Sicko proves our(Canada) health-care approach is working

[RedEarth]

Sunday, July 15, 2007


Michael Moore starts his new documentary, Sicko, with footage showing what a U.S. citizen without health insurance does when he's injured: He takes a needle and thread and sews up a gaping gash in his knee himself. Welcome to Moore's tragedy-packed effort to persuade other U.S. citizens that theirs might not be the best medical system in the world.

Non-Americans, like us, are on the outside looking in, horrified, as Moore piles up his proof: The fully insured mother whose little girl is allowed to die because she was taken to a hospital her insurer would not pay for; the nurse whose husband died after being rejected for a bone-marrow transplant on the ground this by-now-routine intervention was "experimental;" a 79-year-old man who could not afford to give up his job because with the job came medical insurance that allowed him to buy the medication to keep his wife alive.

.........

In Britain, drug companies invested proportionately more of their revenues from domestic sales in research and development than U.S. companies. In Canada, in 2004, brand-name drug companies reported income from their domestic sales was about 10 times higher than their R&D costs, despite prices about 40 per cent lower than in the United States.

And was the United States the only country that discovered innovative new drugs? No, the rate of European countries' discoveries was proportionately equal to that in the United States.

It's not Moore who's fear-mongering here. It's the upholders-at-all-cost of privatized medical care, today's purveyors of the Big Lie, capitalist-style.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=9b59023d-8eab-412d-a966-aeaae6228629&k=48941

[LynneSin]

1. I was bawling about as much as I do each time "Beaches" is on lifetime

But the woman two rows behind me was opening sobbing so loud

[RedEarth]

2. It was a powerful flim.... one of the few I've been to when the audience broke into

spontaneous applause at the end...sent chills up my back. In turned out, the couple in front of us were both doctors and they too were standing and applauding. They both would like to see Single-Payer system in the US.

[LynneSin]

3. They applauded at my movie too

How could you not!

[Locrian]

4. let the games begin

I already had a fellow worker say:


him: "b..but you have to wait a MONTH for a MRI in Canada..."
me: Where did you hear that? WHO said that?
him: "National News" - (whatever the fuck that is)
me: Bullshit. Give me the details and I will PROVE its wrong.


It hasnt even begun. Wait until the corporate wagons start circling. We'll see fear and misinformation beyond our wildest dreams.

[RobofSWVA]

5. health care in america is fubar

I say that from the perspective of a licensed insurance agent. I refuse to do any H.I. unless a family member or close friend begs me. I just stick to Life Insurance and retirement planning. It's sick how inflated major insurance carriers try to make premiums.

I recently had a case where due to mental health issues they wanted to charge a 22 year old woman $650 a month. The audacity of that is outrageous and simply stunning.

While I don't think the government should control health care because I don't trust them to do an efficient job, I think it would be great if they fixed prices across the board for all non-elective procedures. I say non-elective because I'm not about to subsidize some rich lady's breast implants and face-lift.

[GliderGuider]

7. an anecdote to illustrate the issue about waiting in Canada

(FYI, I'm not GliderGuider, I'm his partner.)

A few years ago I went to my GP because I'd suddenly lost sensation on the left side of my face and all down my left arm. He ordered X-rays and the report said nothing was obviously the matter. So he sent me to a physiotherapist. (All this in the space of <48 hours.)
She did a long battery of tests and could find no cause or remedy. I took her report back to my GP. (One more day.)
At this time he began to look nervous. He squeezed me in for a CT scan the next day between previously scheduled appointments at the closest hospital by saying it was urgent. The results were negative.
He got me an MRI in 4 days. If you're not picky about the time of day (and people who are worried about brain tumours are NOT picky) you can get in at 2:00 or 3:00 AM without much of a wait.
It's usually a 6-month wait to see a neurologist but again, when it's an emergency, people bend over backwards to fit you in. I had 2 appointments with him that included more tests.

It turned out that the problem is caused by arthritic bone spurs growing into the spinal nerve channel of a couple of vertebrae in my neck that were missed.
*sigh*
But the point of the story is that, when it's urgent, the system works just hunky-dorey fine. Moore talked about the Cdn health system pie being shared equally, rather than the lion's share going to the first in line. When it's shared equally, so what if you're the last one served. You still get your share.

An additional note: I'm self-employed so I lost wages for the hours that I took off work. The rest was all at no extra cost to me than the portion of my federal and provincial taxes that go toward health care. I do not have any extra private health insurance, although it's available should I choose to purchase it. I'm covered under my ex's health benefits but they were not accessed for this care.

I won't say that the system is perfect. No system is.
I have all the sensation back in my face, arm and hand but it's because I'm seeing a chiropractor frequently. This treatment is all out-of-pocket. But the treatment, while totally icky when he makes loud, unnatural noises come out of my neck, is non-invasive and drug-free. It would be a savings to the health system to cover chiropractic care. They'd have covered spinal surgery and resulting physiotherapy if I'd chosen that route.

[Johonny]

6. I saw the movie

and was blown away. The point of the movie that came across to me is that in every other Western Democracy the people in those countries actually expect their Governments to use the money collected for society on them! From now on I will not vote for a national candidate that is not for national health care.