According to new polling by Gallup done after President Barack Obama’s health care address, six in ten Americans say Obama’s proposal, if enacted, would not achieve his goals of expanding coverage to nearly all Americans without raising taxes on the middle class or lowering the quality of health care. President Barack Obama says his health care plan will not lead to government rationing of health care, but government run health care systems around the world have had to control costs by doing just that. One way governments are forced to ration care is by delaying treatment. In Canada alone, there are an estimated 875,000 Canadians currently on the waiting list for referrals to specialists or for medical procedures.
But Canadians still have some options. In 2003, Timely Medical Alternatives Inc. was formed to help Canadians, take personal responsibility for their own medical care and “Leave the queue”. Depending on the province, TMI can sometimes find private health care services in Canada, but not in all provinces and not for all services. TMI advertises to British Columbia residents:
We are able to facilitate virtually any medical procedure at one of our partner hospitals in the U.S.. Typical U.S. referrals include cancer biopsies/treatment, hip/knee/shoulder joint replacement, spinal surgery, sleep disorder studies, advanced pain management, cardiac procedures including angioplasties, ablation and by-pass surgeries. All of these procedures are available through Timely Medical, at first rate medical facilities in Washington State.
TMI even reassures their Canadian clients they will feel right at home in the US:
We have identified a highly rated hospital (one of the top 100 in the country) which is owned by the Catholic Sisters of Peace (originally founded in Nottingham England). They built this hospital in Washington State in 1890 and it has been in continuous operation since that date. Significantly, this is a not-for-profit organization. And, unlike most US hospitals, they know how to make a proper pot of tea! In other areas of the country, we have referral agreements in place with equally rated hospital in near-border cities.
They even make tea!
We just hope that under Obamacare an American version of TMI will find a hospital somewhere in the world that can make a good cup of coffee.
I feel sorry for Americans who are brainwashed by articles like this propaganda piece written by Conn Carrol. If you were to ask Canadians whether they would want a healthcare system like the American one, I am sure 90% or more of Canadians would answer NO!!! With 40 million (or however many) Americans with NO healthcare and a great deal of Americans with substandard insurance coverage, it baffles Canadians how you can point to our system and say it is worse than yours. There is no Canadian that goes without healthcare in Canada: absolutely none! And we don't have any insurance companies telling us which doctor or hospital we should visit. We can visit any doctor or hospital we choose. By the way, this means that doctors must be good in order to have patients, otherwise no one will bother visiting them. And study after study has proven that the success rate of Canadian doctors and hospitals is absolutely first rate and among the best in the world. The US healthcare system really is the laughing stock of the civilized world. You should all hope and pray to have a system like ours in Canada! As for raising taxes for healthcare…I am sure that if you stop invading foreign countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, which should help you cut down on your military spending, you won't only not have to raise taxes for health care, you'll even have enough left over to improve your schools, roads and fight crime. Give it a try!
Bob: Thank you for telling us what real Canadians think. I can only add, "Amen".
"In Canada alone, there are an estimated 875,000 Canadians currently on the waiting list for referrals to specialists or for medical procedures.
I wonder…what good does it do you to HAVE health insurance if you can't get the referrals you need for the healthcare you need? and I would also like to know… every person in Canada is provided "basic" health coverage and then additional coverage is available for purchase (according to a friend who lives in Canada) – how is this different from the current U.S. healthcare regulations that require hospitals to provide services to a presenting patient, regardless of insurance or not (or legal residency status), and the availability of additional coverage through purchase? and if the Canadian system is so good, how is it that a program like TMI is able to be so successful?
Health care in Canada isn't all good.
The cost of parking is crazy!!! $20 bucks a day at the hospital!
Would not trade what we have now for what Canadians have. I am receive Medicare and have a supplemental insurance cost to me is $104/mo and it pays the 20% that Medicare does not pay. Even thought I am an elderly, high risk patient with multiple medical problems I am not denied services that my doctor orders for me nor do I have to wait for them. If my doctor feels I need them today I receive them today. If it is not an emergency I will have them within the week. This is not what my Canadian friends experience. I do love Canada and its people but, not it's health care. Some of the suggested proposals being offered to the proposed current plan are workable for all. Many of our uninsured people are uninsured by choice. Those with limited incomes, at least in our state, qualify for medical and dental coverage with minimal or no co payments. We do need health care reform but not what is currently being proposed.
EXCELLENT post here. The president and many in Congress (and the media) are refusing to read the writing on the wall: the public option will lead to single-payer health care and most Americans do not want it.
Check out another great post on this very subject at my site: http://rjmoeller.com/?p=981
I use lyrics from my favorite White Stripes song to critique President Obama's handling of the health care reform debate.
Dear Bob from O Canada,
So what you are saying is that Conn Carroll is misquoting TMI? Then why are so many Canadians coming forth to tell their stories about life-saving treatment acquired in the US?
There is no need to be insulting. We have no desire to "hope and pray to be like Canada".
