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.
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.”
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
Patients per Doctor
Perhaps in MAgic Private Enterprise Land, health care is better, by and large, right?
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!
Remember: Socialized Health Care will KILL YOUR GRANDMA!
Published by NiteMayr on December 30, 2009