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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Eric15210 on February 02, 2010, 05:48:01 AM

Title: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Eric15210 on February 02, 2010, 05:48:01 AM
Maybe Brock Lesnar was right  ;D


Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.

Mr. Williams, 59, has said nothing of his health in the media. The premier's press secretary confirmed the report Monday evening.

Deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday, but would not reveal the location of the operation or how it would be paid for.

Ms. Dunderdale will become acting premier while Williams is away. He is expected to be away from four to six weeks.

For many, the Premier's need for heart surgery comes as a surprise, especially in light of the fact he is an avid hockey player and has shown no outward signs of illness as of late.

On Friday, Mr. Williams met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and while speaking to reporters seemed healthy and in good spirits.

A decision to leave Canada for the surgery, especially if it is available here, raises questions about the Premier's confidence in Newfoundland's health care system


http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2510700
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Fury on February 02, 2010, 06:04:27 AM
Ironic.  :-X
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 02, 2010, 07:31:16 AM
::)


Why Hugo? 

Can you back up the eye roll? 

The fact is that if you want excellence, you come tot he USA.  If you want wait lines, mediocre service, and DMV style health care, you go to socialist countries.   
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 02, 2010, 02:28:56 PM

Why Hugo? 

Can you back up the eye roll? 

The fact is that if you want excellence, you come tot he USA.  If you want wait lines, mediocre service, and DMV style health care, you go to socialist countries.   

BUMP FOR THE SOCIALISTS! 
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Fury on February 02, 2010, 04:55:36 PM
BUMP FOR THE SOCIALISTS! 

Good luck with that. It's all too amusing that major world leaders are always coming to the USA for surgery. Must be because they like dancing with death.  ::)
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 02, 2010, 06:06:16 PM
Good luck with that. It's all too amusing that major world leaders are always coming to the USA for surgery. Must be because they like dancing with death.  ::)

Where is the Luke and The TA on this?

The 333386
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: 240 is Back on February 02, 2010, 06:22:15 PM
For rich people, hell yes.

But what % of canadians can afford to come here for high end advanced procedures?

LMAO at all the repubs who just know they'll be rich one day ;)
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Fury on February 02, 2010, 06:26:01 PM
For rich people, hell yes.

But what % of canadians can afford to come here for high end advanced procedures?

LMAO at all the repubs who just know they'll be rich one day ;)

But I thought their health care was supposed to benefit EVERYONE. Why does anyone with money seek treatment elsewhere?
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: 240 is Back on February 02, 2010, 06:28:49 PM
hey, i'm against the obama plan.  But in ANY society, those with the most $ are always going to get advanced options
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 02, 2010, 06:30:19 PM
For rich people, hell yes.

But what % of canadians can afford to come here for high end advanced procedures?

LMAO at all the repubs who just know they'll be rich one day ;)


Thats why people carry health insurance.
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skip8282 on February 02, 2010, 07:14:06 PM
Where is the Luke and The TA on this?

The 333386


Guess the WHO rankings don't mean jackshit all of a sudden.  HAHAHAHAHA

33, Don't look for this thread to be around for too long.  I'm gonna drive Hugo nuts bumping the shit out of it everytime one of those clowns that love throwing the WHO rankings in our faces starts shit talking.  :D
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 02, 2010, 07:25:40 PM

Guess the WHO rankings don't mean jackshit all of a sudden.  HAHAHAHAHA

33, Don't look for this thread to be around for too long.  I'm gonna drive Hugo nuts bumping the shit out of it everytime one of those clowns that love throwing the WHO rankings in our faces starts shit talking.  :D

The Skip

Yeah I dont expect those guys to post on this thread.
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skip8282 on February 02, 2010, 07:45:03 PM
The Skip

Yeah I dont expect those guys to post on this thread.


