Great op piece from a doc who's practiced both in Canada and the U.S.

[cali]

My Turn: Canadian health care misstated
7:02 AM, May. 1, 2011 |


I am a medical doctor, semi-retired living in Vermont and having a limited practice. Prior to moving to Vermont two and a half years ago I practiced full time, dividing my practice between the Detroit area in Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, an hour drive from Detroit. Thus I have a substantial personal knowledge of medical practice in the USA and Canada.

I have been distressed to hear opinions by Vermont medical professionals and local conservatives about the poor care available in Canada, especially long waiting times for care, and the negative feelings of physicians who have moved here from Canada about the experiences they have had practicing medicine in Canada, suggesting no one would stay there by choice.

I moved to Vermont for family reasons and not to leave practice in Ontario, Canada. Indeed if I were younger I would far rather return to practice in Canada. Caring for patients without having to worry about their ability to afford medical care far outweighed any negatives. I knew doctors who chose to practice in Canada rather than the United States for the same reason. Some who trained in the U.S. and elected to locate in Canada.

In my opinion the waiting list issue is manufactured by people who wish to discredit a system that cares well for everyone with some minor inconveniences rather than one that denies care to millions while admittedly providing exceptional care to those well able to afford it. For those with urgent needs and serious medical problems, in my experience the care in Canada is equally exceptional and prompt.

read the rest here:

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110501/OPINION02/105010333/My-Turn-Canadian-health-care-misstated?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. Big Health Insurance, Big Pharma and others HAVE TO attack

ANY other system that threatens their stranglehold on the American public. Sadly, they have billions with which to attack or "buy" legislators.

[geckosfeet]

2. ...or here. It's a very short piece.

The issues relating to medical care in every country are enormous and to raise concerns about waiting or the personal preferences of a few physicians trivializes it. We must rather decide what sort of society we wish to live in, what level of support we owe to all in our society, to whom we choose to deny adequate nutrition or healing efforts so that the privileged will be denied nothing or whether we choose to provide basic adequate sustenance to all. Hopefully we will choose the latter and then face the difficult task of defining what represents basic adequate sustenance.

Dr. Francis Pasley of Williston is a member of Physicians for a National Health Program

[highplainsdem]

3. K&R

[mysuzuki2]

4. I would like to address the issue of "waiting lists"

from a personal perspective. My adult son needs back surgery. He slipped a disc in Nov 2010. We live in Milwaukee Wi and he has insurance. He went to the Dr almost immediately. Between tests, consultations, scheduling etc he is STILL waiting for his surgery. In the meantime, he has been sent to a "pain clinic" ie drug clinic and has developed a problem with pain killers. He has been in terrible pain for 6 months. I should note that there has been no doubt or question as to what the problem is or that he should have the surgery. It has been scheduled and rescheduled several times. At this point he is to have it in May. We'll see. So 6 months waiting in the US for a person WITH insurance. Could it be any worse in Canada?

[Gormy Cuss]

5. I hope your son's surgery is soon and that it provides the needed relief.

It is a good illustration of wait times here.

Even if it took the same length of time in Canada your son's out of pocket expense would be lower. I can't understand why people are afraid of such a system.

[ejpoeta]

26. people who are afraid are generally those who have been told not to trust

anything anyone says but faux or their conservative brethren. it is hard to get past their brainwashing. until they have to deal with the system with a family member or themselves and see that all the money they paid their private insurer doesn't mean shit when they actually need to use it. then maybe they'll change their tune. just like with the dismantling of medicare.... the people we see yelling at their congressperson are people who can see first hand what getting rid of medicare would mean to them. i am hopeful that they cannot be spun to believe the bs that is being peddled about how the republicans are destroying medicare to save it. It's maddening when you are trying to get people to understand that we could just be paying into the medicare system and make it solvent while making sure the money we are paying into it is there for us instead of lining someone's pocket.

