An American woman who moved to Canada and has had a number of babies born here thinks that our healthcare system is just peachy.
An American woman who moved to Canada and has had a number of babies born here thinks that our healthcare system is just peachy.
My late mother never had any problems getting her health care needs taken care of.
The US system has its goofy features, such as health insurance tied to your employer. Lose your job, lose your insurance.
Not sure how that’s a good thing.
Wait til she needs a hip or knee replaced.
And our ambulance chasers are suffering too and where are the profits on peoples ill health for the investors. And think of the potential growth in the insurance industry, those folks know how to cut a corner off care and save a dollar for the Health Corp. We need ‘every leach make a buck” ‘Merican style health care up here right?
Good Lord, Robert, where do you find these “gems?”
I lost count of how many cliches she used but it must have been right out of the Leftoid Manual For Recognizing Conservatives. She had no insurance in the US so her comparisons are invalid to say the least. She also loves going on pogie for maternity leave although I’m not too sure how she qualified, being a newcomer and all. Got here in 2008 and has had two kids and two years of maternity leave. Glad to see my tax dollars at use. and finally, wtf is the “Spiritual Survivor’s Blog” anyhow? If I didn’t know better I’d think she was Lizzie May’s sister.
The article reads like it was written by a fourth-grader trying to emulate the style of Reader’s Digest.
Exactly, Texas @ 3:12, Exactly!
This gal did not pay into the bureaucratic bottomless pit of the ‘health’ business (medi ‘care’) all of her life, it is all ‘free’ for her and her ilk.
“I lost count of how many cliches she used but it must have been right out of the Leftoid Manual For Recognizing Conservatives.”
Exactly. I got maybe 1/4 of the way through and decided that she was probably only a conservative because liberals had told her that being opposed to abortion meant she was conservative.
“When they asked me to clarify and I explained that many people in the States are not insured and they try to put off medical care unless absolutely needed, they literally could not comprehend such a thing.”
This fascinates me. What other services that you do without now would you buy if you could get somebody else to pay for them? If car insurance was provided by the government, would you take your car to the body shop every time somebody dinged you with a door in the parking lot? If the neighbor’s kids dented your garage door with a baseball, would you file a homeowners insurance claim to have it repaired?
Is it really incomprehensible that if you don’t need something you might not go out and pay for it? Conversely, if somebody else is paying for it, might you “buy” things that you don’t really need?
A while back, I had just moved to Ontario. A friend recommended a doctor that he said was good. Showed up without an appointment, and saw the “Not accepting new patients” sign on the door. I went in anyway.
The doctor saw me, fixed me up, after I waited about 3 hours in the waiting room. I asked him about the sign. He explained that doctors (GPs) get paid to care for a fixed number of patients a year. (say 200). Because I was under 30, he knew I’d be low maintenance, and maybe I’d stop by twice a year, at most. He mentioned his elderly patients are in minimum 12 times a year. The he asks me “If you have a fixed salary, do you want to put in more hours, or less?”
Anyway, that was 10 years ago, I’m sure it is fixed now…
and I never had to worry about how much a test cost or how much the blood draw fee was… which would have been at no cost to me…. they were all entitled.
And on it goes. It seems this “conservative” never understood why she was a conservative. Sure, all this bountiful healthcare is “no cost to you”, it’s a massive cost to everybody instead. In the US she actually thought about the costs she was incurring but here it’s all “free”. What’s not to like!
Yup “wait times aren’t too bad”..Oh really, like the year long wait I have to get surgery on my torn rotator cuff. I haven’t even seen my surgeon yet so that could make it even longer. Oh and I get to spend that year either taking morphine for the pain and missing a year of work (thank goodness for sick leave), or spend the year in excrutiating pain without sleep. Yup a great health care system…If I only had the cash I could head on over to the Cambie Surgical Clinic and probably have it next week. Whoever says we don’t have a 2 tier health care system is probably on the same drugs I am…And then you have the Health Minister in Ont telling docs they make too much money. And in BC family docs are restricted to seeing 25 patients/day regardless of how long the appt takes. If my doc sees me just for a quick prescription he should be free to see as many patients as he feels he has time to see. The truth of the matter is the docs are private contractors stuck with only one contractee (if that makes sense). In Ont they’ll drive the “millionaire” docs out leaving wait times even worse. Brilliant logic. Of course politicians don’t wait the way we plebes do..