Can't imagine why not.  Afterall, we rank 37 and Canada ranks 30.  Who in their right mind would go to a country DOWN on the list for their healthcare needs?  Maybe the Premier is under CIA mind control?
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: James on February 03, 2010, 07:40:27 AM
Quote
Maybe Brock Lesnar was right  Grin


Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.

Mr. Williams, 59, has said nothing of his health in the media. The premier's press secretary confirmed the report Monday evening.

Deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday, but would not reveal the location of the operation or how it would be paid for.

Ms. Dunderdale will become acting premier while Williams is away. He is expected to be away from four to six weeks.

For many, the Premier's need for heart surgery comes as a surprise, especially in light of the fact he is an avid hockey player and has shown no outward signs of illness as of late.

On Friday, Mr. Williams met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and while speaking to reporters seemed healthy and in good spirits.

A decision to leave Canada for the surgery, especially if it is available here, raises questions about the Premier's confidence in Newfoundland's health care system


http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2510700



Where will Americans go, once the Liberals destroy our Health care system ?

The James.
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: shootfighter1 on February 03, 2010, 08:26:17 AM
Wow, certainly gives more weight to the U.S. doctors being the best.
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skip8282 on February 03, 2010, 08:33:55 AM


Where will Americans go, once the Liberals destroy our Health care system ?

The James.


Well, if we follow the Premier's example, we have to go 7 countries down on the list.  So, enjoy your flight to Qatar.

The Skip
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 03, 2010, 08:34:59 AM

Well, if we follow the Premier's example, we have to go 7 countries down on the list.  So, enjoy your flight to Qatar.

The Skip

  ;D  ;D  ;D
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: MCWAY on February 03, 2010, 08:50:19 AM
Didn't Italy's Prime Minister (or some other prime time player in their government) come over here, to get some major health-salavaging surgery done?
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: James on February 03, 2010, 08:51:22 AM
The only thing that needs to be remembered, is that the very same Liberal Politicians who tried to pass Obama Care into Law, also exempted themselves from ever having to go on it, if it ever did became Law.

The James
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 03, 2010, 08:52:45 AM
The only thing that needs to be remembered, is that the very same Politicians who tried to pass Obama Care into Law, also exempted themselves from ever having to go on it, if it ever did became Law.

And the Unions. 

The 333386. 
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: shootfighter1 on February 03, 2010, 12:38:06 PM
James, that is an important (and completely unacceptible) issue.  If universal healthcare is ever passed, then everyone gets it.  We must insist.

Actually, quite a few world leaders have come to the US for surgeries.  Several middle eastern royalty have come to the Cleveland Clinic for care.  I remember when the royal family of Saudia Arabia came and rented out a whole floor years ago.  My martial arts coach and friend who was a personal trainer got to work with one of the princes when they came to Cleveland.
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skeeter on February 03, 2010, 04:25:50 PM
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2514581

Danny Williams could have stayed in Canada for top cardiac care, doctors say

Tom Blackwell, National Post  Published: Tuesday, February 02, 2010

      N.L. Premier Williams set to have heart surgery in U.S.

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams has caused controversy by seeking cardiac treatment in the United States. Rhonda Hayward/St. John's Telegram Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams has caused controversy by seeking cardiac treatment in the United States.

Danny Williams' decision to seek out heart surgery in the United States may seem like an embarrassing blow to Canadian health care, but cardiac specialists say the Newfoundland Premier could have obtained virtually any heart treatment in his own country, carried out by top-notch doctors.

Long wait times for cardiac surgery were a problem 15 years ago but are generally "a thing of the past" in most parts of Canada, physicians insist. Where queues develop for elective operations, patients are routinely sent to other provinces for speedy care, with their own government's medicare plan picking up the tab, they say.

"Virtually all forms of cardiac surgery are looked after in Canada, and I would say extremely well," said Dr. Chris Feindel, a cardiac surgeon at Toronto's University Health Network. "Personally ... I would have my cardiac surgery done in Canada, no matter what resources I had at my disposal."