You had better hope nothing happens to the US, as we are your biggest trading partner. Moreover, without us, you may find out how quickly foriegn threats appear on your horizon. Russia is real close.
As for "laughing stock" don't even compare. Although Canada is a major contributor and super power, you really don't want to go in that direction.
Lastly, don't "feel sorry" for us. We are always here to help you.
Pingback: » Financial News Update – 09/15/09 NoisyRoom.net: Where liberty dwells, there is my country…
Folks you can spit on the sidewalk in anytown Canada and hit the curb in anytown USA.
Canuck Health Care is certainly not Free. The average family here pays anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 a year in extra taxes to cover the cost. I wish I was making those numbers up but they come from a study down my the Fraser Institute in Vancover.
Think about that for a second, even a basic one income Canadian family is shelling out around $1000 per month for their provincial health care family plan. And contrary to what many Americans assume, that does NOT include a drug plan, dental plan, or any other basic essentials like physio or Occupational Therapy.
The people with Gold Plated Heath Care in Canada are the same people with Gold Plated care in the United States, Government Bureaucrats! God Bless (or Help) us all…
I rent my warehouse and office space from a Canadian. I asked him what he thought of healthcare in Canada. He replied "that's why i live here in the US". I spent the better part of my youth (after 16) taking my dad to the Veterans Hospital (my dad was a WWII veteran, Marines fought on Peleliu and Okinawa)and all of my experiences with the VA sucked. The admissions sucked the care sucked and the service sucked. Why was this? Probably because the people that worked there didn't want to be there, they weren't as qualified or they were in training. I remember the top of my dads hand being purple where they tried and tried to find his vein but couldn't. You'd think a combat veteran would deserve better. Now, if this health care goes thru that same veteran is going to get the same type of service that they received like my dad did at the Va. As far as starting wars, i guess when someone flys a few planes into a few buildings your supposed to just look the other way and maybe forget about all of those innocent people who died and forget about those who jumped to their deaths from over 600' to keep from getting burned alive. I hope Bob doesn't forget about our veterans who allowed us to live freely in this great country and to not forget about those who died on 9-11.
These are strange times for Americans.
Clinton listen to us about health care, changed his mind and he was re-elected. Carter didn't listen and you all know what happened.
Obama, in some strange way appears to have somone behind him frantically pushing him forward on health care and the other issues.
No listening, no compromise no representation.
One million Americans show up in Washington and they are dismissed as not representative of either party, and generally wrong about things.
Mr Obama, it is not your sales pitch we don't like, it's your products.
Please relay this message to your sales manager or boss.
Best regards, "America"
No one would choose to have the health care system we have in the U.S.; having said that, the answer is not more of the same (government control), but LESS. The Heritage has a well thought out plan to reform the system by re-introducing true market driven solutions. As far as the 40mil without Health Care, well the Heritage long ago dispelled that myth. There isn't anyone that does NOT have health care in this country. Politicians have done a fabulous job of conflating Health Care with Medical Insurance. So long as we expect someone else to pay for our Health Care, then costs will continue to be out of whack. Insurance is something you buy hoping to never use it.
Ask yourselves this: How many people from Canada go to the US to obtain treatment versus how many people from the US go to Canada? You'll find that it is a one way flow south.
Another thing to keep in mind is that it is ILLEGAL for a doctor in Canada to save the life of a person outside the mandates of our socialist medical system. Even if a person is willing to pay out of pocket for a procedure, the doctor is prevented from performing it. Look north and see your future.
John is the first to tell everyone that the countries with socialist health care pay for it and pay dearly, ask anyone in any of the countries, England, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Germany etc HOW MUCH tey PAY annually in TAXES?? they pay a great deal more than we do at present. REMINDER TO ALL, "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE"
A new Bloomberg poll reveals:
"More than 8 out of 10 people support covering the uninsured, curbing costs, creating an insurance-purchasing exchange, and preventing insurers from dropping coverage or refusing to accept people with preexisting medical conditions. Majorities say employers should have to offer insurance and individuals should be required to have coverage."
Republicans have gotten into a cul-de-sac, since the huge majorities do support — health insurance must cover preexisting conditions and accept sick people and not drop them….forces the individual mandate — otherwise everyone would just drop their insurance until they get expensively sick.
But the individual mandate is unaffordable for a certain percentage of the population…
Thus requires some way to pay for subsidies….
Ergo, Republicans opposing any way to pay for the subsidies, or even the subsidies…are in a cul-de-sac.
But….there is a way out for Republicans:
http://findingourdream.blogspot.com/2009/09/repub…
So I would conclude from this report and these Canadian comments that only sick Canadians are unsatisfied with Canada's socialized medicine delivery system. Is that what it means to be progressive?
Speaking from a conservative American perspective, this attempt to socialize our medical care in the US has nothing to do with which system is better. Nor is it about improving levels of care or covering people who are without coverage or reducing everyone's costs.
It does have everything to do with expanding government's role in our daily lives and over our choices, effectively reducing our personal liberties. Fundamentally, some people just think that's not okay.