I read some, skimmed the rest. Seems to me that being “conservative” to her ONLY means “anti-abortion”. That’s really a just a religious conservative. I am proudly fiscally conservative and socially conservative but not really either pro or anti abortion. (My background as a biologist clashes horribly with my Catholic upbringing.) Clearly, people describing themselves as conservative need to be more detailed in their use of the word.
I’ve lived in Canada for 56 years and have always received excellent health care. I never encountered excessive wait time. I love it!
Why not give us a choice – public or/and private?
Let’s have both options.
Why should we have to wait up to 10 hours or longer in Emergency? How many have gotten worse afer that episode? Normally if it is emergency it means exactly that to us.
Well this won’t win any prizes as a well written piece of fiction because its a terribly written piece of fiction. But it is fiction.
Hell has frozen over for there has been a post on SDA that details a pragmatic, non ideological, point of view! There must be something in the water where Robert is living, or perhaps a lack there of. Kate is going to be rolling around in circles when she sees this and Robert is going to be forced to go sit in the corner for two weeks and then made to write out 500 times, “I will not post articles that deviate from conservative ideological dogma’.
In all seriousness, bravo. Our system has its issues and could benefit from privatization in certain areas, but it’s not black or white and the last thing we want is what they have south of the border.
I’m with Tim.
There’s something just a little “off” about this article by so-called “Melissa”. It covers all the proper leftist talking points, as if it was written following a propaganda checklist. Too phony to be believed. Nice try.
So Tim, I have a serious problem but my doctor can’t get me in for a MRI or some other detecting scan for possibly 3 months. However, I am willing to pay a couple grand to get into a private clinic and get the scan done immediately, in order to ease my mind, and perhaps save my life. But you would rather see me die, because, despite the fact that we have so few scanning devices, I must risk my life rather than use my own money (while still paying for socialized medicare)because it might be seen as being non-egalitarian. By the way, I, or anyone who has a credit card, could guarantee payment. Of course, should you insist, I would allow you to pay for the scan, afterwards!
Dear Tim: Don’t be so sure you know a thing about the way Kate thinks!
I didn’t express any personal opinion when posting this article but I will so now. I’m very lucky because I’ve lived almost half a century, yet have never had to stay in the hospital. Not once. But my mom & my dad have, especially in the past decade (they’re now in their early 80’s), so I’ve had the opportunity to observe the BC Healthcare System up close.
My take on things out here on the Left Coast is that once you get in to see someone, you generally get very good service. I think that most of the doctors & nurses & technicians act in a very professional manner and the level of care you get is quite good.
However, I do have two major concerns about the system we have:
1. The wait times can be quite long. My dad, for example, had to have a knee replaced. He was in quite severe pain and had to wait 3 months. Had I had such a problem and had a job that required mobility, I would essentially have been off work or on highly reduced work for 3 months. Does that make any sense, both for the individual or for our nation? A friend of mine, John, in his mid-50’s absolutely needed a pacemaker for his heart. He had to wait ONE YEAR to get it. As his wife darkly joked, “One day I’m going to get a call. It’s either going to be from the surgeon’s office or the morgue.”
2. The percentage of each provincial budget spent on healthcare is going up every year. Leftist Economists (an oxymoron IMO) claim this isn’t true but every other source I’ve read says it is. Are we, as a people, prepared for 50% of our tax dollars to be spent on healthcare? 60%? 75%? 99%? Where does it end?!
While traveling in Germany earlier this year I learned a lot more about the healthcare system there. They have common sense and thus allow competition. They allow people to buy comprehensive private insurance if they wish. In 2012, 10% of the population of Germany has private health care whereas 90% does not. But that small percentage appears to provide enough of a “relief valve” to allow the rest of the system to work much more smoothly, with shorter wait times for everyone. Once someone gets in to see a doctor, the same level of care is provided for private AND public insurance patients. But those who opt to buy private insurance get to the head of the queue much faster for routine issues. What on earth is wrong with that?