In fact, he said, patients from the United States and other countries come to the UHN's Peter Munk Cardiac Centre for valve repairs, a procedure developed by Toronto surgeons. Meanwhile, the death rate after bypass surgery in Ontario is among the lowest in North America, reports the province's Cardiac Care Network.

Kathy Dunderdale, Newfoundland and Labrador's deputy premier, confirmed yesterday the popular Premier, pictured, left for the United States on Monday to undergo heart surgery.

However, Ms. Dunderdale declined to detail his condition or the nature of the treatment he was receiving.

She said the operation is not available in Newfoundland and the decision to go south of the border was made after weeks of consultation with his doctors. Mr. Williams, 60, is expected to make a full recovery, said Ms. Dunderdale.

The spectacle of a prominent Canadian politician seeking out important health care in the U.S. is already being seized upon by opponents of health reform in the States, who tend to portray the proposed changes there as a move toward Canadian-style care.

"What a Newfie Joke!" blared David Horowitz's Newsreal, a conservative blog site. "[Mr. Williams] has so much confidence in his country's compassionate, socially just health care system he's come to the U.S. for heart surgery."

In fact, Newfoundland is able to provide bypasses and other common heart operations at home, but routinely ships patients to Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa for rarer procedures, such as transplants and treatment of congenital heart defects, said Dr. Eric Stone, a St. John's cardiologist.

There are simply not enough cases of that sort for surgeons in Newfoundland to develop the requisite expertise, he said. In 28 years, though, Dr. Stone said he has never had to refer a patient to the U.S.

"What is wrong is to create the impression the Canadian health care system can't take care of things," he said. "To get excited about that makes no sense to me."

Dr. Feindel said he is aware of only a single non-experimental heart operation not available in Canada: one to repair a rare aneurysm in the part of the aorta descending through the chest. While about 11,000 heart surgeries are carried out in Ontario every year, only one or two patients are sent to Baylor University Hospital in Texas to undergo the complex aorta operation, he said.

A half-dozen or so other Ontario patients are sent to the States yearly for emergency heart surgery that is closer at hand in the States because the patient lives near the border, said Kori Kingsbury, CEO of the Cardiac Care Network.

This country's heart care is otherwise on a par with the States, agreed Dr. Blair O'Neill, vice president-elect of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. "I would say the expertise in Canadian centres is quite high and the type of procedures they do are definitely leading edge," said the Edmonton cardiologist.

The one problem area is in treatment of some heart-rhythm problems. The waits for so-called "ablations" to fix atrial fibrillation -- an abnormal rhythm in the heart's upper chamber -- can stretch to over a year in some parts of the country, said Dr. O'Neill, though the condition is generally not life threatening.

In fact, 99% of people with the problem can be treated easily with inexpensive drugs, and the ablation procedure itself has never been proven effective in a randomized controlled trial, said Dr. Colin Rose, a Montreal cardiologist.

All that being said, heart doctors say there have always been Canadians who, like Mr. Williams, are rich enough that they can choose to get care in the United States at their own expense.

"Having sophisticated, wealthy patients pick the places they want to go is not a new thing," said Dr. Stone. "Someone who has enough money can get on a plane and go anywhere they want for health care."



http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hea_dis_dea-health-heart-disease-deaths (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hea_dis_dea-health-heart-disease-deaths)

Heart disease related deaths per country

# 1    Slovakia:     216 per 100,000 people      
# 2      Hungary:    192.1 per 100,000 people     
# 3      Ireland:    152.6 per 100,000 people     
# 4      Czech Republic:    148.6 per 100,000 people     
# 5      Finland:    143.8 per 100,000 people     
# 6      New Zealand:    127.3 per 100,000 people     
# 7      United Kingdom:    122 per 100,000 people     
# 8      Iceland:    115.4 per 100,000 people     
# 9      Norway:    112.5 per 100,000 people     
# 10      Australia:    110.9 per 100,000 people     
# 11      Sweden:    110.1 per 100,000 people     
# 12      Austria:    109.3 per 100,000 people     
# 13      United States:    106.5 per 100,000 people     
# 14      Germany:    106.1 per 100,000 people     
# 15      Denmark:    105.4 per 100,000 people     
# 16      Canada:    94.9 per 100,000 people
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: The Luke on February 03, 2010, 06:46:38 PM
Skeeter ends the thread by introducing a copious dollop of reality.

