Dear American Friends....

[ClusterFreak]

Anyone on the right - or on the left - who tries to tell you that Canada's health care system delays or denies treatment to people with life-threatening conditions, is at best woefully misinformed.

Or at worst is wilfully lying.

If you heard something like that, then whereever you heard it, the person saying it was absolutely making it up out of thin air. Or the person who told that person about it was.

You know who else is lying? Republican puppet Shona Holmes, the Canadian shill from the anti-single payer commercials making the rounds in the States. She claims she had a brain tumor and was told she'd have to wait several months for treatment in Canada. So she went to the Mayo Clinic, had surgery to have it removed right away, and had her life saved. Or so she claims.

Because...it wasn't a tumor. (No Kindergarten Cop jokes, please!:)) It was a benign cyst - there is a specific medical description of the type of cyst it was, but it's not important - and it WASN'T life threatening. At all. In fact, for the type of cyst it was there have been absolutely no, zero, reported cases of deaths in Canada associated with having this affliction. So, Holmes' Canadian doctors told her she could have her surgery, her FREE surgery, for a non-cancerous cyst, in a few months. Reasonable, no? But instead...she chose - as was her absolute right - to have the surgery done in the U.S. It cost almost 100 grand. Her friends and family helped her pay for it. She has an incredible family and group of friends, of that there is no debate.

The real debate, the one over private versus public health care is too important to be infected with deliberate lies...such as public health care in Canada will deny someone life saving brain surgery....or as was skittishly posited as a query elsewhere on DU today, will refuse dialysis to someone who turns 55 and is in end stage renal failure. It is a lie. Not an exception to the rule, not misinformation, but a bald faced lie.

And it's goal is simple: to maintain the Washington status quo. To not piss off the health care lobby who contribute so greatly to both Republicans AND Democrats seeking and winning congressional and senatorial seats on Capitol Hill. That lobby expects something for it's investment. Votes from these elected representatives which reflect the goals and ambitions of the lobby. Votes which keep the health care lobby fat and giggly. And as long as those votes keep coming in, the health care dollars flowing into congressional and senatorial campaign war chests will do the same.

Period.

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. True dat

WERD! +1

[ClusterFreak]

2. ...

;)

[Eyerish]

3. K&R n/t

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. Campaign finance reform and the limiting of the power of lobbyists may be among the keys

to healthcare reform and many other logjams were are experiencing. The great power and influence of the healthcare industry through their millions of campaign dollars has turned our lawmakers into whores and created a conflict of interest between their service to the people and to their corporate masters.

[FiveGoodMen]

5. K&R

[glarius]

6. Another Canadian here seconding your remarks....about Shona Holmes...

When I first saw her phony ad on TV I knew from personal experience that she was lying. I have since heard that besides the info you have provided about her, she is allied with some group in Ontario that is trying to bring in private health care a la U.S.A., for their own personal profit.

[ClusterFreak]

7. Kick

:kick:

[Mnemosyne]

8. And another rec and

:kick:

[burning rain]

9. k&r

'

[cascadiance]

10. It would be interesting to do more in depth research on who funded her surgery...

Now I'm sure there were some who thought honestly that she was facing life threatening situation and donated to her, but I wonder if many of them had some health care lobbyists giving them money under the table to "donate" to her surgery as part of this scam... I wouldn't put it past them!

[ClusterFreak]

11. I wouldn't put it past them either...good point.

:thumbsup:

[Tracer]

12. Cluster --- I was under the impression that ...

... Canada PAID for the medical expenses of people who traveled to the US for treatment. Or do they only pay when patients are SENT to the US because of lack of facilities, doctors etc. in Canada.

Please explain.

[Canuckistanian]

13. Shona Holmes decided to go OUTSIDE our health system all on her own

So, she doesn't get re-imbursed.

She should have listened to her doctors. They proabably informed her that there was no hurry and her case was not urgent.

But no. Shona made the rash decision to sell her house and make a loud proclamation that she was denied care. And of course, she was welcomed with open arms by the US insurance company goons.

If she had taken her doctors' advice, she would have had her procedure paid for.

[JBoy]

14. Rules may vary slightly from province to province, but here's the rules for Ontario:

http://www.surgeryabroad.ca/HOME/ohip.html

"OHIP will pay in full for health services outside of Canada if the patient gets written authorization from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care before the treatment is given. The treatment needs to generally accepted in Ontario to be qualified.

To qualify for funding from OHIP, the treatment you seek must be provided in a hospital or licensed facility where medical services are provided; AND generally accepted as appropriate in Ontario for a person in the same medical circumstances (i.e. not experimental); AND of a kind not performed in Ontario by an identical or equivalent procedure; OR currently unavailable in Ontario, and the delay that would result from waiting would result in death or serious, irreversible harm."
---------------

I believe that if a Canadian is travelling abroad and become sick or injured, their treatment costs will be covered by their province, but only up to the equivalent amount to treat you back home. This could leave you significantly out of pocket in the US. No sane Canadian travels to the US without having supplemental (a la Blue Cross) coverage. In fact Blue Cross is running radio ads in Canada right now, "recounting" a story about someone's shopping trip to the US that turned into a $50,000 bill when they fell and broke their hip.

[Canuckistanian]

15. Good post!

From one Canadian to another, you're absolutely correct.

K&R

[ClusterFreak]

16. Thanks!

:hi:

[Echo In Light]

17. Unfortunately they'd willfully lie even if not woefully misinformed. Belief usually trumps fact.

[Subdivisions]

18. Good Americans die to fatten campaign war chests. K&R n/t