Yet ANY TIME anyone “dares” bring up the idea of changing things here in Canada, the usual suspects scream the same refrain: “We don’t want any damn American-style healthcare in Canada!” And the conversation ends. That’s pathetic.
The infamous Section 13 clause of the Human Rights Act may have been removed (God Bless you, Stephen Harper!) but there’s still absolutely no free speech when it comes to healthcare in this country. Those of you on the Left should be ashamed of yourselves for that!
My father lived in Ontario for 78 years.
The first time he needed health care, it killed him.
He laid in a hospital bed, waiting for 18 days, on the “Priority List” for an MRI, at UH in London Ontario.
On the 19’th day, he died.
In the rural boonies of Appalachia, indigents with NO health insurance, can get an MRI within 24 hours.
OTOH the MRI which my dad didn’t get, would have been “free”.
Yes its all so wonderful. The cities are filling up with homeless happy people.
The joy abounds so much.
She was about as Conservative as any United Church goer.
Sure Canada has good service for pregnant Women. It saves money. Otherwise try being male, & having a heart attack. 13 hour wait till anyone even seen me.
Have an accident at work than watch the WCB do the 2 step pretend your not sick routine. They even film it , if it does not meet exceptions, hide it.
Try getting any help if you don’t know anyone in Government or are an athlete or famous. No scooter for you as happened to my Aunt. Even our Government Ministers know Imports get better service that the inmates who pay it threw taxes.
I agree with Janet. The article doesn’t sound like a true story; it sounds like propaganda.
Well, it was all just fine for her because others, the healthy and non-pregant males, like me, were paying for it all. This beach fills me with sand. She pimps off me and says how wonderful it is in socialist Canadaland. Yet, although I pay taxes of at least 50%, for my adult life, I will have to beg and plead for a government stipence.
Sod you, lady. Pay for your own babies.
I also agree it sounds like a propaganda piece written by someone with an agenda.
The HC system in Canada is so fraught with problems,I could type until I drop dead and still not cover half of them.
My wife is a nurse,so is my daughter,and sister-in-law, so I hear stories about the inner workings of the system,from eyewitnesses.
Wait times can be so lengthy patients die waiting. That is a fact acknowledged by many in the business who have the courage to speak out, ie Dr.Brian Day.
Newcomers to a community,such as the one I live in,will have a difficult time finding a family doctor who IS accepting new patients,so the solution is to visit one of the many “walk-in” clinics,and wait for hours.
Wait times for MRI’s are usually more than six months,even an ultrasound wait is six weeks or more. Waits for surgery are often well over a year.
Then there’s the lack of working equipment in the hospitals, nurses trading sphygmomanometers to try to find one that works,etc.,patients who live for weeks in hallways and closets,and layer upon layer of “administrators”, to name just a few more of the problems with our system.
It’s better than no Health Care system at all, but has become such a f***ed up boondoggle,the system,like so many other government entities,works more to continue it’s own existence than for it’s original purpose.
I agree with robert.
My friends parent’s are both docotors , both worked to the breaking point , both multi millionaires and deserve every penny.
All i have ever wanted was for people to be able to choose their way through life and to live with and be accountable to and for their actions .
And no i am not pro choice , i am pro life .
Why? becasue is it fair that becasue your group of cells made it to adulthood what right do you have to deny another group of cells that same success regardless of the decisions they make in their lives as long as they adhere to the points i made at the top of this post so be it.
Any way it is people liek this twit that i want to hand my automobile repair bill to .
And when she say’s why are you giving me this ?
I will say it is socialized autocare!!! but she probly would not get it!!!
“Drs are free to recommend and provide the best care for every patient”
If everyone gets the “best” care than everyone is getting the same care, no better than any other. This lack of reason is something along the lines of every worker should receive above average wages.
The die-hard conservative Republican says “at no cost to me” because she hasn’t been paying into the pre-paid (not free) health care system for the last 40 years, by way of taxes, as I and many others have. Instead they chose not to purchase insurance and she then limited herself because of the cost factor, effectively making her own choices on how her health care budget was allotted. But now that all the taxpayers pay for her pre-natal care, cost be damned.
