Why Can't We Be More Like Our Canadian Neighbors?
Yes, indeed, why can't we be more like those peace loving people to our North? Perhaps they wouldn't look down their ethical noses at us waving their moral superiority in our face if only we were more like them. Why can't we have a wonderful socialized medicine system like those wild and crazy Canucks? Why? Why? Why, what twisted perversion of fate has given us our obscenely expensive health care system while the Canucks don't have a care in the world with their marvelous cradle to grave health care system?
I have given this poser much thought in the last two or three seconds and I think I know the answers to why we will never be like our Canadian neighbors. Hillary Clinton will never be President. Hanoi John will never be President. The man who drives off bridges will remain in an alcoholic fog dreaming of his halcyon years as a Private in the U.S. Army pulling Kitchen Police duties. He will keep trying to remember what was that other elected office that he wanted. Nothing changes. We will continue to pay the big bucks for our superior health care and the Canadians will continue to pay for theirs with their lives.
I have given this poser much thought in the last two or three seconds and I think I know the answers to why we will never be like our Canadian neighbors. Hillary Clinton will never be President. Hanoi John will never be President. The man who drives off bridges will remain in an alcoholic fog dreaming of his halcyon years as a Private in the U.S. Army pulling Kitchen Police duties. He will keep trying to remember what was that other elected office that he wanted. Nothing changes. We will continue to pay the big bucks for our superior health care and the Canadians will continue to pay for theirs with their lives.
posted by BigBubba at 5:09 PM
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9 Comments:
Mr. Ducky, Please allow me to assist you with your reading comprehension. Undoubtedly there are significant numbers of Canadians with axes to grind about their third rate health care system. The article is not about a flawed methodology for allocating transplants either. It is about one hospital's refusal to do an altruistic transplant,
"But Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital refuses to do the transplant for what it claims are "ethical" reasons.
Dr. Douglas Keith, head of the hospital's living donor transplant program, says the hospital could not be sure there is no "quid pro quo" agreement between Tegegne and Dhar. He also says the donation looks suspicious because the donor is from the Third World and contact was made on the Internet."
The dying patient is not asking the hospital to do anything illegal under the Canadian third rate health system laws,
"Canada has no law prohibiting altruistic donations from unrelated persons."
An altruistic transplant has in fact been done at another Canadian hospital,
"A live donor, altruistic transplant with a donor found over the Internet has been done at Toronto General Hospital."
However, a government bureaucracy is nothing if not cold, uncaring and complicated,
"But Tegegne cannot simply fly to Toronto to save his life. Canadian national healthcare is not portable. Toronto is in the provence of Ontario. Montreal is in Quebec."
I suspect that the problem is not your reading comprehension, but rather that rather extensive kit of progressive liberal boxes you have. Once you have put something in one of your boxes you are like a hard headed crewman on the Titanic who is convinced the the ship will not sink and is polishing the brass hand rails while the water is lapping at his ankles.
Us hayseeds here in Flyover Country San Antonio have Care Link
I don't know too much about the Canadian health-care system, but I have a story to relate...
I have a neighbor who hails from Canada, although he became a U.S. citizen in 1990 so that he could apply for U.S. government jobs. For years, from 1978-1996, I heard my neighbor singing the praises of the health-care system of his native land. Perhaps when he lived in Canada, the health-care systems there was good.
In 1996, his well-to-do mother became ill, and she got the run-around of all time when she attempted to get her medical problem properly addressed. Fortunately, her medical problem was resolved, but the scenario was quite ugly because of all the delays in treatment.
During that time of delay, her back problem significantly worsened, thus requiring very extensive treatment. If I remember correctly, she scooted across the border from British Columbia to Washington state and bought the help she needed.
My neighbor no longer promotes socialized medicine.
My favorite part of the link was this nugget:
"And under federal law, private clinics are not legally allowed to provide services covered by the Canada Health Act, so there is no competition - and nowhere else to turn for help."
So even if you've got the money to pay, you can't get the work done without "mommies" permission. Sounds real "progressive".
...and I wonder how long will it take before the quality of Canadian Healthcare begins to resemble the quality of an education found in an American inner city school room? Funny how monopolization of trade is a felony if conducted by private individuals. We need to extent the Sherman anti-trust act to government operations.
-FJ
always on watch, these Canadian health care horror stories pop up often enough to make me wonder what is the true extent of the problem. I wonder what a comparative statistical study of morbidity rates in the United States and Canada would turn up?
Farmer John, another favorite nugget would have to be the paragraph about the Canadian Government's extortion of American pharmaceutical companies. The amazing "rest of the story" is the call to legalize reimportation of drugs from Canada.
There are still the advocates of the proverbial "free lunch." I am sorry, but, I still am a believer in the maxim that there is no such thing as a "free lunch."
Some people who don't know any better accuse the Veteran Administration's health system of being second rate. I thank God that I am in the V.A. system and not the Canadian.
Fortunately the VA doesn't attempt to operate in a vacuum. There is a constant and refreshing exchange of knowledge and techniques between them and the best that private industry can buy.
If Canada did not share a border with the US, they'd probably still have barbers for surgeons and herbalists for pharmacists.
All I can say about Canadian price fixing is this... one day Canada, the pharma companies aren't going to meet your price. Then what will you do for medical treatment?
Can you afford to "do without"? Will Canadian citizens be content to "do without" and die?
And if all of America re-imports their drugs through Canada...guess what. Soon Big Pharma will be raising your price to what America pays.
-FJ
mr. ducky,
Yes, governments are very good at taking things that other people create and giving them to people who need them. And indeed, the figures ARE impressive, especially in the years immediately following government takeover of previously privately controlled enterprises.
There's only one problem with this approach (to healthcare and other fields). If done in a vacuum, eventually the people who DO really create, stop creating. So eventually there's nothing for the government to re-distribute to ANYONE.
Get thee to a communist era Soviet shopping mall. The only things available for purchase there are HAMMERS.
Demonstrate for me the tremendous advantages of government management and control... where is your "model". Let's see just how much of it the government "created".
The Chinese, at least, accept a "mixed" system. What's wrong with that?
-FJ
mr. ducky,
Sounds like a reasonable stance, only a few questions. Would you emulate the Canadians in granting a "monopoly" to the providers of critical health care services? And what "criteria" would you use in determination of what was considered critical (budget, imminent death, probability of rehabilitation)???
-FJ
BB,
As much as I'd like to comment on the most recent addition to your website, I'm afraid I can't get to the "leave your comment" page... and you should be aware that your 1st "link" was dead, when I tried it.
-FJ
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