Health Thread

Mailman said:
This debate is polarizing, but I’m in agreement. I think the Canadian healthcare model is pretty exemplary.
I’ve already kicked this anthill once before , when I was railing against the insurance companies.
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Another big problem with our system is that it's constantly changing. And, yes the GOVERNMENT plays a big role pitting insurance against healthcare. i guess the system is more stable in Canada.
 
MaxPete said:
Canadian healthcare....hmmmmm. Well, OK then, here we go.

When I went to see my family doc about my knee, it took 2 days to get the appointment - my bill:= $0
She referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon and that appointment was about 3 weeks later - my bill = $0
He sent me for an MRI and X-rays which were done that day along with a brief return apt. - my bill = $0
He & I decided that I needed a total knee replacement and the original surgery date was 11 month off
During that waiting period I had 4 cortisone shots for knee pain on dates of my choice - my bill = $0
My surgery was moved up by 2 months due to cancellations - operation was on Jan. 17/2019
I was admitted at 6:15 AM, had surgery at 8:30 AM and was discharged 2-1/2 days later - my bill = $0
I was prescribed oxy-codene pills for pain which I took for about 2-1/2 weeks - my bill = $0
A physiotherapist came to my home the day after discharge (on a Sunday) to make sure I was ok - my bill = $0
I began physio sessions 3 times/week for one hour each (still going 9 weeks later) - my bill = $0
I had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon two weeks post-op - my bill = $0
Today (Sun. Mar. 24) I will ride my motorcycle to a bike club breakfast - my bill = likely ~ $10
I will have another (final I suspect) appointment with the surgeon next week - my bill = $0

Incidentally, I often see a lady at physio who had her knee replacement on the same day as me - she told me on Monday that she is 82 years old.

Now, why did it take 9 months for me to get the surgery? Well, there was a wait list BUT I chose my surgeon (one of the best in the country - trained at Johns Hopkins in the US BTW) AND I wanted it in Jan. so that it wouldn’t mess up Christmas or riding season PLUS, I could walk, ride and live OK, AND I got those cortisone shots whenever I needed them.

Now, my knee treatment was not an emergency - but here is how it works when it IS an emergency:
- my Dad (a life-long smoker age 69) was diagnosed with lung cancer on a Monday in 1999 - his bill = $0
- he had surgery that Wednesday (48 hours later) - his bill = $0
I won’t go into all the gory details, but he had two more operations, radiation, chemo etc. over the next 3 years before finally passing away at age 72 and his bill for all that treatment and drugs etc etc. = $0

I live on the US-Canãda border and so I hear all the BS and lies pumped by the US medical industry and fruitcake media about our system (can’t choose your doctor = a lie, you’ll die on the wait list = a lie, no surgery after age 70 = a lie, limits on life-long medical care costs = a lie, old people cut adrift on ice floes in the arctic = Gimme a f@ckin’ break!).

You can call it “socialized” medicine if you like, but knowledgeable Canadians call it a rational, logical, humane system which manages the best of modern care in way that benefits the widest segment of the population. I have never seen a medical bill from the Canadian system - ever. It is handled seemlessly in our tax system which is progressive (i.e. the rich pay more) as it is in virtually every other western country. If some know-nothing, bonehead, Canadian trucker doesn’t get that - oh well - and BTW, if he had been injured in Canada, it WOULD clearly have been an emergency and he would have been treated immediately - his f@cking bill = $0.

Is iour system perfect - he!, no!
Would I trade our system for the US system - nope.

Yes, I paid for my health care and for my late father’s care too - but I shared those costs with 34 million other Canadians and so the bills were pretty manageable, in my view. One final data point, if you want to see how the performance of our two systems compare, just Google two statistics:
- infant mortality;
- male and female life expectancy.

Our weather may suck but, sorry friends, we have better beer, better hockey players and waaayyy better health care and the total amount of PUBLIC funds, per capita, spent by Canadian taxpayers on health is less than that spent by American taxpayers. Check it out - your government spends more of YOUR money on health care for a system that doesn’t even cover everyone - than ours does to cover everyone. The only thing the Canadian health care system lacks that the US system does have is a huge health insurance industry that:
- NEVER sees a patient
- NEVER stitches a wound
- NEVER does an operation
- NEVER serves a hospital meal
- NEVER comforts a grieving parent
- costs a friggin’ fortune to feed, clothe and provide golf club memberships for.

I have lived and worked In both Canada and the US (loved it there BTW), and my employer in LA provided a great health insurance plan for my family and I. From what I can see as a semi-outsider looking in, for Americans who can afford good insurance and/or who work for an employer who provides it - your system is awesome, but for other people.....

I don’t want an argument, but someone did ask.

