokes or heart attacks and the infant mortality rate is lower. BTW no Canadian was ever forced into bankruptcy by medical expenses.

If anyone there is considering abandoning single payer for a system like ours it would have to be that barking idiot Harper.

[whell]

Originally Posted by merrylander

What an absolute load of crap. The Canadian system is not now, never was known as "Medicare" the authors appear to be totally confused, they must have gotten their information from Grassley and Hatch.

Dang. Grassley and Hatch are everywhere. They've even infiltrated Health Canada's web page, who seem to acknowledge the "medicare" reference.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/medi-assur/index-eng.php

[whell]

Originally Posted by merrylander

I believe you will find they live longer, have fewer strokes or heart attacks and the infant mortality rate is lower. BTW no Canadian was ever forced into bankruptcy by medical expenses.

If you read the article on the link that I posted, you'd see that these facts are acknowledged in the article as well. It also provides reasons why this might be the case: reasons that are disconnected from the delivery of health care in Canada.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by whell

If you read the article on the link that I posted, you'd see that these facts are acknowledged in the article as well. It also provides reasons why this might be the case: reasons that are disconnected from the delivery of health care in Canada.

All I could find was the allegation that Canadians smoke less, I am trying to figure out what effect that has on infant mortality, pretty certain that they don't smoke while in the womb.

There are just as many mickey dees in Canada as here, for all our Dunkin Donuts they have Tim Hortons, and Dairy Queens, etc.

Long waiting time my arse, my son was driving to work and experienced severe pain, stopped by the Ottawa General, they put him in the MRI machine popped him in bed and removed his appendix the next morning. My sister-in-law in Toronto had chest pains, her children took her to the hospital emergency, next morning they installed a pace maker.

We do raioning here as well, insurance companies do not cover everything, but in both countries that does not stop people from getting treatment, in particular the case of macular degeneration noted, my 85 year old sister has it and is beinng treated.

AFAIK there is no law in Canada stating that you cannot buy supplementary health insurance should you want it.

I sometines wonder how much it costs Aetna, US Healthcare, Kaiser P and big pharma to get all these studies published.

[BlueStreak]

[QUOTE=merrylander;37333]
We do raioning here as well, insurance companies do not cover everything, but in both countries that does not stop people from getting treatment, in particular the case of macular degeneration noted, my 85 year old sister has it and is beinng treated.
QUOTE]

Yes, but it's okay that we ration here, because the industry is protecting it's profit margins. You have less of that in a place such as Canada so it's not okay to ration there. To clarify; See, if a corporation is cutting your coverage in some way, it's good. That's more money they can stuff into the coffers. But, if it's the government, it is very, very bad. (Yes, this is Sarcasm)

Personally, I don't care who is screwing with my coverage and jacking up my premiums. Getting screwed by insurance companies is no more desirable to me than getting screwed by the government. I just want to be assured that I will have coverage until the day I die. Because until then, I will most assuredly have a body that increasingly requires medical attention as I age.
If we can do that through private means, great. If not, then I am going to the government. If anyone here doesn't like it? Screw you. I do what I have to do.

No malice intended.

Dave

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by merrylander

If anyone there is considering abandoning single payer for a system like ours it would have to be that barking idiot Harper.

And as one sided and distorted as that (eight year old) paper is, it doesn't say that, though Whell's original post implied that it does.

John

[whell]

Originally Posted by Boreas

And as one sided and distorted as that (eight year old) paper is, it doesn't say that, though Whell's original post implied that it does.

John

My original post was regarding the rise of premium in the US Healthcare system. We swerved into a discussion about the Canadian system.

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by whell

My original post was regarding the rise of premium in the US Healthcare system. We swerved into a discussion about the Canadian system.

and I suggested (in earnest) that we take the profit out of healthcare and how did you react?

anyway I'll move on, hope you have better luck "leading" the conversation

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by whell

My original post was regarding the rise of premium in the US Healthcare system. We swerved into a discussion about the Canadian system.

Yeah, how in the world did that happen?

John