Good work.


The Luke
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skip8282 on February 03, 2010, 06:48:38 PM
Danny Williams' decision to seek out heart surgery in the United States may seem like an embarrassing blow to Canadian health care, but cardiac specialists say the Newfoundland Premier could have obtained virtually any heart treatment in his own country, carried out by top-notch doctors.



Yea, if I had egg on my face, I'd be making that claim too.

As for your list, I can agree but that's got nothing to do with medical care.  It has to do with the piss poor eating habits of Americans and our general lack of exercise.  Ever seen those "people of Walmart" threads, lol?  I'm actually surprised we're not higher on that list for heart disease.
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skip8282 on February 03, 2010, 06:50:26 PM
Skeeter ends the thread by introducing a copious dollop of reality.

Good work.


The Luke



What reality?  That Canada is claiming they can match the US?  Seems to me the Premier feels otherwise...
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 03, 2010, 06:51:30 PM
Skeeter ends the thread by introducing a copious dollop of reality.

Good work.


The Luke

Yeah throw in 200 extra million people into canada, a few million of which are welfare queens and deadbeats, a few millon others who live like slobs and watch that number skyrocket.  
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skeeter on February 03, 2010, 07:08:22 PM


What reality?  That Canada is claiming they can match the US?  Seems to me the Premier feels otherwise...

Can't deny that statistic. Canada is high in overweight/obesity, but not as high as the USA. However there are plenty of Americans that would rather come here.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=0441d488-bfc7-4171-a8bd-fae425c22052 (http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=0441d488-bfc7-4171-a8bd-fae425c22052)


ID theft scams target Canada’s health-care system
 
Criminals are exploiting lax security in government databases to assume false identities and take advantage of Canada’s health-care system, warns a leading expert in identity fraud.
 
By The Ottawa CitizenNovember 3, 2008

OTTAWA - Criminals are exploiting lax security in government databases to assume false identities and take advantage of Canada’s health-care system, warns a leading expert in identity fraud.

But such scams go largely unprosecuted because there is no concerted effort by government agencies to go after bogus health-care claimants, says former Edmonton police detective Joe Pendleton.

Mr. Pendleton, who helped uncover one of the country’s most notorious identity-theft schemes, told an Ottawa conference of privacy experts Monday that existing federal and provincial privacy laws hamper criminal investigations by keeping even the most basic patient health records out of the reach of police.

The situation is made worse by a lack of cooperation from health officials, who don’t appear to take the problem seriously, said Mr. Pendleton, who now works as a security consultant.

“I don’t see any resolve within the existing medical paradigm to ferret out and address identity fraud,” he said. “I don’t see any real urge on the part of the community to work with traditional law enforcement to solve the problem. And I think that, in fact, health information privacy legislation actually works against the police and works against the mitigation of these particular crimes.”

Mr. Pendleton recounted the case of William Skupowsky, a U.S. citizen who was arrested in Calgary in 2001 for using a Canadian passport that he had obtained by assuming the identity of a dead nine-year-old boy from British Columbia.

Police later determined that Mr. Skupowsky, a San Francisco resident who went by the name of Randy Klassen, had used his alias to get elective surgery at a Calgary hospital. He also confessed to belonging to a ring of bogus health-care claimants from that city.

“He said, ‘You people have free health care in Canada. That’s pretty well known … I’m part of an underground railway of people coming up from San Francisco to have their medical problems taken care of in Canada,’ “ said Mr. Pendleton.