i think part of the problem is that people who have insurance are afraid they are going to lose it. Nevermind the fact that they WILL sooner or later regardless of what happens. No matter how good of a worker they are or what they do, that 'good' insurance will be gone. But they think that they can protect 'theirs'. who cares if everyone else is without

[laundry_queen]

11. The whole waiting list thing

is nothing more than bullshit as far as this Canadian is concerned. Back surgery here does have a longer waiting list than most surgeries but that is due to a shortage in doctors that perform those delicate surgeries, it has nothing to do with the health care system. At any rate, I don't know of anyone (except 1 uncle waiting for back surgery) that had to wait more than a few weeks for any surgery at all! I got my gall bladder out within weeks of my first attack. My ex's dad had knee replacement surgery quickly (within 2 weeks of being placed 'on the list'). My dad had hip replacement surgery in the same month he signed up for it. The personal cost for these surgeries? Zero. The wait list thing is a lie and a smear.

[Bette Noir]

22. I'm an American with both insurance and cash.

I injured my knee on Dec. 23, 2010. I injured it again on Jan. 6, 2011, while I was waiting to see a physician. That took until Feb. 1, 2011. He gave me a shot of cortisone and prescribed physical therapy. The knee went out again on Feb. 18. When I went to the follow-up appointment on March 16, I saw a PA, instead of the physician, who neither did anything to help me nor gave me a referral to anyone else. By the end of the month, I couldn't walk more than 10 yards, and my foot was so swollen that I couldn't get a shoe on. At my insistence, the doctor's office gave me an immediate appointment. Yeah, it was the PA, the same one who had done nothing the previous week. I demanded to see the doc. He ordered an MRI, and told me to wait for insurance approval. That took another three weeks. I saw the doc a week after the MRI; it wasn't even subtle. There was something in my knee that was broken all the way through; it would never heal without surgery. That will happen next week, after more than four months of complete disability.

I don't want to hear anyone say how our system can't be improved.

[kedrys]

28. Agreed - and I have several examples as well

My dad was operated on for a severely obstructed carotid artery within about 6 days of his first symptom, temporary loss of peripheral vision in one eye. They ran a Doppler scan on him and found out his artery was at least 75% blocked. There's no doubt the operation prevented a stroke, perhaps even his death. Cost to my dad: $70, because he was in hospital 2 nights and he paid for a private room at $35 a night.

One of my colleagues had a quadruple bypass within 3 months of getting his diagnosis. It was supposed to be a triple, but once they cracked him open, they saw he was worse off than they thought and fixed him up. He had a visiting nurse check on him 3 times a week at home the first three weeks after he was discharged - they only kept him in hospital 6 days. He was back at work 12 weeks after the operation and he's doing great. Cost to him: zero.

My mom's going in shortly to get operated on to remove part of her intestines because of severe diverticulitis. She's dealt with the problem with medication, but it's no longer doing the job. Time between her decision to get operated and the actual operation: about 3 weeks. Cost to her: zero.

Granted, elective surgery can sometimes take longer to happen, but if you have a serious condition, they won't let you suffer or die, and you won't go broke.

[SoCalDem]

13. Same with my son.. He had primo-insurance, and it took him a YEARti

to finally get to surgery.. It took them almost 8 months to approve an MRI.. In the interim, he ended up losing a good job, because he could not physically do the job, and because he was so young, the disability people had him spied on, just in case he was faking it..

He & his fiancee had to postpone their wedding because he was reluctant to marry before he was back at work & financially sound again..

[SouthernLiberal]

14. And my two cents on waiting

I have insurance though my job. I pay extra for the 'premium plan' When a blood test showed an extremely high rheumatoid factor, I began a years long run around. I didn't have to wait to see a doctor, but waited more than two years to see a specialist. My first visit to a specialist was discouraging. This was a doctor who didn't believe in any test she hadn't ordered. She also didn't believe that I could have rheumatoid arthritis. So I was instructed to undergo yet another round of expensive tests, which were designed to diagnose osteoarthritis, and would not give her any information about whether or not I had RA.

