Jump to content

Healthcare Reform Bill Implodes


Recommended Posts

That’s not to say Canada hasn’t made any progress on wait times since governments across Canada pledged to tackle the issue in 2004. Many provinces treat the majority of patients within acceptable time frames in some of the five priority areas identified by the government.

 

The problems that exist today are still a result of the cutting years of the 90s when we balanced the federal budget.....and the early 00s when we balanced the provincial budgets. They are slowly disappearing, and they are problems that, by and large, don't exist in most of Europe, and some day (assuming we don't have to drastically cut spending again) hopefully won't exist here. My province did pretty well, actually.

 

http://www.cjob.com/News/Local/Story.aspx?ID=1242520

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/thousands-of-children-facing-unacceptable-wait-times-for-surgery/article1608469/

 

 

But, but, but, it's free!!!

 

A buddy of mine, who blew out his knee in October playing hockey, finally saw the specialist this week to have it looked at. The doc said surgery was needed, and now he is back on the waiting list. Best case scenario is, it will be over 2 years from the time it happened, to the time he is healthy again.

 

To my US friends, you better hope Obamacare doesn't get through. It is a disaster waiting to happen

 

 

That's right. No system has ever been improved by collectivizing it. The problems just get buried in red tape so that they are difficult to pin point. People get brainwashed to believe that a lousy system is actually good, as there is nothing to compare it with. The shortfall in resources to pay for it all is just added to the deficit. The huge non-tax-paying bloc of recipients of this program will continue to support it on the backs of the over-taxed middle class. They are paying more than double through taxation what they would pay for platinum coverage under a private insurance plan. What they get is the equivalent of "welfare class" free health care in some run-down ghetto.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/thousands-of-children-facing-unacceptable-wait-times-for-surgery/article1608469/

 

 

But, but, but, it's free!!!

 

A buddy of mine, who blew out his knee in October playing hockey, finally saw the specialist this week to have it looked at. The doc said surgery was needed, and now he is back on the waiting list. Best case scenario is, it will be over 2 years from the time it happened, to the time he is healthy again.

 

To my US friends, you better hope Obamacare doesn't get through. It is a disaster waiting to happen

 

WTH? 9 months? That's sick! What doctor would ALLOW that kind of wait?!? That kind of wait goes against everything medical personnel are taught. Can you imagine waiting 3 hours after pushing the call-light to recieve your Tylenol? Are you in Canada? DAMMIT I don't want that.

 

When I was 18 yrs old I 'blew out' my knee in a skiing accident, I was in surgery 3 days later!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The US has the same shortage of doctors that Canada does...have fun. We have to figure out what Europe is doing to shorten waits to the point where there is no wait. We still haven't figured that out yet.

 

Telling doctors "we're going to pay you less and demand more" will not help.

Every doctor I know are already rationing their gov't-payed clients to small percentage.

They can't afford to take too many charity cases.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is too much government regulation of health care. This pushes costs up to a level that is unaffordable for the individual, so the well have to subsidize the sick, and we all have to become slaves to doctors and government, unless we do like I do, and avoid the system altogether. The baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age, and will also need more medical care. They are going to bankrupt the system unless the health care industry, partnered with the government can figure out a covert method of killing them off. I will live longer by staying away from doctors and living healthy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is too much government regulation of health care. This pushes costs up to a level that is unaffordable for the individual, so the well have to subsidize the sick, and we all have to become slaves to doctors and government, unless we do like I do, and avoid the system altogether. The baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age, and will also need more medical care. They are going to bankrupt the system unless the health care industry, partnered with the government can figure out a covert method of killing them off. I will live longer by staying away from doctors and living healthy.

 

While I believe your response a little 'tongue-n-cheek', there is some truth to that.

 

SO MANY modern pharmaceuticals have tons of side effects and long term consequences that I cringe when I see some of the drug lists for my patients. Many of my nurse friends don't bother with heavy-duty meds.... better to stay fit and water yourself out, eat healthy.

 

Eastern approach to medicine has many benefits, western is good for emergencies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Telling doctors "we're going to pay you less and demand more" will not help.

Every doctor I know are already rationing their gov't-payed clients to small percentage.

They can't afford to take too many charity cases.

Paying doctors less isn't the answer. It's why you have fewer GPs than we do (you pay them less) and we have fewer specialists (we pay them less). The lack of specialists is this country's biggest problem, where the lack of GPs is your countries biggest problem.

Not that this is news, but this appeared in today's USA Today.....

 

Doctors limit new Medicare patients

WASHINGTON — The number of doctors refusing new Medicare patients because of low government payment rates is setting a new high, just six months before millions of Baby Boomers begin enrolling in the government health care program.

 

Recent surveys by national and state medical societies have found more doctors limiting Medicare patients, partly because Congress has failed to stop an automatic 21% cut in payments that doctors already regard as too low. The cut went into effect Friday, even as the Senate approved a six-month reprieve. The House has approved a different bill.....

 

....States are starting to see a flight from Medicare:

 

•In Illinois, 18% of doctors restrict the number of Medicare patients in their practice, according to a medical society survey.

 

•In North Carolina, 117 doctors have opted out of Medicare since January, the state's medical society says.