But when Mr. Pendleton tried to investigate Mr. Skupowsky’s activities, he found himself stymied by the Alberta government’s refusal to disclose any of Mr. Skupowsky’s health records without a search warrant.

Applying for warrants is such an onerous task, often taking months of work, that investigations all but grind to a halt as a result, said Mr. Pendleton.

In the Skupowsky case, the accused eventually pleaded guilty to passport fraud and was jailed for two weeks before being deported to the U.S., where he also faced drug charges.

The case was one of dozens of identity scams that came to light as part of a wider criminal investigation into William Ernest Black, an Edmonton man who was arrested in 1999 after police discovered a canvas bag stuffed with nearly 280 Canadian documents — from birth certificates to passports — in the names of 83 people.

Mr. Black eventually pleaded guilty to eight counts of passport fraud and one of possession of stolen property and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

His scam demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the government bureaucracy that tracks the lives of Canadians. Using archival material easily available at libraries, Mr. Black assembled identity profiles based on newspaper obituaries. In particular, he exploited a specific type of death: those of children who died outside the provinces in which they were born.

Although police managed to arrest Mr. Black, many of the people who bought his false documents for as much as $37,000 were never caught. The few who were turned out to have extensive connections to organized crime, said Mr. Pendleton.

For a time, “the competition for dead children was so fierce that we had situations where two and three different crime groups were accessing the same dead child’s identity,” said Mr. Pendleton.

He cited another example of medical fraud involving a tourist from the Middle East who used her Canadian relative’s identity to get medical treatment from a hospital. In a third case, a woman suffering from complications as a result of breast-enhancement surgery used her sister’s health insurance to claim benefits.

“I assure you that this sort of thing is going on,” said Mr. Pendleton. “And what I can tell you is that they all have one thing in common. None of them were ever prosecuted. Even when we had detected them, they were never prosecuted. And I got the distinct impression that nobody really cared.”

And because so few cases of medical identity fraud reach the country’s courts, there is no clear picture of just how widespread the problem is, said Khaled El Emam, a University of Ottawa professor who holds the Canada Research Chair in electronic health information.

In the U.S., where a for-profit health-care system creates incentives for hospitals and insurance companies to root out identity theft, an estimated 15 per cent of claims are considered fraudulent, said Mr. El Emam.

Many provinces are trying to store more patient information in digital form so a patient’s different health providers can read and update it more easily. As more health records are stored in computerized databases, privacy experts are wrestling with how to strike a balance between keeping patient information secure, while allowing police and health planners reasonable access to such data for investigative or research purposes.


http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/20/world/americans-filching-free-health-care-in-canada.html (http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/20/world/americans-filching-free-health-care-in-canada.html)

Americans Filching Free Health Care in Canada
By CLYDE H. FARNSWORTH,
Published: December 20, 1993

TORONTO, Dec. 19— Lacking a national health care system of their own, thousands of Americans are tapping into Canada's -- illegally.

"It's not an epidemic in any one person's practice," said Keith MacLeod, an obstetrician in Windsor, Ontario, across from Detroit, "but I would estimate that from 12 to 20 of my patients at any one time are ineligible Americans. And I'm just one of 520 doctors in Windsor, 23,000 in Ontario."

Dr. MacLeod, former president of the Essex County Medical Society, delivers about 400 babies a year.

A report prepared for Ontario's Health Minister indicated that from August 1992 to February 1993, 60,000 medical claims had been made on behalf of patients who held American drivers' licenses. The total number of improper claims in Ontario was estimated at 600,000.

Only legal residents qualify for free medical care in Canada, using plastic health cards for identification. Others are supposed to pay for medical services they may require, but many are submitting counterfeit, borrowed or fradulently obtained cards.

Loopholes and the lack of stringent controls are costing the provincial health care system as much as $691 million a year, the Ontario report found.

"The ministry is open to the fraudulent use of health care in all programs," the report said. "Almost no analytical tools exist at this time, and lenient registration policies encourage abuse by non- and new residents."