Here is the key word in that entire post:
“Here in Canada, everyone was covered. If they worked full-time, if they worked part-time, or if they were homeless and lived on the street, they were all entitled…”
“die-hard conservative Republican”? I doubt it very much.
YES, from just 2-3 paragraphs in this sounded like a talking-points checklist of lefty propaganda. She’s no conservative. Never has been.
Anecdotal evidence of the sort on this thread is not very reliable. There are wonderful experiences and horror shows. Robert W makes the same point a retired prof acquaintance of mine made (which had me quietly snickering): Me No, when you get in the hospital, the care is quite good. But he waited a long long time before he got in!
No one should mind universal health care. As Robert W suggests, the fatal error in Canada is the erroneous and maddeningly illogical belief that universal health care necessitates monopolized-unionized government provision of the health care.
We have universal food in Canada too (welfare) but no one in their right mind suggests that government should take over the A-Z of food distribution.
larben, well said.
Robert, great comment, including this little phrase, ” once you get in to see someone”.
I cracked a lower vertebrate in two places about four years ago and had to retire from farming. It took a while to discover this and when my family doctor saw the X-ray, which the chiropractor ordered, he became visibly upset. He said you can whistle dixie until you are on your hands and knees and then I can get you on a list. Note he said list.
This young woman is full of propaganda.
Good thing her babies were born healthy. Otherwise they may have had to have been flown to Montana to find space in an NICU!
Robert W.,
I generally agree with everything you said. Once we have access, the care is good. I also agree that systems like Germany’s are models that we may want to adopt. I have no fear of introducing private elements into our system. And I have no gripe with ‘people cutting in line’. Like you said, when done properly it can act as a relief valve.
I merely believe that the American system is a great failure. Even if one is rich and they get great care, they still lose by having to put up with the inefficiencies and problems that having uninsured and underinsured citizens around them. It puts a real damper on the economy for one.
In some ways, we Canadians are lucky that the Americans have kept their system. At times it’s given business incentive to operate on this side of the border because of the lack of health care costs involved with hiring people.
Had children born in countries. Lived in both countries. US health care system is much better than Canada’s, at least for now.
In the US the service was better, attitude of docs was better, and my wife was not hounded out of the hospital the moment our child was born as she was in Canada.
However given the direction Obama wants to go, the US health care system will absolutely decline to the standards of Canada in time.
Individual docs in Canada are generally good (although some bad apples for sure), but the system is awful.
It is unusual to have someone write an article comparing health systems without a sufficient IQ to challenge a turnip. The Lady may have belonged to some type of Cult or lived in a cave in W Virginia…Normal US educated children have more Knowledge (Grade 5)
IMHO the writer may be held to be irresponsible for not stating in the clearest possible method that the COST of Emergency care, to anyone, is ZERO. The failure to make those statements and insure everyone understands may cost someone thier life ….
If some Canadian is in the USA and feels they need to see a Doctor: they can go to Emergency (in some cases the ambulance is FREE) and have a Doctor evaluate & stabilize your Condition. The Emergency staff have Access to all Testing procedures (MRI etc) PLL without Insurance can use the Emergency door for testing ordered by thier primary care Doctor (phone)… FREE
The Cash Register only rings if the Person is admitted to the Hospital (Your Call)
The lady even wanted her midwives paid for and to have the right to choose (at public expense) the kind of birth experience she wanted. She might have been out of luck in Nova Scotia until recently, as the midwife program was suspended for nearly two years in our major maternity hospital due to “professional and personal conflicts ‘for a widespread loss of trust and confidence among all parties’ …”
There are serious problems with the American system, one of which is the linkage of basic health care coverage to employment (which is pretty unstable). Another is the problem of “free riders”, given the fact that no jurisdiction will refuse health care to sick people who lack any insurance coverage.
On the other hand, we encourage overuse of our system by making it “free”. We have also concluded that almost any imaginable treatment or procedure should be provided universally and for free, and if that can’t be done by the public system, no one in the country should be permitted to obtain it (without having to leave the country).