As I recall from my history texts, the folks who founded this nation built a system expressly designed to expand our personal liberties and limit government's power. We've been slowly drifting away from those founding first principles for the last 220 years.
In addition to the insidious slow drift, we've seen massive leaps away from liberty two or three times in our history. These leaps were so notable that we gave the programs neat names like the "New Deal" and the "Great Society".
Now we are on the cusp of the next major leap away from Liberty. This time it is not "new" or "great" – we are just calling it "Change you can believe in".
It is a simple idealogical difference:
Progressive Liberals feel there is no problem that the liberal application of government influence cannot solve.
Constitional Conservatives believe there is no problem that the liberal application of government influence cannot make worse.
What say you?
Thank you Keith! What if we rolled back time and got rid of some of these great government plans to save us from ourselves. Lets take away Social security. People would have to plan retirement for themselves. Not such a bad plan. Americans are not that dumb. We would plan for ourselves, in emergency situations children would have to help, churches could take their customary role and help out. Was there really a problem before the great plan of Social security? Or was it like health care now? We would have money left in our pockets to plan. If something happened to us before retirement our children would benefit from our planning. Instead we have people who have paid into SS their entire lives that will not have it avaible to them. We are told when to retire or you can not receive full benefits, It is doled out to us monthly we have no options with the money we have paid in. Isn't goverment planning in our lives great. They are so responsible and fair with the money we gave them. Why would we give them another area of our lives to control?
More government control is never the answer. Less govenment control is always the answer.
Obviously, Bob in Canada is probably healthy and NOT a taxpayer. So what the heck, socialized health care works for him.
Sorry Bob, for every letter like yours, I read 9 or 10 that contradict what you are saying.
By the way, what is your % cure rate for Breast or Prostate cancer?
John
No matter what any of us say to Bob in Canada, we will not be able to convince him that the US Health Care system is better than Canada's. The only people who will be able to do so are the Canadians who can't get timely treatment in Canada and come to the US to avoid dying.
I can't help but wonder how old Bob is. From the tone of his memo he doesn't sound very mature. One day, Lord willing, Bob may get to be an old man, maybe as old as 60 or 65. I hope when that happens, that Bob doesn't need an organ transplant, or a pacemaker, or immediate chemo or radiation therapy to stay alive. I also hope that we in the US will continue to have our current, non-government health care system, so that when Canada tells him "sorry old timer, we have limited medical resources and those need to be used on younger folks who are closer to the middle of there lives, than at the end of their lives, like you." You should hope so too, Bob, because being the foolish, softhearted people we are down here, we will take care of you.
Give me and my loved ones the Canadian Health Care and Medicare Insurance program for all, and I'll be totally happy.
As laughable as it may seem, we will all have to go to Mexico, where our Dollars mean more than insurance of any kind!
Hozro
I saw a very interesting placard at one of the Tea Parties. It said something like this: "If we get national health care then where will Canadians go for health care?" This would also apply to many other countries as well.
Be careful people, if this healthcare plan passes
it is going to take a ton of money to keep it going and Obama intends to squeeze it mainly out of National Defense. The end result of that will be so bad that people won't care what kind of healthcare they have. It won't matter.
If you want a face to face on what Canadian Healthcare is, come on down to Florida and talk to the Canadian snowbirds. Most are glad to have a heart attack in the southern United States!
pjr
To Rita Richardson, S. Carolina — What do mean, "give" me and my loved ones Canadian Health Care and Medicare for all and Ill be totally happy?
How about you giving me something besides the cost of providing you these gifts?
That what's wrong in this country. Too damn many people with their hands out saying "gimme".
I agree Jerry. It's just sad that anyone with a reasonable mind would want to give up the privacy of their own and especially their children's personal health to government;s intervention advising yours, mine and our doctors!
Ditto what Jerry from Chicago points out.
Glad to see a strong work ethic is still alive. But, if lacking a strong work ethic and morality, one can always work for ACORN.
I see my co Americans for the most part, don,t get the bigger question, if you don't have a public option you think insurance companys are going to keep a lid on costs, I doubt it. and guess what our taxes will be going up. I am a veteran and I go to the VA Hospital, they are wonderful and guess what I must be Canadian, because i would not give it up for private insurance company, God Speed
I am an American expat who has been living in Canada for 20 years. I was born and raised in the USA, spending most of my childhood without any health insurance. It is a waste of our children's time and their lives to flex our virtual muscles about who is 'stronger'. Honestly, Rome ultimately fell and my fellow Americans, we are on the same road if we don't start seeing the rest of the planet as our neighbours instead of aliens. As for healthcare, I dare any American to spend a few months in Canada to really see how incredible the healthcare system is here. I could give you a personal tour. Before writing more against this system, come visit for yourself. I'm so surprised how no major American media outlets have done so in any significant way. Oh, must be because the lifeline of most media outlets in the USA are advertising dollars from pharmaceutical companies and the like… profit is power these days. It used to be 'power to the people', so I encourage Americans to get their power back before it is too late.