SASKATOON — 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.Read the whole story and it appears the health care debate down here has brought the precariousness of the Canadian system to the fore. I do not say this gleefully, although this constitutes one more strike against us implementing a government system. Canada is a great country and I wish them all the best in putting their health care system back on solid footing.
"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.
"(Canadians) have to understand that the system that we have right now - if it keeps on going without change - is not sustainable," said Doig. (Source: Google-Canadian Press)
BS may get you to the top, but it can't keep you there
Meanwhile, down here in the US, the progressive "mandate" is proving to be a Daily Kook Nutroot Huff and Puff mirage. The President is sinking in the polls, and he'll end up taking his party with him, because he's all they've got.
More Ammo For the Conservative/Libertarian Approach
Steve Chapman has written an informative article and shares the following facts:
A 2006 poll found that 89 percent were happy with the medical care they get.Life Expectancy: We're #1 (When excluding homicides and accidents)
Some 62 percent of uninsured Americans are satisfied with their medical care.
It's true that the United States spends more on health care than anyone else, and it's true that we rank below a lot of other advanced countries in life expectancy. The juxtaposition of the two facts, however, doesn't prove we are wasting our money or doing the wrong things.
He goes on to explain how the US also ranks first in cancer and heart disease survival rates.One big reason our life expectancy lags is that Americans have an unusual tendency to perish in homicides or accidents. We are 12 times more likely than the Japanese to be murdered and nearly twice as likely to be killed in auto wrecks.
In their 2006 book, "The Business of Health," economists Robert L. Ohsfeldt and John E. Schneider set out to determine where the U.S. would rank in life span among developed nations if homicides and accidents are factored out. Their answer? First place.
That discovery indicates our health care system is doing a poor job of preventing shootouts and drunk driving but a good job of healing the sick.
Finally, I recommend you visit Betsy McCaughey's web site, Defend Your Health Care, for up to date info on the health care debate from an expert who is fighting the good fight.
We've got 'em on the run. Don't let up now.
One more thing, being a Johnny Cash fan, I couldn't help but recall his song, Girl in Saskatoon:
Defend Your Health Care
Yahoo - Retreat
Google-Canadian Press
RCP - Steve Chapman
8 comments:
Yeah...but we need to keep them from getting anything through that would give them the framework for building out socialized medicine later.
Okay...the wife just caught me checking out blogs on vacation. Gotta go....
Thanks for stopping by. I went to http://download.cnet.com/windows/
and down loaded a couple of programs to fix computer errors, but both of them required me to purchase a full version in order to repair the problems found after doing a scan, and unfortunately, at this time, I cannot afford to purchase anything as I am on an extremely tight budget.
You understand that they're trying to make the system run more like those in France and Germany and not like those in the States.
They're planning on mixing private and public which I thought you were all against.
The implosion is real, but it has to do with a lack of competition (admittedly) and a lack of funding (the conservatives are running things). It's not like people aren't getting cared for, just that same elective procedures, tests, etc... are running long waiting lists which as the press release mentions can be taken care of.
The conservatives in this country are like those here. They get into gov't fuck things up and say "see, gov't doesn't work".
We're planning on bringing in a private option like you guys are planning on bringing in a public option. Hopefully the mixtures brings the both of both worlds to both countries.
You seem to be against success if it involves the gov't.
If there were any government successes in the past 50 years to point to, I'd be more optimistic.
Notice I'm not hammering Canada as "socialist." It's not my country, and maybe the government does some good things up there...
You call it socialized medicine (see your title) when its really universal health care.
BC Hydro is a gov't success. Makes tax payers money and creates jobs, clean energy and is just a great gov't success story.
The health care system has been a lot better than that in the US as well. That it's not sustainable... look to the conservatives.
"Gov't can't do anything right... See, we're morons!"
I'm sorry, but "Universal Health Care" paid for by the government through the tax base and run by the government is "socialized medicine". To imply otherwise, you might as well call the communist party a labor union. Quit playing word games.
The basic core of the argument is not whether or not medical care should be available to all, but whether or not the government is the most efficient means of accomplishing that end.
Has the private sector accomplished it? Are the rates low enough for poor and working class people to afford it? (some of the 47 mill uninsured might have an answer different from yours.)
I'm not afraid of the word socialized or socialist any more than I'm afraid of libertarian, anarchist, or conservative.
I consider the specific issue, not the ideology or even the political philosophy behind any position that could or could not be taken on it.
In this case I think both the private and public sector have done some good. The private sector has increased innovation, standards, etc... and the public sector has increased the availability and affordability of health care.
Why not settle for just the former? How good could a health care system be if it is not applied to 47 million people in its jurisdiction?
I think it's possible for gov't/the private sector to accomplish something better than we have now in both Canada and the US. I think each could learn a thing or two from the other.
Even still I think that based on how much we spend on health care (as the frugal person I am) we get a much better deal. So, certain elective surgery's have multi-month long wait lists? I know people who've waited months for a new knee. It was a drag. It wasn't intolerable.
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