I agree with "Ben & Lisa." My wife had one shoulder replaced at Mayo last August and is scheduled for the other in February. Our PPO covers Mayo, with deductible. We have a "nurses' Mafia" where we live and the consensus is "Mayo" for major, unusual surgery. They are top-notch and you are there with the doctor at your appointment time. Yes -- you schedule ahead, but the wait isn't all that long for such operations. Mayo is a far cry from the "Vet-R-Us" HMO that Obamacare offers.
Any distortion is strictly on your part, which of course is to be expected from those who deliberately mislead for their own politics. Kenora has a population of 15k. Hardly a "city" by most people's definition. Does the Mayo clinic serve the 60 million Americans without health insurance? Didn't think so. The fact that you mentioned that a government employee here decides whether you will be treated tells me that you can't think for yourself. This is of course straight from Teabag University and your politicians like to use this falsehood to convince the sheep, who don't bother verifying anything. The "Canada is irrelevant" quip is another quote from Teabag U, which one would have to ask, if we're so irrelevant, why do you guys care so much about what we do here? We're fine with being irrelevant and letting folks like you be the greatest in the world. It looks like that's all you have left theses days. What happened to you in Canada that you're so angry about? Couldn't make it in business here so you're mad at the country? Seems kind of irrational.
When I started this thread I really never intended it to become a debate over which country's healthcare is better and which one is worse. Ironically the more I read and hear the less comparable I think the two systems are. Canada is a totally government run system while the US has a government mandated system that relies on the private insurance companies for performance. Canada negotiates drug prices to keep costs down while the US allows the major pharmaceutical companies to dictate whatever costs they so Desire. Do you notice a common item here between the two major parts of the US system? One misconception that seems to be prevalent is that there are millions of people who receive no healthcare. That is simply not the case. They get medical care and it is paid by the taxpayers. They simply go to a hospital emergency room and get their healthcare and the taxpayers foot the bill. There were many Americans with no health INSURANCE, which certainly doesn't mean that they have no healthcare. One of the biggest problem that I see is that a lot of people don't really understand the concept of insurance in general and health insurance in particular. Insurance is simply the spreading of risk among a whole bunch of people rather than just one suffering the burden. It is not some freebie but just another entitlement that will have its costs go up and up. Those costs will be borne by those who work and enjoyed by those who don't. That is the simple definition of Obamacare.
The area I live on is about the same size as Kenora and also like Kenora is a regional health care center. When I compare what I have here VS Kenora its embarrassing for you guys. The Mayo Clinic does indeed serve those without health insurance as all hospitals must as they are required by federal law to do so. I dont think this is right, but its federal law. The fact you use the term "Teabagger" tells me your nothing more than a typical liberal bottom feeder. No, its reality. You have some natural resources we buy from you, but other people sell them and we produce plenty of our own, especially so given the boom in oil and gas. And Americans really dont care what you do in your country and in fact really don't even think about you. We wish this went both ways..:icon_wink: I am not angry at Canada at all and I have many relatives there as my family was Canadian before we were Americans.However, when some left wing loon starts spouting off the typical non sense you hear from Canadians that know nothing of our healthcare system, I wont let this pass with no comment. The fact of the matter is you haven't a clue what your talking about other than a few trips to the hospital in the states. Not only have I taken many trips to the hospital for myself and clients, I have also seen first hand what happened to my employees with your "free" healthcare and seen the years of waiting for a family doctor to accept patients, etc.The Vet comment made by another poster is quit applicable..
Obama Care in and of itself isn't a totally terrible idea. The problem is in practice so much liberal social engineering and special interest input went into it that its turned into a typical Fed Gov boon doggle.
That's what I said earlier. You guys could have a really good health care system for everyone, which would be cheaper for those who pay in to it (and still cover those who dont pay in to it). The reason you dont is all the people/businesses that want to make money from it. There is a reason the US has more MRI's per capita than anywhere else. They are a cash machine. Sprained finger Sir? Let's just take an MRI of that to be double sure it's not broken (and charge $10K) and we'll get it fixed for you. His 'room and board' for one night was almost $5K. His recovery room was $3750 an hour! I would hope the Nurses were paid well, but somehow I doubt it. Someone made the money, who was it? Reddit User Posts $55,000 Hospital Bill for Appendectomy - ABC News
Steve, there is an even sadder part of this saga. Hospitals all over the US are crying that they are losing money. Kind of hard to believe when the charges are listed for some of their services. However, as Paul Harvey would say, "Here's the rest of the story." Many of those hospitals claim they lose money because of the low reimbursements from insurance companies and from the government as well as those who simply don't pay for services. You mentioned the excessive use of diagnostic tools. You are correct, but the reason for that is back to our liberal friends. We cannot get lawsuit reform in the US which would cut back on a lot of those over diagnostic costs. The liberals in Congress, most of whom are lawyers, don't want to gut the cash cow known as malpractice suits. Again, the liberals have to keep people from being accountable for their own actions so that the lawyers can continue to steal from the public. That is one feature that seems to get glossed over when the subject of healthcare costs in the US comes up.
Being the victim of a bogus lawsuit I can tell you that tort reform is so overdue in the US that it boggles the mind.