I call B.S. on this! Why did she capitalize “Canadian Universal Health Care” when there is, as most on this site will know, no such animal? Healthcare in Canada falls within a provincial jurisdiction under the umbrella of the Canada Health Act.
I also think Melissa is fertilizing the fields.
First what is ‘Canada Universal Health Care’? Note that she never says what province or city she is in. Also when she speaks of government debt she only talks about the national debt when everyone knows it is the provinces that pay for health care.
A quick perusal of Melissa’s blog shows no reference to Canada but a few references to the GLBT lifestyle, including this quote from her
“I know people who disagree with my sexuality and/or my marriage or my spouse’s gender identity, but are tolerant of our differences. When I am with them I feel comfortable, at-ease, not stressed, relaxed.”
Her partner’s name is Haley, btw, and Melissa is “now in the process of starting my first job ever”. So she’s a lesbian who approves of state run healthcare and has never held a job even though she is in her mid-20s? Does not sound very conservative to me other than being pro-life.
I also think Melissa is fertilizing the fields.
First what is ‘Canada Universal Health Care’? Note that she never says what province or city she is in. Also when she speaks of government debt she only talks about the national debt when everyone knows it is the provinces that pay for health care.
A quick perusal of Melissa’s blog shows no reference to Canada but a few references to the GLBTQ lifestyle, including this quote from her
“I know people who disagree with my sexuality and/or my marriage or my spouse’s gender identity, but are tolerant of our differences. When I am with them I feel comfortable, at-ease, not stressed, relaxed.”
Her partner’s name is Haley, btw, and Melissa is “now in the process of starting my first job ever”. So she approves of state run healthcare and has never held a job even though she is in her mid-20s? I’m sure that compared to her GLBTQ
friends she is conservative but she isn’t when compared to the entire population.
Dear Melissa, TINSTAAFL.
There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. – Robert Heinlein.
Universal health care, but sure not universal access. The article comes across like it was “doctored” up at some NDP luv-in rally in downtown Toronto. What a crock!
Without prices in the system, funds are constantly misallocated. That does mean certain areas in Canadian health care are fantastic with an overabundance of funding but others are downright miserable. As long as you don’t have to be in the miserable area, you are fine…
Case example to a close friend of mine’s young son:
I have a friend who’s son had a brain aneurysm which they discovered after he collapsed into coma after having an epileptic seizure (which he never had before in his life). To a miracle, he survived. Thankfully they were able to get an MRI in time to recognize that they couldn’t wait like they were originally going to do because it was bleeding out badly (3 times in fact during the wait time) and he suffered a MASSIVE stroke during this wait time. The only reason they did the MRI is because they noticed that his condition was rapidly worsening instead of remaining stable.
The sad thing is that when he first came in he didn’t have a bleeding aneurysm or a stroke. So Canadian health care decided that he can wait the next day to have a procedure since he wasn’t an “immediate” emergency. Yes, a brain aneurysm discovered after going into a coma isn’t an “immediate” emergency in Canada. In the USA, they’d have operated instantly because there is a risk something worse could happen (and they don’t want to get sued for negligence). In Canada, nope, wait…
Well, worse did happen and he suffered massive brain damage from the stroke and bleeding. Thanks Canada. This little boy is completely paralyzed now on one side and can’t walk or even go to the bathroom without assistance.
But at least he survived, right?
Well, as soon as the hospital could get him out of ICU (even before his skull bone was put back) only a few short days after he emerged from a coma, they moved him into “recovery” area where he had to share a room in conditions that would rival 3rd world countries… His roommate – a nonstop SCREAMING BABY.
You see, there are no private rooms available. You don’t even have the option to pay more to get a private room. “Sorry”, the hospital would say “the rooms are too full and he has to share”. They said they would try to accommodate. Needless to say, he didn’t sleep at all that night and his conditioned worsened after having such an incredible progress for the few days in ICU. Who would have thought that sleep is an important part of recovery??
