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Day: May 30, 2009

Free Health Care almost killed me! Except it Totally didn't

People who advocate for Private “American Style” Medicine in Canada crack me up:

Ontario’s healthcare monopoly almost killed Lindsay McCreith. After suffering a seizure in January of 2006, the 66-year-old retired auto body shop owner from Newmarket was told he had a brain tumour. But he would have to wait four-and-one-half months to obtain an MRI to rule out the possibility that it was cancerous. Unwilling to risk the progression of what might be cancer, Mr. McCreith obtained an MRI in Buffalo, which revealed the brain tumour was malignant. Even with this diagnosis in hand, the Ontario system still refused to provide timely treatment, so Mr. McCreith had surgery in Buffalo to remove the cancerous brain tumour in March of 2006.

In Ontario, Mr. McCreith would have waited eight months for surgery, according to his family doctor. Eight months is quite enough time for a cancer to worsen, spread and progress to an irreversible stage. Had Mr. McCreith not paid $27,600 (USD) out-of pocket for immediate medical care, he might be dead today.

Shona Holmes, a self-employed family mediator and the married mother of two children, began losing her vision in March of 2005. She also experienced severe headaches, anxiety attacks, high blood pressure, extreme fatigue, and weight gain. In spite of these serious symptoms and an MRI revealing a tumour in Ms. Holmes’ brain, Ontario’s health care system told her that she would have to wait months to see a specialist.

… (Give me a break, this is alot of text)

With the Mayo Clinic test results and diagnosis in hand, Ms. Holmes returned to Ontario, only to be told to wait for more appointments and tests. Having lost one half of her vision in her right eye and one quarter in her left, and unable to expedite appointments with specialists, she returned to the Mayo Clinic, where surgeons operated to remove the tumour. Within ten days, Ms. Holmes’ vision was completely restored. Visual field testing and a post-operative MRI also confirmed that the tumour caused the vision loss. Surgery had indeed been necessary to save her eyesight. Nevertheless, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) refuses to reimburse Ms. Holmes for any of the expenses she was forced to incur in seeking necessary medical care abroad. While she has returned to work, her husband must now work two full-time jobs to pay off the debts they were forced to incur to save her vision.

Did you ever get the idea that Private Care proponents don’t read their own press?  The answer; in their minds is to sue to force a tiered health care system, where the wealthy can jump the line and take up the limited health care resources because the can afford it.  I mean, what if there was private care in Ontario before these two sad sacks got sick?  Would there magically have been more doctors?  It’s not like the doctors would magically appear out of thin air:

“The United States is experiencing a primary care shortage the likes of which we have not seen,” Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), told the House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee. “The demand for primary care in the U.S. will grow exponentially as the nation’s supply of primary care dwindles.”

Medical News Today

As the population ages, and dementia, delirium and Alzheimer’s disease impact millions each year, Medicare refuses to grant psychiatry the same “specialty” rates as others, and only pays these physicians about 50 percent of billings.

–Michael Golding

276540-poster594x420mm_eng
Patients per Doctor

Perhaps in MAgic Private Enterprise Land, health care is better, by and large, right?

Rank
Country
Life expectancy at birth
(years)
Date of Information
1
Macau 84.36 2009 est.
2
Andorra 82.51 2009 est.
3
Japan 82.12 2009 est.
4
Singapore 81.98 2009 est.
5
San Marino 81.97 2009 est.
6
Hong Kong 81.86 2009 est.
7
Australia 81.63 2009 est.
8
Canada 81.23 2009 est.
9
France 80.98 2009 est.
10
Sweden 80.86 2009 est.
11
Switzerland 80.85 2009 est.
12
Guernsey 80.77 2009 est.
13
Israel 80.73 2009 est.
14
Iceland 80.67 2009 est.
15
Anguilla 80.65 2009 est.
16
Cayman Islands 80.44 2009 est.
17
Bermuda 80.43 2009 est.
18
New Zealand 80.36 2009 est.
19
Italy 80.20 2009 est.
20
Gibraltar 80.19 2009 est.
21
Monaco 80.09 2009 est.
22
Liechtenstein 80.06 2009 est.
23
Spain 80.05 2009 est.
24
Norway 79.95 2009 est.
25
Jersey 79.75 2009 est.
26
Greece 79.66 2009 est.
27
Austria 79.50 2009 est.
28
Faroe Islands 79.44 2009 est.
29
Malta 79.44 2009 est.
30
Netherlands 79.40 2009 est.
31
Luxembourg 79.33 2009 est.
32
Germany 79.26 2009 est.
33
Belgium 79.22 2009 est.
34
Saint Pierre and Miquelon 79.07 2009 est.
35
Virgin Islands 79.05 2009 est.
36
United Kingdom 79.01 2009 est.
37
Finland 78.97 2009 est.
38
Jordan 78.87 2009 est.
39
Isle of Man 78.82 2009 est.
40
Korea, South 78.72 2009 est.
41
European Union 78.67 2009 est.
42
Puerto Rico 78.53 2009 est.
43
Bosnia and Herzegovina 78.50 2009 est.
44
Saint Helena 78.44 2009 est.
45
Cyprus 78.33 2009 est.
46
Denmark 78.30 2009 est.
47
Ireland 78.24 2009 est.
48
Portugal 78.21 2009 est.
49
Wallis and Futuna 78.20 2009 est.
50
United States 78.11 2009 est

Shit, No, Huh?

This is from the CIA World Fact Book, not “My Commie Left Wing Free Halth Care Supporting Guidebook” at all.   I keep for that for verbal debates.

Anyway; the only thing I hate about the free health care is that it isn’t actually universal, dentistry isn’t free, nor is eye care.  All of these things should be free too.  They all relate to quality of life and for the most part good overall health is good for the country, because healthy people both happy and productive and in our Hybrid economy, productive people have money and money is spent.

If anything, the two unfortunates should be suing the Federal and Provincial governments for not ensuring that staffing and funds were there to ensure their good health.  That’s what our taxes as for, not adventures in the Middle East!