I changed primary physician and spent another couple of years without my disease being properly treated. Finally, I got to a specialist who did the right tests (and they were just blood tests) to confirm that my problem really is RA.

And that's with good insurance. I doubt if anyone in Canada waits six years for treatment!

[verdalaven]

25. I'd like to add one about waiting to see a Doc here, too

My sister in AZ has been suffering from neck, back and chest pain for several weeks. She is a little worried that it might be heart related. She's never been sick, so she didn't have a doctor - she hasn't seen a doc in a lot of years. She chose a doctor her friend recommended, and made an appointment (after telling them she was worried it was her heart) - Her appointment is in August.

It has always been that way, though. Haven't we all had to wait for a Doc appointment at one time or another? How the pharma (or whoever made up that drivel) could convince the American public that our health system is better because we don't wait (?!?) for our appointments is beyond me.

[sorefeet]

30. bad back

I'm in the same shoes as your son. It has been since November that it all started and I have got the run around ever since. VA and medicare just can't seem to decide who will be responsible. I'm only 58 and life is slipping by because of this. They are more than happy to issue opiates by the buckets though. But they will also inspect your body fluids and if you have used medical marijuana they will kick you to the curb, to suffer life threatening withdrawals. They have done it to hundreds of us in Montana. I can't do anything but sit in a chair and wait. 6 months and waiting.

[Doctor_J]

6. In other words, cons are lying about single-payer health care

I'm shocked!

[Enthusiast]

23. They have been lying about it for 30 years.

Their lies have gained traction. You can hear corporate talking points repeated any time you discuss health care with a puke.

[mountainlion55]

7. unfortunately

many people in this country that have insurance just say to other citizens"Fuck you I got mine!":smoke:

[eridani]

9. And their opinions about how good their insurance is are worth exactly as much--

--as their opinions about how good their fire extinguishers are, that is to say completely worthless. Only 15% of the population will ever need extremely expensive care, and those are the ones that insurance companies fight tooth and nail.

[eridani]

8. I talked to a doctor at a health care conference in Seattle who had moved to Idaho--

--from BC to gain more income. After 5 years, he went back to Canada in disgust, having seen more leg amputations for diabetics in that time than he had seen in his entire life in Canada. his gross US income was much higher, but his net only slightly higher due to all the administrative expenses here.

[Bozita]

10. Highly recommended. Thank you for posting this!

[snagglepuss]

12. K & R nt

[northofdenali]

15. STRONG K&R coming from another far-norther.

AMEN.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

16. K&R

[ooglymoogly]

17. Reality in great neon blinking lights.

Our system is run by the mafia. No matter what they call themselves. Just a bunch of crooks.

[bertman]

18. REC and kick. nt

[DeSwiss]

19. K&R!!! n/t

[Beartracks]

20. K&R n/t

[RainDog]

21. k&r n/t

[Hannah Bell]

24. too bad, they're coming after canada's system too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1009078

[Lautremont]

29. We might at least postpone that if our election goes well today.

We shall see.

[dotymed]

27. Just what us Librul's wanted to hear.

America is the only civilized country in the world that doesn't provide health care for free (or practically so) and also spends more than the combined expenditures of ALL NATIONS, for "Defense."

In a "Just" world, our citizens would make sure that the 50 million Americans without health care, had it. Also, we would stop the extravagant, wasteful spending by our MIC, and of course the killing...

[mimitabby]

31. wow, well said!!

i like this part:

"In my opinion the waiting list issue is manufactured by people who wish to discredit a system that cares well for everyone with some minor inconveniences rather than one that denies care to millions while admittedly providing exceptional care to those well able to afford it. For those with urgent needs and serious medical problems, in my experience the care in Canada is equally exceptional and prompt."