Actually.....yes it is. Taxes in the US are much lower.......and the dollar worth more....sometimes a lot more.
Canadian Health Care
- Thread starter Shea69
- Start date
Actually.....yes it is. Taxes in the US are much lower.......and the dollar worth more....sometimes a lot more.
Apparently we have a lottery here in Canada to determine who gets to go in and see a doctor every week.
YouTube - Glenn Beck Loses His Mind On A Caller About Healthcare
Man, comedy gold!
YouTube - Glenn Beck Loses His Mind On A Caller About Healthcare
Man, comedy gold!
Isn't this issue of paying for medical thru your taxes the same as paying school taxes when you have no kids who go to school ? Should I feel slighted because I'm paying school taxes for the kids I don't even know ? It takes a team of horses to get me into a doctors office and I'll do my damndest to stay out of an emergency ward . I have ugly scars to prove that but I have family, friends and neighbors who have needed the system and thank God it was there for them. Our medical system is abused by the people not the government or doctors fees. When we allow our kids to ride skateboards down stairways and over eat , drink to access and do drugs, we are to blame for our failings.
What an idiot. I can only assume that he knows as much about his own system as he knows about Canada's.
The only problem with Canadian health care is the insane cost of equiment, supplies and drugs.
Am I crazy to think we are being being screwed when a 30cm piece of fishing line and a small bent disposable needle costs $80?
If they give me the contract I'll supply them for half that.
Am I crazy to think we are being being screwed when a 30cm piece of fishing line and a small bent disposable needle costs $80?
If they give me the contract I'll supply them for half that.
It's got more problems than just the cost of equipment and materials, Petros. For one, there are doctors driving taxis and delivering pizzas while rural areas are screeching for more doctors. Another; maintenance and cleaning staff get laid off while health authorities' admins get bonuses leaving hospitals as great places to get get sicknesses from. BC gov't cuts back healthcare while spending almost a billion on Oly security alone.
There's a list of problems.
There's a list of problems.
It has been said that the IMF told Canada to cut spending on health care or receive a drop in our credit rating. What was cut has never been replaced.
It is also very appalling that Canadians accept the fact hospitals are now charities selling lotto tickets for houses to meet costs and buy over priced proprietary equipment.
Doesn't anyone get pissed off about being ripped off anymore? Maybe people feel defeated and just gave up only to accept death over fighting for what they deserve?
It is also very appalling that Canadians accept the fact hospitals are now charities selling lotto tickets for houses to meet costs and buy over priced proprietary equipment.
Doesn't anyone get pissed off about being ripped off anymore? Maybe people feel defeated and just gave up only to accept death over fighting for what they deserve?
Impossible Missions Force?
Yeah, perhaps it's time wifey and I sent our letter to the editor out about that again.
Anna just got a book of lottery tickets today where the proceeds are going to buy a new CT scanner for the local horsespittle. Maybe this one that the locals buy won't be stolen by the IHA to put in some other horsespittle like the last one we all paid for.
ATOON — The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country's health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.
Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country - who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting - recognize that changes must be made.
"We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize," Doing said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"We know that there must be change," she said. "We're all running flat out, we're all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands."
The pitch for change at the conference is to start with a presentation from Dr. Robert Ouellet, the current president of the CMA, who has said there's a critical need to make Canada's health-care system patient-centred. He will present details from his fact-finding trip to Europe in January, where he met with health groups in England, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and France.
His thoughts on the issue are already clear. Ouellet has been saying since his return that "a health-care revolution has passed us by," that it's possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and "that competition should be welcomed, not feared."
In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system.
He has also said the Canadian system could be restructured to focus on patients if hospitals and other health-care institutions received funding based on the patients they treat, instead of an annual, lump-sum budget. This "activity-based funding" would be an incentive to provide more efficient care, he has said.
Doig says she doesn't know what a proposed "blueprint" toward patient-centred care might look like when the meeting wraps up Wednesday. She'd like to emerge with clear directions about where the association should focus efforts to direct change over the next few years. She also wants to see short-term, medium-term and long-term goals laid out.
"A short-term achievable goal would be to accelerate the process of getting electronic medical records into physicians' offices," she said. "That's one I think ought to be a priority and ought to be achievable."
A long-term goal would be getting health systems "talking to each other," so information can be quickly shared to help patients.
Doig, who has had a full-time family practice in Saskatoon for 30 years, acknowledges that when physicians have talked about changing the health-care system in the past, they've been accused of wanting an American-style structure. She insists that's not the case.
"It's not about choosing between an American system or a Canadian system," said Doig. "The whole thing is about looking at what other people do."
"That's called looking at the evidence, looking at how care is delivered and how care is paid for all around us (and) then saying 'Well, OK, that's good information. How do we make all of that work in the Canadian context? What do the Canadian people want?' "
Doig says there are some "very good things" about Canada's health-care system, but she points out that many people have stories about times when things didn't go well for them or their family.
"(Canadians) have to understand that the system that we have right now - if it keeps on going without change - is not sustainable," said Doig.
"They have to look at the evidence that's being presented and will be presented at (the meeting) and realize what Canada's doctors are trying to tell you, that you can get better care than what you're getting and we all have to participate in the discussion around how do we do that and of course how do we pay for it."
Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country - who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting - recognize that changes must be made.
"We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize," Doing said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"We know that there must be change," she said. "We're all running flat out, we're all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands."
