Obama Spreading the Misery

[R W G R]

It appears that if U.S. President Barack Obama's watered-down universal health care scheme takes effect, the biggest losers could be you and me.

By you and me, I mean Canadians, particularly those in border communities such as Sault Ste. Marie. Many of us are consumers of U.S. health care resources.

I, blessedly, have never required serious medical treatment in the United States. But I know a number of people who have.

These Canadians have travelled to medical centres in Michigan, perhaps as close as the hospital in our sister city across the bridge, or further afield for surgical procedures not available in Sault Canada or for which they would have to wait a long time.

Sometimes they went because there is a conception that Americans do those things better than we do.

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2511057

[Hans]

Who paid for the treatment?

[R W G R]

What treatment, Hansy?

[Hans]

The ones the Canadians received at your medical facilities.

[R W G R]

Your government.

How ironic, eh?

Your government sends you to the US for superior health-care.

[Hans]

So your government pays you when you go for treatment somewhere else?

[R W G R]

So your government pays you when you go for treatment somewhere else?

We don't have to go anywhere ...unlike you

[Hans]

Interesting.

Earlier this month, the insurance company WellPoint announced a program that will allow employees of a Wisconsin printing company to get coverage for non-emergency surgeries in India. It's a first for WellPoint, but puts the insurer in good company. Over the past few years, some U.S. insurance companies — dismayed at losing income from uninsured Americans who get cheap surergies abroad or clients who choose to pay out of pocket for discount foreign surgeries rather than expensive in-network co-pays — have announced plans to include foreign medical procedures among those covered by health plans.
It's no wonder. The medical tourism industry has experienced massive growth over the past decade. Experts in the field say as many as 150,000 U.S. citizens underwent medical treatment abroad in 2006 — the majority in Asia and Latin America. That number grew to an estimated 750,000 in 2007 and could reach as high as 6 million by 2010. Patients are packing suitcases and boarding planes for everything from face lifts to heart bypasses to fertility treatments. (See The Year in Health, from A to Z.)


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...#ixzz0jPr1d0gL



http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...861919,00.html

[R W G R]

But that's simply because they had a few choices. You, however, have to come here simply because your system is failing.

Big difference, Hansy.

[Hans]

But we have that option, whenever we require it.
You only have that option if you can afford it.

That's a bigger difference.

[R W G R]

But we have that option, whenever we require it.
You only have that option if you can afford it.

That's a bigger difference.

What???

[Hans]

We can come to you for anything we are unable to get here, and our government picks up the bill.
Can you say the same when you go abroad for medical treatment?

[R W G R]

We can come to you for anything we are unable to get here, and our government picks up the bill.
Can you say the same when you go abroad for medical treatment?

No, Hans, we don't rely on the government for everything, which is part of the reason we are the most successful country in human history.

[stupefied]

Our system has it's problems for sure. One of the biggest problems we have is wait times. There are really two reasons for this. One is lack of equipment which creates waits for things like mri's and cat scans. The other big reason is the Doctor shortage. Many of our best and brightest go to the US to make big money in a specialized field. Somehow I think that is going to become less of an issue.

[Hans]

No, Hans, we don't rely on the government for everything, which is part of the reason we are the most successful country in human history.

I believe Rome was more successful, no?

[R W G R]

I believe Rome was more successful, no?

No, they were not.

[Hans]

Prove it.

[R W G R]

You made the assertion that Rome was more successful, YOU prove it.

[Hans]

Well, they made inventions that 2000 years later are still being used.
They turned Christianity into the largest religion ever.
Their major leaders are still being remembered.
Their language is still in active use.

What do you have to put against that?

[R W G R]

Well, they made inventions that 2000 years later are still being used.
They turned Christianity into the largest religion ever.
Their major leaders are still being remembered.
Their language is still in active use.

What do you have to put against that?

Ummm...don't we have to wait for two thousand years to find out what the US will be remembered for two thousand years from now?