Joseph Cordiano, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the Ontario Legislature, added, "Fraud is squandering our resources."

Although the encroachment is largely a border phenomenon, it has national scope because more than 90 percent of Canadians live and work within 100 miles of the United States. Other provinces have similar problems, but Ontario's size has given the issue national prominence.

In Canada, policing health care was always seen as more trouble than it was worth, and the authorities have long ignored cracks in the system. Doctors have little desire to be secret informers, and strict patient confidentiality laws have helped seal their lips.

And for years Canadians widely believed that their country was rich enough to look after all those who entered its portals.

But times are changing. In an era of mammoth budget deficits, to which free health care is a leading contributor, politicians of all stripes are eagerly seizing on ways to save money.

"In the past, we didn't pay enough attention to who was an Ontario resident," said Health Minister Ruth Grier, a member of the socialist-oriented New Democratic Party, which governs the province. "But now we have to make sure that we spend taxpayers' dollars as wisely as possible."

The provinces run Canada's health care system, which takes roughly a third of their budgets and is financed by payroll taxes, federal transfer payments and periodic borrowing.

About a quarter of the $17 billion spent on health care in Ontario, the richest and most populous province, is borrowed in the form of bonds sold to investors, many from the United States. Borrowing Costs Increase

The recent downgrading of Ontario's debt by two leading bond-rating services has suddenly raised the province's borrowing costs, thus compounding its financial problems.

Many reasons besides fraud contribute to Canada's rising medical costs: higher prices for medical technology, relatively long hospital stays and an oversupply of doctors, who are rewarded under a fee-for-service system when they see more patients and perform more procedures.

Yet fraud has drawn the spotlight, perhaps because it is an easier political target than some of the other factors.

Jim Wilson, the spokesman on health matters for the Conservative opposition in Ontario's Legislature, is urging stiffer verification procedures.

"We've lost 5,000 hospital beds in the last two years," he said. "There are ever-increasing waiting lists for cancer treatment. There is a health care crisis in Ontario, and the public has very little patience for Americans or others not entitled to use our health system clogging up our services."





Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skeeter on February 03, 2010, 07:10:55 PM
I'm not trying to discredit your health care I just don't think that Canadian health care is as bad as certain members of the media make it out to be. True we do have problems with our health care but what country doesn't.
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: The Luke on February 03, 2010, 07:12:53 PM
I think the biggest obstacle to proper discussion of this subject is one of reference.

Those who pay out of their own pocket for healthcare (the Americans on this board), think about this subject from a personal reference point: my healthcare, my doctor, my insurance provider... I'm okay... I'm safe.

Those from socialist countries (Canadians and Europeans) on the other hand, think in terms of the collective system available to EVERY citizen in their country.


I think every Canadian has a better idea of how the average Canadian is treated by their universal healthcare, than a premium paying middle-class American college graduate with middle-class parents understands the failings of the American system.


The facts remain:
One in six Americans have no health insurance... the problem is that five in six Americans don't think there is a problem.

But the joke's on them... a further one in six INSURED Americans will be denied coverage in a catastrophic situation, and healthcare costs (denied claims) are the leading cost of banruptcy among INSURED Americans.

Just sayin'...  facts are facts.


The Luke
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skip8282 on February 03, 2010, 07:15:43 PM
In both your articles, they are not going there because Canada is better, but because Canada has access.  I can agree that we've got huge problems with accessibility here.  It's one of the reasons I'm a big proponent of health reform (just not Obamacare).

We've got issues with cost and affordability, the fact that medical inflation soars past regular inflation year after year, accessibility, etc.

But we don't have problems with quality.  We are far and away the best in quality.  And the Premier coming here is a quality issue.  He's got access, but he's choosing quality.
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skip8282 on February 03, 2010, 07:20:42 PM


The facts remain:
One in six Americans have no health insurance... the problem is that five in six Americans don't think there is a problem.