The pitch for change at the conference is to start with a presentation from Dr. Robert Ouellet, the current president of the CMA, who has said there's a critical need to make Canada's health-care system patient-centred. He will present details from his fact-finding trip to Europe in January, where he met with health groups in England, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and France.
His thoughts on the issue are already clear. Ouellet has been saying since his return that "a health-care revolution has passed us by," that it's possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and "that competition should be welcomed, not feared."
In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system.
He has also said the Canadian system could be restructured to focus on patients if hospitals and other health-care institutions received funding based on the patients they treat, instead of an annual, lump-sum budget. This "activity-based funding" would be an incentive to provide more efficient care, he has said.
Doig says she doesn't know what a proposed "blueprint" toward patient-centred care might look like when the meeting wraps up Wednesday. She'd like to emerge with clear directions about where the association should focus efforts to direct change over the next few years. She also wants to see short-term, medium-term and long-term goals laid out.
"A short-term achievable goal would be to accelerate the process of getting electronic medical records into physicians' offices," she said. "That's one I think ought to be a priority and ought to be achievable."
A long-term goal would be getting health systems "talking to each other," so information can be quickly shared to help patients.
Doig, who has had a full-time family practice in Saskatoon for 30 years, acknowledges that when physicians have talked about changing the health-care system in the past, they've been accused of wanting an American-style structure. She insists that's not the case.
"It's not about choosing between an American system or a Canadian system," said Doig. "The whole thing is about looking at what other people do."
"That's called looking at the evidence, looking at how care is delivered and how care is paid for all around us (and) then saying 'Well, OK, that's good information. How do we make all of that work in the Canadian context? What do the Canadian people want?' "
Doig says there are some "very good things" about Canada's health-care system, but she points out that many people have stories about times when things didn't go well for them or their family.
"(Canadians) have to understand that the system that we have right now - if it keeps on going without change - is not sustainable," said Doig.
"They have to look at the evidence that's being presented and will be presented at (the meeting) and realize what Canada's doctors are trying to tell you, that you can get better care than what you're getting and we all have to participate in the discussion around how do we do that and of course how do we pay for it."
Ironsides, I don’t know what your motivation was in posting the article (I was already aware of it, having read it in Medical Post, which my wife gets). But if it was to show that Canadian system is in trouble, it reminds me of Creationists, who present each and every disagreement among the evolutionist as proof that evolution is false and by implication, Creationism is true.
Just as Creationists do not understand that those are internal squabbles among evolutionists, and they are not about to adopt Creationism, perhaps you don’t’ understand that universal health care in Canada isn’t going anywhere, it continues to provide very good results (higher life expectance, lower life expectancy etc. than USA). What CMA is talking of is reform in the health system, while preserving the universality, keeping the system pretty much as it is right now.
In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system.
So any private health care would have to be within the public system. These are the internal squabbles of the Canadian system, don’t read too much into it, we are not about to adopt your health care system here.
Just as Creationists do not understand that those are internal squabbles among evolutionists, and they are not about to adopt Creationism, perhaps you don’t’ understand that universal health care in Canada isn’t going anywhere, it continues to provide very good results (higher life expectance, lower life expectancy etc. than USA). What CMA is talking of is reform in the health system, while preserving the universality, keeping the system pretty much as it is right now.
In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system.
So any private health care would have to be within the public system. These are the internal squabbles of the Canadian system, don’t read too much into it, we are not about to adopt your health care system here.
It seems that some Americans are referring to the Canadian health care system as a perfect one for us to try. I am just letting them know that it has problems just like Mass, and Calif. have both of which are going broke. I also posted it within Canadian Health care which resides within US-American Politics. Right where it belongs.
And just who might that be, ironsides? I thought Americans were almost universally trashing Canadian system, claiming that it is no better than a third world system, that people are dying in the streets of Canada (and indeed of every developed country except USA) for lack of treatment.
I haven’t come across anybody in USA who praises Canadian health care system, I think it is almost universally condemned (so is the health care system in every other country in the world, except that of USA).
A typical right wing propaganda piece, Toro. Praising the American system to high Heaven and claiming that Canadian system is little better than that of a third world country, that Canadians are finally going to see the light and introduce American style private system into Canada.
Not a word about the astronomical cost of American system and the poor results it achieves (one of the lowest life expectancies in the developed world, one of the highest infant mortalities in the developed world etc.).
What province do you live in? I'm in Alberta, and I had no problem finding a new Family Physician earlier this year. Two phone calls, and I had an appointment. When I tore a tendon in my knee 4 years ago, I was able to see an orthopedic surgeon within 3 weeks. A co-worker' wife had hip replacement surgery last month, after being on a waiting list for about 2.5 months. (She had this done in Calgary, she had wanted it done locally, but the list was longer-maybe a problem with the doctor?) When my mother had cancer last year, she was in for surgery in 3 weeks. (The delay was mainly caused by her insistence on local treatment, we had to do some real cajoling to get her to go.)
One of the major causes of problems is that the federal government no longer pays its fair share. When national health care was set up in 1967, the federal government paid 50% of the cost. (btw, it was proposed at that time that a national lottery be set up to help pay for it) Under Trudeau and Lalonde the feds starting whittling away at transfer payments for health care, and a green paper (policy proposal) in 1972 advocated offloading health care entirely onto the provinces. This trend continued up into the early 1990s, when the feds were paying less than 15% of the cost. I don't know what portion they pay now, but I suspect it's little changed.