PS: all dollar amounts above in CDN currency so deduct 30% for the equivalent amounts in USD.
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Bravo, Pete. You've demonstrated that the system works well and you benefited from it nicely. I learned something. I always liked your country and I see why Mailman likes your health system, too.
 
MaxPete said:
That is also wrong - sorry but he was talking through his hat.
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You may be right , but I saw this from a perspective that affected all of us hospital workers. In the US, the government mandates hospitals to accept a certain amount of "charity care" patients who have little money and no insurance and, also Medicare patients who the government pays a small percent of the bill, which does not cover the hospital's expenses in order for the hospital to receive a government subsidy, similar to a farm subsidy at a predetermined rate, once a year which is a lump sum. We were told the hospital could not pay us a cost of living increase or raise on some years as the demographics changed and the older self insured and retired patients who were established over generations moved or died off and the area in Secaucus, New Jersey became occupied with low wage earning immigrants who were largely "charity care patients" The subsidy was not adjusted for the influx of large numbers of patients who didn't pay for services, so there was no money for left to honor our contract. Doctors were recruited to other hospitals who were busy with insured, paying patients. They had no choice, but to follow the money as they have bills, big bills. This is how hospitals die.
 
But you’ve put you finger right on the point GB - in our system, there are NO charity patients and doctors and hospitals always get paid for everyone they treat.

The trucker was simply uninformed and I won’t comment any further.
 
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Jim said:
Well, it's my opinion that if the only reason you'd train to be a doctor is because the profession is "lucrative".... it's probably best that you do stay away from it. Maybe Wall St. would be a better fit.
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I'll second that!

Do I really want someone operating on me who has as his primary reason for going to medical school being able to buy that new Mercedes or that vacation house in Vail?

Or do I want someone who gets satisfaction from relieving someones pain or gets a kick out of putting a jigsaw puzzle of broken bones back together and then sees the person running a marathon?

If the cost of medical school is the real problem with the cost of health care maybe we should be focusing more on that. If we awarded those going into medicine with half the support we do those who's only real skill is kicking a football or tossing a ball through a hoop, maybe this would be a better world.

Do any of those hundreds of basketball players playing in the playoffs this month in the USA have thousands of dollars in student loans?
 
I'm sorry if I started a shit storm with this and feel a clarification is necessary. Many people are motivated by different things. I cannot fault a doctor who likes or needs money to accomplish his lofty goals in life and pay off the loans he took out as a matter of course to get there. They may be very good doctors who have helped thousands of people to a better quality of life. They may like to have money, too and I can't differentiate between someone who likes to have money and myself, who likes to have motorcycles. Yes, like I said, there are all kinds. Some who like money are unethical and greedy, but others are good people, maybe raising a brood and putting four children through medical school. Other people who make a lot of money work in fields where they do not help people to a better quality of life. Before going to x-ray school, I worked on large printing presses. The industry was dying due to advances in technology. I chose working in the healthcare industry after taking a career planning course from Steven's Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. I had 24 hours of tests and questionaires to fill out. Financial considerations were addressed, psychological considerations, aptitude and abilities taken into account. First, I was asked how much money I was comfortable with making and then I was told the x-ray field was good because I would be making good money, my profession would be stable for 30 years and the reason I would make a good x-ray tech was that I enjoyed taking pictures and was compassionate and liked to help people. In this way, I removed any doubt that I should have been in a different field. I donated a thousand dollars to the the hospital foundation this week for the compassionate care that I received while there and plan to donate half my estate to Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center who saved my mother's life with cobalt radiation therapy, a new treatment at that time, before I was born. She became the last survivor of the first test group to receive the treatment. Of course, I would not be here without them.
 
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Goldenboy said:
I'm sorry if I started a shit storm with this and feel a clarification is necessary. Many people are motivated by different things. I cannot fault a doctor who likes or needs money to accomplish his lofty goals in life and pay off the loans he took out as a matter of course to get there. They may be very good doctors who have helped thousands of people to a better quality of life. They may like to have money, too and I can't differentiate between someone who likes to have money and myself, who likes to have motorcycles. Yes, like I said, there are all kinds. Some who like money are unethical and greedy, but others are good people, maybe raising a brood and putting four children through medical school. Other people who make a lot of money work in fields where they do not help people to a better quality of life. Before going to x-ray school, I worked on large printing presses. The industry was dying due to advances in technology. I chose working in the healthcare industry after taking a career planning course from Steven's Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. I had 24 hours of tests and questionaires to fill out. Financial considerations were addressed, psychological considerations, aptitude and abilities taken into account. First, I was asked how much money I was comfortable with making and then I was told the x-ray field was good because I would be making good money, my profession would be stable for 30 years and the reason I would make a good x-ray tech was that I enjoyed taking pictures and was compassionate and liked to help people. In this way, I removed any doubt that I should have been in a different field. I donated a thousand dollars to the the hospital foundation this week for the compassionate care that I received while there and plan to donate haonelf my estate to Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center who saved my mother's life with cobalt radiation therapy, a new treatment at that time, before I was born. She became the last survivor of the first test group to receive the treatment. Of course, I would not be here without them.
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kshansen said:
I'll second that!