Fortunately, he got put into another room with… a child of gang members. Seriously, no joke. The child was quiet at least. Until he got put into a room with a child with down syndrome. The DS child wakes up an screams in the middle of the night. Nobody is blaming the DS child or the screaming baby but 101 intelligence should tell you that you don’t put a brain trauma child in the same room as children that are incapable of sleeping the night without SCREAMING. So naturally, a severely brain trauma child is recovering so well in Canadian health care. There’s a clear pattern emerging… the sleepless nights = bad recovery next day and good night sleep = better recovery. Who would have thought that?!?
Now this child faces surgery to put part of his skull back but his white blood cell count is very low so they aren’t sure they can do it. Hmm… wonder if LACK OF SLEEP had anything to do with this child not healing fast enough!
Before anyone thinks this is because the little boy lives in a remote area and this is a crappy hospital… nope, it’s #1 hospital in Canada for children!
Yes, it’s totally free but there is a cost. This child is disabled because he had to wait in line. I can only hope it’s not for life that he can overcome his brain injuries.
Thanks FREE health care!
Oh, and I know the american system isn’t perfect. They don’t really have a private health system either. They don’t have a pricing model built in and they have huge market place distortions from many years of government involvement. But don’t tell me that Canadian “free” health care is superior…
Upon further reflection, this is definitely flat out commie agitprop.
Here’s why:
She expresses excitement over the Nanny State’s provision of informative pamphlets on sex-related issues. You see, brought up in a conservative household, she had no access to this kind of info.
Conservative household: a house full of mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging stump-tooth rednecks.
Nope. She has never been a conservative, doesn’t even know what a conservative is. Talk about stereotyping!
As the old saying goes, the plural of “anecdote” is not “data”. In either pro- or anti- senses.
Something people constantly forget about our system is that:
1) It is not actually a single system — each province manages its own plan, and has more flexibility and less bureaucratic constriction than the sclerotic federal one-size-fits-none behemoth of Obamacare.
2) Private insurance is also available and taken advantage of by the majority of citizens, and government regulations don’t try to force insurers to adopt unrealistic standards in order to guarantee coverage.
3) The heaviest-populated *province* in our country has fewer people than the sum of the two largest *cities* in the States.
4) The system was instituted during the ’60s when our population was smaller, far more homogeneous and much less demographically skewed towards the elderly, our culture was far less litigiously prone to malpractice suits, and our doctors took far less time and money to get properly trained.
As for the discrepancy in abortion rates, that may have something to do with the overwhelming majority of American abortions being those of black women with no other option thanks to the family-culture breakdown of that demographic. If you isolated only for Caribbean immigrants in Toronto, by far Canada’s largest corresponding demographic for factors of culture and economic status, I wonder if the difference would be so great.
Put simply: What works even passably well up here may not work elsewhere, because the countries are not the same. And you can think something is a good idea without thinking any proposed implementation of that idea is necessarily good.
Check out her blog:
http://ayoungmomsmusings.blogspot.ca/
She’s the type of blabbering self-cherishing airhead who makes me embarrassed to be female.
“So I continue my quest to learn who I am, and what makes me, me… Slowly, Melissa is taking shape…
I am:
A gentle parent
A loving spouse
A feminist
A writer
A sister
An advocate
A researcher
A community person
Contemplative
Queer
Compassionate
Creative
Passionate
Happy”
And on and on and bloody on. She’s simply too thick and emotional to understand the issues involved and she oughta shut her pie-hole. As Kathy Shaidle likes to say, women shouldn’t be allowed to vote. This chick is the reason.
Speaking of, tim said @6:02 – “Hell has frozen over for there has been a post on SDA that details a pragmatic, non ideological, point of view!” Because to leftists, left-wing = “non ideological”.
Tim,
I am a US resident and have been treated by the healthcare system.
You may “believe” that the US healthcare system is worse off than the Canadian one, but it is not beliefs that determine the reality, it is facts. If you can garner enough measurable data on treatment in Canada that it is superior to the US, I could be convinced. Making arguments based on feelings and beliefs will not convince me, no matter how many you make.
The “conservative” woman in the article strikes me as being less liberal than some, but definitely confused about upon which foundations both social and fiscal conservatism are built. Receiving the wealth of others so that she can be treated is not a good fit to either of those.