UFC's Lesnar berates Canadian health care...

[Shakeyhands]

Is that why some Canadians choose to suffer in line, while others head for faster treatment...like Ms. Holmes?

Is that the woman with the "terminal brain tumour"?

[bush_cheney2004]

Is that the woman with the "terminal brain tumour"?

No...just an interminable wait.

[Guest TrueMetis]

No...just an interminable wait.

A wait time which no one seems to actually know. isn't it nice when people make statements without all the neccesary evidence?

[bush_cheney2004]

A wait time which no one seems to actually know. isn't it nice when people make statements without all the neccesary evidence?

Why wait at all....cash or credit card?

[Guest TrueMetis]

Why wait at all....cash or credit card?

House, apparentlly plus a month wait time.

Edited January 25, 2010 by TrueMetis

[bush_cheney2004]

House, apparentlly plus a month wait time.

What are you waiting for...a medal?

[CANADIEN]

By most measures, from life expectancy to infant mortality rate to affordability of medical services (meaning, how many people can afford medical treatment), to cost of medications, to the percentage of the GNP spent on health to the per capital amount spent by governments, Canada does better than the US. Overall, the US ranks even lower than Canada.

Case closed.

[bush_cheney2004]

... Overall, the US ranks even lower than Canada.

Case closed.

Whoops...there goes another Canadian family to Rochester (Mayo Clinic). I guess they are not impressed much with rankings.

Edited January 25, 2010 by bush_cheney2004

[Shakeyhands]

Whoops...there goes another Canadian family to Rochester (Mayo Clinic). I guess they are not impressed much with rankings.

What a waste of that poor young couples money...

[bush_cheney2004]

What a waste of that poor young couples money...

Is that what this is all about? The money? It's their suffering kid...their money...their choice.

[blueblood]

What a waste of that poor young couples money...

And if Canadians had this option, that would be money kicking around in the Canadian economy and more tax dollars funding health care.

For some people, if they want something better they will pay for it. Ensuring timmy the homeless man getting his care is bottom on the priority list for someone with the dollars to pay to get cancer cured in the express lane in the US.

People go down to the US because they do not want to be punished for making the dollars. Being forced to stay in line encourages that. I would think that pro-free healthcare advocates would be all about people with the means paying to jump the line, it frees up space for the poor people. To use a metaphor, what business does a millionaire have in eating in a soup kitchen?

[Smallc]

To use a metaphor, what business does a millionaire have in eating in a soup kitchen?

That metaphor doesn't work...everyone eats in a mid priced restaurant. There isn't always the very best cuts available, but the ones that are there (often very good) are available to anyone.

[bush_cheney2004]

Link?

Me likee your linkee:

One mother, Michelle James of Port Coquitlam, B.C., had the nightmare experience of going into labour in late April four months early – 24 weeks into her pregnancy. With no neonatal intensive-care unit beds available in B.C. or Seattle, she was sent to Spokane, Wash.

“We couldn't stop my labour, and they needed to send me here because they had no beds available,” Ms. James said in a telephone interview Monday from the Deaconess Medical Center, where her daughter is in the neonatal intensive-care unit.

“We had a lot of [b.C.] doctors telling us that the pregnancy is not viable and we may have to make a decision [on whether] to resuscitate.”

But when Ms. James, a 31-year-old medical office assistant, arrived in Spokane on April 28, doctors managed to stave off her labour for three more weeks. Ms. James gave birth to Kelsey, who was two pounds (less than one kilogram) at the time of her May 17 birth. She now weighs 5 pounds, 2 ounces (2.3 kg).

Although she credits Deaconess medical staff with saving her daughter's life,

she noted the emotional and financial cost of the failure of Canada's health-care system to treat her at home

.

[Shakeyhands]

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2009/05/12/health-care-lies-about-canda.aspx

Here you go BC.

[bush_cheney2004]

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2009/05/12/health-care-lies-about-canda.aspx

Here you go BC.

That's rich....preemies can't read the National Post.

[Guest American Woman]

What a waste of that poor young couples money...

There's no such thing as "wasting one's money" at Mayo. `

[Smallc]

If you can get the same treatment and you're already covered for it, I'd say that it is a waste of money. With the opening of the Edmonton Clinic in the very near future, there will be far fewer trips to Mayo by Canadians. KIAM in Manitoba will also have some impact on that within this area.

[bush_cheney2004]

If you can get the same treatment and you're already covered for it, I'd say that it is a waste of money. With the opening of the Edmonton Clinic in the very near future, there will be far fewer trips to Mayo by Canadians. KIAM in Manitoba will also have some impact on that within this area.

Don't worry...if waiting for those takes too long, The Mayo Clinic is ready to pick up the slack, with a special connection just for Canadians:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/international/canadian.html

....when your ass is on the line.

[Guest American Woman]

If you can get the same treatment and you're already covered for it, I'd say that it is a waste of money.