 

•In New York, about 1,100 doctors have left Medicare. Even the medical society president isn't taking new Medicare patients.

 

The dems have painted themselves into a political corner. They can't raise the reimbursement rates without undermining their "won't increase the deficit" argument for Obamacare, and they can't lower it without angering the senior demographic. That $250 check they sent (to seniors) means jack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WTH? 9 months? That's sick! What doctor would ALLOW that kind of wait?!? That kind of wait goes against everything medical personnel are taught. Can you imagine waiting 3 hours after pushing the call-light to recieve your Tylenol? Are you in Canada? DAMMIT I don't want that.

 

When I was 18 yrs old I 'blew out' my knee in a skiing accident, I was in surgery 3 days later!

 

I don't believe it was a case of the doc "allowing" it, it was more of a case of supply and demand. There is a high demand, and a low supply. Not enough doctors, or hospital beds.

 

Because he is young and in good shape, and has an office job, he wasn't a priority. They tried physio, but he didn't see any improvements. He can navigate around with a knee brace, but for any extended time on his feet, he needs crutches or in some cases, a wheel chair.

 

The reality is, the government run healthcare is the problem. They've limited how much money a doc can earn, therefore limited the amount of doctors out there.

 

In Canada, we have no problem finding a dentist, an orthodontist, a chiropractor, an optometrist, etc. But good luck finding a MD.

 

Last year I had a buddy wait 8 hours in an emergency room to get his lips stitched up after taking a puck to the mouth. A couple months before that, while at a tourney in the US, and with proper insurance, another buddy was in and out of the hospital in an hour after taking a stick to the face.

 

I've seen both sides, and he US is in real danger of screw up a good thing. But it seems that's what Obama's plan has been since Day 1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will add that according to a recent report, a 9 month wait for a specialist is very unusual.....and speak for yourself when it comes to dentists.

 

Your situations are not all that typical. I could walk in and out of the nearest and second nearest hospitals to me in a few minutes most nights. The third closest one might take an hour or so. If I were in Winnipeg, I'd have to wait longer, because the ERs are more full. Waits are somewhat longer in Canada, but it isn't because we have fewer doctors than the US (we don't). It's because everyone has the same access, and if you're fighting that, then I don't think you'll have much support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

That would be the top end of any wait time. A more reasonable expectation of wait would be 3 - 9 months, depending on severity.

 

 

It is not reasonable. It is what it is. Two years.

 

If government had stayed out of health care, we would be able to afford to pay directly for service, and service would be of higher quality and punctual. Competiton would have forced vast improvements on the industry.

 

It is like comparing Europe to North America. The reason why Europe became more technologically advanced than North America before Columbus is because of competition. Countries had to keep up with each other, or be conquered. Look at how advanced they became compared to the Aboriginals of North America who did not have to compete to survive. That is like comparing our present health care to what it would be without government interferrence.

Edited by Trimdingman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Except that's not what it is, and the Ontario wait times site will show you that. I don't feel like looking at the moment. It's late, and I'm in too good of a mood :)

 

 

Call up a hospital and ask them how long before you could get in for a knee replacement. They will tell you two years.

 

If not for government, we would be able to regenerate body parts by now.

 

Government involvement in education has also stifled progress in learning. How long has it been since new mathematical operations have been discovered? Students are not even taught all current mathematical knowledge. They still study literature from past centuries, as no modern writers have been able to match them, despite the much higher population. It is not coincidental that this decline in academic excellence has coincided with greater government involvement in education.

 

Improvements in technology are mostly spin-offs from weapons development. That is one field where there is competition.

Edited by Trimdingman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Government involvement in education has also stifled progress in learning. How long has it been since new mathematical operations have been discovered? Students are not even taught all current mathematical knowledge. They still study literature from past centuries, as no modern writers have been able to match them, despite the much higher population. It is not coincidental that this decline in academic excellence has coincided with greater government involvement in education.

While I agree with much of your sentiment, I think you are a little overboard here.

 

I disagree that the government-stimulated proliferation of educational opportunities started as a negative, but it has wound up this way.

 

It used to be that those who were at school to learn were taught, and those who weren't were dismissed.

 

The "greater government involvement" has become a problem when the focus has been directed to the morons of society, and not the average or above. The self-motivated will succeed by their own efforts (just as they did in history), and the morons will remain morons.

 

The problem is now the focus is on trying to make the morons more than they are, and ignoring those who could benefit from the help. The morons never will, and the "C" students are left in the cold, to wind up no better off than the morons.

 

Government wastes too much time on trying to homogenize students in school. Where we went wrong is to think that everyone belongs there.

Edited by RangerM
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have to. The provincial wait times average is 183 days.

 

So you believe that you can go anywhere in the province? They can say anything they want for "average wait time". How are you going to prove them wrong? They say that inflation is 1% or so. I know that is a lie. The government lies about everything to make itself look good. Unemployment is supposed to be under 8%. That is also a lie. They cook the books and fudge the figures to add up to what they want them to add up to. If they say 183 days, it is really two years at least. The nurse who told me it was two years is dedicated, and is on their side, and is someone in my family whom I love.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...