Do I really want someone operating on me who has as his primary reason for going to medical school being able to buy that new Mercedes or that vacation house in Vail?

Or do I want someone who gets satisfaction from relieving someones pain or gets a kick out of putting a jigsaw puzzle of broken bones back together and then sees the person running a marathon?

If the cost of medical school is the real problem with the cost of health care maybe we should be focusing more on that. If we awarded those going into medicine with half the support we do those who's only real skill is kicking a football or tossing a ball through a hoop, maybe this would be a better world.

Do any of those hundreds of basketball players playing in the playoffs this month in the USA have thousands of dollars in student loans?
Click to expand...
Just this week, I believe the expensive treatment I'm on is working and I'm turning the corner. Symptoms of colitis are almost gone, I gained weight and feel stronger and am more active. Yesterday, I walked 5 miles, the day before, I biked 12 miles on a rail trail in Goshen and I've been alternating with an exercise bike, weights and sit ups, push ups leg lifts and a pull down bar with pulley weights. I am building muscles and getting body tone back. As quickly as this happened to me, it's almost as quickly leaving. This Entyvio works to block messenger hormones from the intestines from being picked up by white blood cells to tell them to "attack". Somehow the white blood cells have been getting the wrong message from my own body. That is an auto immune disorder. I am hopeful I'm getting my life back and each day is better.
 
Goldenboy said:
Just this week, I believe the expensive treatment I'm on is working and I'm turning the corner. Symptoms of colitis are almost gone, I gained weight and feel stronger and am more active. Yesterday, I walked 5 miles, the day before, I biked 12 miles on a rail trail in Goshen and I've been alternating with an exercise bike, weights and sit ups, push ups leg lifts and a pull down bar with pulley weights. I am building muscles and getting body tone back. As quickly as this happened to me, it's almost as quickly leaving. This Entyvio works to block messenger hormones from the intestines from being picked up by white blood cells to tell them to "attack". Somehow the white blood cells have been getting the wrong message from my own body. That is an auto immune disorder. I am hopeful I'm getting my life back and each day is better.
Click to expand...

This is really good news GB! So happy to hear you are getting your life back!
 
Just a little update up for those following along. Last I posted here I was waiting to have an MRI done on my head to see if they could determine the cause of my partial vision loss in my left eye. I had the MRI last week and got the results today. The results were really excellent news, no red flags, clear results. I will now continue the Glaucoma eye drops that the Dr. prescribed and monitor regularly.

I was also waiting to have hernia repair surgery. I had that done yesterday and so far the results are really good.
Very minimal pain and I’m up and moving around without difficulty. I anticipate a quick recovery, even though I can’t do anything heavy ( more than 10 lbs ) for six weeks.

But I’m feeling really good and relieved, and looking forward to getting back to doing things I love to do and spending MUCH LESS TIME IN DOCTORS OFFICES !!!

Mailman out! :cool:
 
Mailman said:
Mailman out! :cool:
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Noooo....sorry Robert my boy - it’s Mailman IN!!

And for that, you get a genuine...

2B030C91-3859-4E3F-B18F-0690ED97EB56.jpeg
 
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Mailman said:
Just a little update up for those following along. Last I posted here I was waiting to have an MRI done on my head to see if they could determine the cause of my partial vision loss in my left eye. I had the MRI last week and got the results today. The results were really excellent news, no red flags, clear results. I will now continue the Glaucoma eye drops that the Dr. prescribed and monitor regularly.

I was also waiting to have hernia repair surgery. I had that done yesterday and so far the results are really good.
Very minimal pain and I’m up and moving around without difficulty. I anticipate a quick recovery, even though I can’t do anything heavy ( more than 10 lbs ) for six weeks.

But I’m feeling really good and relieved, and looking forward to getting back to doing things I love to do and spending MUCH LESS TIME IN DOCTORS OFFICES !!!

Mailman out! :cool:
Click to expand...
Excellent news! I will make my annual appt for the eye dr, tomorrow to screen for glaucoma and after that, maybe a cognizant test. I now remember what you said two weeks ago and that I mentioned about my own experience with a small hernia. By the way, have you seen my car keys? :umm:
 
My how times have changed! 25 years ago I had a double hernia repair and my recovery was so painful, I couldn’t even get out of bed for a week without assistance. This time around ( and now I’m in my 60’s no less) I have been up and around from the moment I got home from the hospital. Day 2 after surgery I went on three walks in my neighborhood. Day 3, this morning , I’m sitting in a restaurant having breakfast with my wife!
Unbelievable!
 

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