But the joke's on them... a further one in six INSURED Americans will be denied coverage in a catastrophic situation, and healthcare costs (denied claims) are the leading cost of banruptcy among INSURED Americans.
The Luke



And I agree, accessibility is a huge problem.  Denial of preexisting conditions, battling HMO's for treatment, etc.  All need to be addressed.  But the quality of care here is unsurpassed.


BTW, what's up with Ireland being #3 in heart disease.  Jokes aside, I really figured the US would be number #1.  Just go to one of our malls and look at how many extremely obese people are walking around.  And I'm not talking chubby, I'm talking enormous...
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skeeter on February 03, 2010, 07:26:30 PM


And I agree, accessibility is a huge problem.  Denial of preexisting conditions, battling HMO's for treatment, etc.  All need to be addressed.  But the quality of care here is unsurpassed.


BTW, what's up with Ireland being #3 in heart disease.  Jokes aside, I really figured the US would be number #1.  Just go to one of our malls and look at how many extremely obese people are walking around.  And I'm not talking chubby, I'm talking enormous...

If you can afford it.

Of course everyone on Get Big is a millionaire so it's all good. ;D
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skip8282 on February 03, 2010, 07:34:01 PM
If you can afford it.

Of course everyone on Get Big is a millionaire so it's all good. ;D


Very true.  GB's just have to sell one their Bentley's (after they've won a championship MMA fight and fucked the hottest looking woman in town) for some pocket change to cover surgery on their Cutler like physiques.
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: The Luke on February 03, 2010, 07:37:30 PM
BTW, what's up with Ireland being #3 in heart disease.  Jokes aside, I really figured the US would be number #1.  Just go to one of our malls and look at how many extremely obese people are walking around.  And I'm not talking chubby, I'm talking enormous...

Isolated and very old gene pool.

The original group of people to colonise Ireland were the Brehin (not the Celts as most think), the Celts, Fermori, Vikings and Norse/Normans (genetically also Vikings) followed but were mostly absorbed.

Hence the Irish have high predispositions to genetic problems such as alcoholism (most Irish have two copies of the strong alcohol enzyme gene) and hemochromotosis (one of the leading genetic causes of heart disease) of which we have the highest national rate in the world.

Add to this our very high calorie intake (higher than Americans, we even eat more choclate than the Swiss) and a social acceptance of a sedentary lifestyle (this is changing though).


But our (free and universal) healthcare system ranks very high, homocide/accident rates are very low and our life expectancy is good... so people live long enough to succumb to their genetic predisposition to heart disease.


The Luke
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 03, 2010, 07:43:47 PM
Isolated and very old gene pool.

The original group of people to colonise Ireland were the Brehin (not the Celts as most think), the Celts, Fermori, Vikings and Norse/Normans (genetically also Vikings) followed but were mostly absorbed.

Hence the Irish have high predispositions to genetic problems such as alcoholism (most Irish have two copies of the strong alcohol enzyme gene) and hemochromotosis (one of the leading genetic causes of heart disease) of which we have the highest national rate in the world.

Add to this our very high calorie intake (higher than Americans, we even eat more choclate than the Swiss) and a social acceptance of a sedentary lifestyle (this is changing though).


But our (free and universal) healthcare system ranks very high, homocide/accident rates are very low and our life expectancy is good... so people live long enough to succumb to their genetic predisposition to heart disease.


The Luke

Corn Beef & Guiness. 
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skip8282 on February 03, 2010, 07:46:58 PM
Corn Beef & Guiness. 


Add some mash potatoes and I'm in!
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Soul Crusher on February 03, 2010, 07:48:30 PM

Add some mash potatoes and I'm in!

Who the hell wants to live forever anyway?
Title: Re: Canadian Premier comes to USA for surgery
Post by: Skeeter on February 04, 2010, 03:54:46 AM
Canadian cuisine.  ;D

(http://www.fritzeuropeanfryhouse.com/images/poutine-1-web.jpg)