Those of you who support universal Health Care and use Canada as an example?

Question

http://www.wayodd.com/canadian-women-gives-birth-to-rare-identical-quads/v/7812/
This family goes to the USA because no hospital in Canada could handle this situation. Isn't this another example of what would happen here on a much larger scale if Universal Health Care comes to the US?

Frank: Is the weather nice in fantasy land? More population means longer lines and longer waits for doctors.

azawalli: She went to the first American hospital across the border and guess what, even in the thriving urban area of Montana (lol) they had everything needed to prepare for the birth of quads. Hmmmmmmm, I wonder how confident she will be in Canada's health care.

"g" - "rediculous"? Really? I stopped reading your response after that, learn to spell if you want to be taken seriously.

Noah h - You are delusional. Let's get this straight, the same government that can't seem to work out the passport thing, you really think will thrive with Universal Health Care? You can't be that stupid can you? Keep explaining it to yourself, eventually you might be stupid enough to believe that tripe, but I'm not that stupid.

Mr. D - I would, but everytime I try to find a recent patient, they are in a US hospital dying and thereby affecting our death rate. Please, you'll have to do better than that. Don't forget, your country has an easier time with financing it because you don't finance a millitary like we do. In fact, for the most part we are your military, so stay out of our internal debates.

X-man - if it had anything to do with this I would, but then I probably shouldn't do your work for you.

Answer 1

Yes, universal healthcare Canadian style is a disaster!

Answer 2

Nobody doubts that the USA has the most advanced heath care capabilities in the world. The problem is how to pay for care at these wonderful institutions.

The article does not state who paid for this hospital stay for this family. I'd be interested to know if the bill was paid for by the Canadian National Health system or by some other entity.

Answer 3

The Canadian system was developed because before it's implementation, many lower-class people in this country were dying from lack of proper medical care. The implementation of Universal Government-funded health care was to allow all people access to health care.

Now, I often hear disparaging remarks from Americans that health care is "not a right", that human beings do not have a right to having their life saved, that it depends on their wealth and the co-operation of their insurance company.

Personally, I feel much safer not having to worry about bankruptcy or my insurance company refusing to foot the bill or the hospital telling me they don't deal with the company I'm enrolled in.

The downside is, yes, sometimes there are waiting lines, and some Canadians (rich ones, you'll find) will go south. *shrugs* Our economies are integrated enough to allow that. Many Americans (poorer ones, you'll fine) will go north for medical drugs.

Answer 4

I wonder how many times I'm going to have to explain this. Universal HEALTH INSURANCE will make zero difference to the HEALTH CARE industry...except that everyone will have insurance to pay the bill. The HEALTH CARE industry will rejoice because for every patient they treat, a check will be in the mail. Also on the plus side fewer people will wait until the last minute before seeing a doctor they know they can't afford....this is called 'preventive medicine' and I can't imagine why anyone would be against that. I'm sure that the current private insurance companies are against a more rational, not to mention national HEALTH INSURANCE situation....let's be real....they want to continue to make billions of dollars...hard cheese! If they could or would insure everyone they would have done it by now. They can't, and they won't.....too bad. UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE FOR ALL AMERICANS..that's the ticcket!

Answer 5

Canada routinely sends cancer patients to America.

Canada also sends patients to America to use special MRI scanners (PET, 64-slice, etc). Those scanners are in HMO hospitals across the U.S. .
U.S. patients can use the scanners the same day or next day when there is an emergency situation. In Canada, patients have need to wait for the approval of the Canadian government before they can be sent to the U.S. to get the needed scan.

Why Do Liberals Think Canada Has A Better Health Care System?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuC5qOZ4XrJQ40qnNd.J4PTty6IX?qid=20070813205419AAWxin3

Answer 6

Anyone who has the money is going to come to the USA to get the service much quicker. Its like if you roder a computer from dell, if you have a spare $45 to pay for rush service, why wait a month for it?
I fully support universal health coverage, but i really don't think using any other country as an example is going to benefit us in the long run. maybe if we use them as an example of how NOT to organize it, but not as a model on how to.

By the way, sounds more like you are referring to socialized medicine, which isn't what most people support in reference to universal healthcare!

Answer 7

first off... it's one case... and it didn't say that "no hospital in Canada could handle it"... only the one they went too... I would assume there is more than one hospital in the entire nation...

you're jumping to rediculous conclusions here with only one example as a basis...

a few months ago a lady died in a waiting room in Los Angeles while she was waiting for care and none of the nurses did anything... it was all over the news, if you remember.... do you think that one example is represenative of the entire U.S. system?

and you pretty much have to be a citizen to use their healthcare.. if you didn't... many poor people (and greedy rich people) would surely go up there for free... much more than come down here...

Answer 8

First, you can't take one instance and use it as a generalization for the system as a whole.
It probably won't do any good, and I am sure it is futile, but anyone who is interested in real numbers and an overall view can visit the American Medical Student Association website to get information:

http://www.amsa.org/uhc/uhcres.cfm

Answer 9

What you Americans don't realize is that, in situations like this, the provincial government (in Canada, health care is a provincial responsibility) will pay for the care out of province. In other words, the woman is covered and doesn't have to worry about paying for medical care. She doesn't have to worry about her doctor dickering with an insurance company or an H.M.O. If she needs access to medical resources that are not available locally, she gets it. Generalizing from an isolated case is ridiculous. Nowhere is there an infinite supply of Neonatal ICU beds.

Can you say that the American health care "system" would handle a situation like this similarly?

Note to "satan666indiana": All Canadian doctors work as independent businesses. Instead of billing the patient or an insurance company, they bill the provincial government and get reimbursed. Health care in Canada functions pretty much like health care in the United States, only the government pays the medical bill, not an insurance company. All doctors get paid that way, period. Learn about the system you criticize before you offer an opinion.

Note to armygirl91: What makes you think that doctors will quit if the U.S. has universal healthcare? There wasn't a mass outflux of doctors to the U.S. when Canada introduced universal health care. Canadian doctors get paid very well for what they do. Do you seriously believe that every doctor in the U.S. is going to quit and become, say, a plumber if universal health care is implemented?

Answer 10

If doctor's would make the same pay they do now and the government foots the bill then Universal Healthcare would be a great alternative.

but more likely than not if the government is paying then they will find the doctors who will take the least amount of money.
Canadian healthcare is great until you get a real severe problem.

Answer 11

Universal Health Care vs Private Insurance.
Life expectancy- Canada- 80.2 yrs, US- 77.8 yrs.
Italy- 79.8, US- 77.8.
Iceland-80.3, US- 77.8.
Switzerland- 80.5, US- 77.8.
Sweden- 80.5, US- 77.8.
Australia- 80.5-, US- 77.8.
Japan- 81.2, US- 77.8.
Andorra- 83.5,(Highest in the world) US- 77.8
Swaziland-32.6,(Lowest in world and no UHC) US- 77.8

The United States has recently dropped to #25 in the world for life expectancy. It seems the top 24 have Universal Health Care and we poor schmucks are in the stone age.
Investigate a bit deeper into the Canadian health system and you may like it. But there are other countries with better systems then Canada and they cover EVERYONE.
The Canadian Scheme will pay for treatment outside of Canada if the patient is not willing to wait for an opening. Canada has to few Doctors per-capita compared to the US.