"Same treatment" and "same quality of care" are two different things. "Confidence" and "peace of mind" also vary from place to place even when it's the "same treatment." Furthermore, was it within the same time frame? I'm guessing not.

With the opening of the Edmonton Clinic in the very near future, there will be far fewer trips to Mayo by Canadians. KIAM in Manitoba will also have some impact on that within this area.

Having no idea what kind of setup the Edmonton Clinic will have, or how easy/quick it will be for Canadians to get in for treatment, I can't comment on that. Same with KIAM. If they improve your health care system, if they help with Canada's neonatal problem, I say that's great. You're talking 'in the future,' though, so in the meantime, I repeat. There's no such thing as "wasting money" at Mayo.

Edited January 25, 2010 by American Woman

[Smallc]

"Same treatment" and "same quality of care" are two different things.

Americans seem to have this idea that Canada provides lower quality of care. Yes, the American system can provide care quicker to some people (Canadians for them most part don't wait as long as many seem to think - it varies from situation to situation), and yes, there is a small amount of technology that isn't available in Canada, but if it's not available here (mostly as a result of a lower population), then more often than not you can be sent to it with all medical expenses paid. I know of Canadians that have absolutely no complaints. The Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre and the Alberta Heart Institute are examples of facilities that are unsurpassed in the world.

As for The Edmonton Clinic, it is modelled after Mayo. Now, you won't be able to go there just because you feel like and pay for it, but it will provide care that is currently available almost nowhere in the world. The Kleysen Institute for Advanced Medicine in Winnipeg is also modelled after Mayo, and is partially open today and offers technology offered in only a few American hospitals. The same technology will now be available to Canadians at a better per capita ratio than Americans.

That doesn't mean that things are always better on either side of the border. There are varying degrees to everything and things differ by situation. I can talk about the future because things are always changing on both sides of the border. Canada and the US both have constantly changing and evolving systems.

[bush_cheney2004]

....That doesn't mean that things are always better on either side of the border. There are varying degrees to everything and things differ by situation. I can talk about the future because things are always changing on both sides of the border. Canada and the US both have constantly changing and evolving systems.

Let us know when you have sultans and sheiks flying in to Winnipeg on a regular basis for their medical care.

[Smallc]

They won't be doing that, because Canada doesn't have a system like that and you know it. That's completely irrelevant to the point of delivering care to Canadians.

[Wilber]

Personally, I don't care what Americans think of the Canadian system and I wish Canadians would just keep their mouths shut. I hope the Americans don't change anything because the status quo is a win win for Canadians. We have the option of using either system if we want to put out the extra money.

[Smallc]

I hope the Americans don't change anything because the status quo is a win win for Canadians. We have the option of using either system if we want to put out the extra money.

I actually agree with that assessment. I think you're going to get your wish too.

[Guest American Woman]

Americans seem to have this idea that Canada provides lower quality of care.

I have the idea that Mayo provides higher quality of care than most Canadian clinics, and that's what both of our comments were in response to.

Yes, the American system can provide care quicker to some people (Canadians for them most part don't wait as long as many seem to think - it varies from situation to situation), and yes, there is a small amount of technology that isn't available in Canada, but if it's not available here (mostly as a result of a lower population), then more often than not you can be sent to it with all medical expenses paid. I know of Canadians that have absolutely no complaints.

And I know of Canadians who do have complaints. Providing care quicker can save people money in the long run. I know a Canadian who waited about two months for a procedure that kept him from working, and the loss of pay for two months on only disability wasn't a small loss. And that was after visiting one doctor, waiting for an appointment with a specialist, waiting to have the appointment set up after the results came back. At Mayo, that happens zip, zip, zip.

The Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre and the Alberta Heart Institute are examples of facilities that are unsurpassed in the world.

I'm not saying Canada doesn't have great clinics/facilities, but most people can't get into them. And again, my comment was in response to your comment about Mayo.

As for The Edmonton Clinic, it is modelled after Mayo. Now, you won't be able to go there just because you feel like and pay for it, but it will provide care that is currently available almost nowhere in the world.

When I wanted my daughter to get in at Mayo, I called on Friday and she was set up for the following Monday. A whole week's worth of appointments with doctors who specialized in every symptom. At the end of the week, I met with each one for the results. It's a great system and if the Edmonton Clinic is modeled after it and gets the same caliber of doctors, it'll be a great place ... for those who get to go.

The Kleysen Institute for Advanced Medicine in Winnipeg is also modelled after Mayo, and is partially open today and offers technology offered in only a few American hospitals. The same technology will now be available to Canadians at a better per capita ratio than Americans.

That remains to be seen.

That doesn't mean that things are always better on either side of the border. There are varying degrees to everything and things differ by situation. I can talk about the future because things are always changing on both sides of the border. Canada and the US both have constantly changing and evolving systems.

Yes, they do. So just remember that when you refer to our system, too.

Edited January 25, 2010 by American Woman