The failure of socialized medicine in Canada

[Ripsnort]

This deserved a thread on its own, (Thanks LePaul) due to the current events and discussion of "socialized medicine" in the U.S.  If we were on the Canadian system of today, where would we airlift our pregnant mothers to get the help they need? Mexico?

Canada's Expectant Moms Heading to U.S. to Deliver
"I'm a born-bred Canadian, as well as my daughter and son, and I'm ashamed," Jill Irvine told FOX News. Irvine's daughter, Carri Ash, is one of at least 40 mothers or their babies who've been airlifted from British Columbia to the U.S. this year because Canadian hospitals didn't have room for the preemies in their neonatal units.
"It's a big number and bigger than the previous capacity of the system to deal with it," said Adrian Dix, a British Columbia legislator, told FOXNews.com. "So when that happens, you can't have a waiting list for a mother having the baby. She just has the baby."

The mothers have been flown to hospitals in Seattle, Everett, Wash., and Spokane, Wash., to receive treatment, as well as hospitals in the neighboring province of Alberta, Dix said. Three mothers were airlifted in the first weekend of October alone, including Carri Ash.



story cont.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300939,00.html

U.S person--Discuss:

How much do you personally support a Canadian system of health care in the U.S.? (aka the "Hillary plan"  of 1994?)

Canadians--Discuss:

What has caused the systematic colllapse of your healthcare system?

[KK9]

Airlift or not, its still free.. I'd put my wife on plane to give birth in US.. instant dual citizenship for my kid. thx.

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by KK9
Airlift or not, its still free.. I'd put my wife on plane to give birth in US.. instant dual citizenship for my kid. thx.

So you're okay with the "parasite" system, aka welfare system of health care?

[KK9]

Yes, because US is not offering this service for free.
Canadian goverment gets billed for all of  that.

[CptTrips]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
So you're okay with the "parasite" system, aka welfare system of health care?

Exactly.  I was just wonder what they would have done if the U.S. hadn't been there to bail them out.  Send them to Mexico for medical care?

Wab

[RedTop]

Hillary is on it....you guys relax would ya? Geeesh. Just let her get things going when she gets in the white house...we'll be fine.

[KK9]

Originally posted by AKWabbit
Exactly.  I was just wonder what they would have done if the U.S. hadn't been there to bail them out.  Send them to Mexico for medical care?

Wab

No problem.. if Canada can afford medical care in US, then can afford care anywhere else.

[Shamus]

Originally posted by Ripsnort

[/i]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300939,00.html


Canadians--Discuss:

What has caused the systematic colllapse of your healthcare system?

So the so called "systematic collapse" is base on the above story?

shamus

[john9001]

so now we have Canadian "anchor babies"?

welcome to Estados Unidos de Norteamérica.  ole eh.

[vorticon]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
So you're okay with the "parasite" system, aka welfare system of health care?

maybe, how much do you think my taxes would drop if they cut it? how much more would i spend on private health insurance?

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Shamus
So the so called "systematic collapse" is base on the above story?

shamus

Google "Canadians flock to U.S. for medical procedures".  You can find stories dating back to the early 90's. Many threads on this board over the last 7 years discussing the dissinegration of the Canadian socialized medicine system.

[bj229r]

Originally posted by KK9
No problem.. if Canada can afford medical care in US, then can afford care anywhere else.

Then why cant they afford Pt-Scan machines or MRI machines.....if my wife were   a Western Canadian resident, I'd be a widower now

Why Albany for a PET scan?
Stan Shatenstein , canada.com
Published: Friday, September 10, 2004

Daniel Feist and his wife, Susie, were willing and able to travel to Albany, N.Y., to get a PET scan within 24 hours. Why? The wait.

Hotel Dieu received Montreal's first positron emission tomography machine last year.

In May, at the Montreal General Hospital, the MUHC (McGill University Health Centre) began operating its PET/CT scanner, a more advanced machine that allows images from both types of scans to be overlaid and viewed together, providing doctors even more detailed information than normal PET.

The next-closest PET scan is at the Sherbrooke University Hospital Centre, which has whole body and micro-PET scanners, the latter for research only.

Much of the more than $4-million cost of the MUHC scanner was paid by funds raised by hockey player Saku Koivu, the Montreal General Hospital and Cedars Cancer Foundation. Lise Proulx, manager of the nuclear medicine department, adult division, for the MUHC, said Koivu played an important part in getting the MUHC its scanner. The Canadiens captain expressed incredulity at having to leave a big city like Montreal for Sherbooke for a PET scan that helped diagnose his since-cured abdominal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Current waiting times for the PET/CT scanner are one to three weeks for urgent cases and six weeks or more for semi-urgent and elective cases. The machine was ready for use before the department's budget was in place, which caused some early delays, but any current underuse of the vital machine is due to the sensitive nature of the FDG used in the scans. This radioactive substance has a half-life of barely two hours and is delivered only once a day, in the morning, from Sherbrooke, limiting the number of patients who can be injected and scanned. A Montreal supplier has been found, and the nuclear medicine unit will soon be able to see about 10 patients a day, up from the current six a day, according to PET scan technologist Chantal Morin.

This year, Quebec became the first province to provide medicare coverage for the cost of PET scans. The FDG injection alone costs $300 to $400, and the entire procedure is valued at more than $1,000. Other provinces are evaluating the cost-benefit ration of this valuable but expensive diagnostic tool. Currently, Edmonton, London and Hamilton are the only other Canadian cities with publicly available PET scanners. A private clinic in Vancouver also has one.

link

[Shamus]

Well lots of Americans go out of country for medical care, including eye surgery and dental work in Canada, google it if you wish or take my word for it.

shamus

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by vorticon
maybe, how much do you think my taxes would drop if they cut it? how much more would i spend on private health insurance?

(Shrugs) I'm not sure how much you would spend. That would depend on your employer, and what you're willing to pay out of pocket for a good health care system.   We pay about $50/month. But then again, we're fortunate to have two good employers that offer 3 types of health care systems. Free enterprise system.

I also don't believe that the Gov't should pay for my food, shelter, fuel bills, etc. either, but that's just me.....

[Shamus]

U.S person--Discuss:

How much do you personally support a Canadian system of health care in the U.S.? (aka the "Hillary plan"  of 1994?)

Canadians--Discuss:

What has caused the systematic colllapse of your healthcare system? [/B]

Keep in mind Rip, this is what I find hilarious, You sound like some kind of political pollster trying to skew the results by posing ridiculous questions

shamus