My objections to Zero's new Health care plan.

[mydauphin]

Governments are lazy fat pigs. They eat more than they produce. They take more than they give. Consequently, eat well, exercise, find a doctor you can pay cash, and move up into the mountains... The government wants to take your money....

[masalai]

I have no health insurance, and find the service here in OZ OK - I would rather a knowledgeable and experienced GP as a doctor than an academically over-qualified quack with little experience at human diagnosis who is completely reliant on super expensive machines (never had a 'cat-scan' or even anything more hi-tech than an ultrasound or x-ray)...

Live a healthy life, regular exercise, balanced diet to meet energy demands and no more, minimise "fast food" and have minimal need for "insurance" which is just a bet with your insurance broker because you fear you cannot look after yourself... in a bloated and over-expensive health system...

We have quite the commerce satisfying Canadians who come down to get anything more than an aspirin...
I have friends who invest in MRI machines - they are installed close to the border for most use. At $6,000,000 per copy for a Sieman's portable, it's not trifling that Canadians pay a vast majority of this. Entire economies have built up along our border to accomodate our socialized medicine brothers to the north and their health care. Also, how many times have Canadians had to go to the veterinarian to get a CT scan or MRI because they couldn't wait four months, or more. On the other hand, my father's life was extended by competent, compassionate care when he had an infarction near Ft. St. John, BC. fifteen years ago...Good people - just overloaded and in a system not as efficient as it could be.
You know... As I watch "The Red Green Show", it is not difficult to invision why the Canadian lifespan is a bit longer than ours. It is oft quoted that it is longer but I don't believe it can be tied to healthcare, reguardless of figures presently being thrown around. You have a bunch of Cambodians eating rice and what-not...we have inner-cities full of large-assed women (Obama voters, all) wanting others to do everything for them, sitting on the couch and collecting welfare. You have families farming...we have families commuting. Your nearest fast food is a deer...we have Wendy's across the street from McDonald's. We have "Type "A""...you have "havin' a "brewski" and shootin' road-signs". You still have Ford pick-ups in which to have a crash...We have a damned Prius in which to get run over by a Ford pick-up.
We have higher survivability of low birth-weight babies than you or Europe. We have higher cancer survivability than you or Europe. Healthcare would have an effect on lifespan but there are nuances that are difficult to quantify.
I have experiences with Mexican and Cuban socialized medicine on the other border without the same successes.
Statistically, Seattle is the best city in the world in which to have a heart attack, BTW.

[mydauphin]

IT doesn't matter what makes sense if the government wants to do it.

[masalai]

So if you don't live in Seattle, make sure you reduce your risk of a heart attack - is not that the sensible approach?

[wardd]

When people say government doesn't work, what they are really saying is that they arnt capable of electing government that does work

Don't give up. If we can drag this out until the 2010 elections, the remaining Democrats will be lame ducks and the Repulicans will have, I hope, learned their lesson about spending like "drunken sailors on payday" (Democrats).

"...make sure you reduce your risk of a heart attack - is not that the sensible approach?" Absolutely. No matter where one lives.

[Jimbo1490]

Average time to service for a person walking in to a Canadian emergency room is ~20 hours. I've been 3 times in the last 5 years. Longest wait was 4 hours but it was a Saturday night and they were very busy. Most recently 2 hours in and out with less than 30 minutes to see a doctor (little boy split his lip in a fall and needed 5 stitches).


Jimbo

[wardd]

Has anyone really listened to the republicans lately, i mean do they make any sense?

contrary to what some choose to believe most of the progress in the last 100 years or more has been to progressive initiatives from child labor laws, ssi, Medicare, social justice, and many more that we take for granted.

the 1936 republican party platform had in it a statement that ssi would soon bankrupt the country.

it seems that the perfect social structure would be 17th century Europe but most Conservatives don't think that they would be the serfs and but the land lords

there really isn't freedom when it's social Darwinism and dog eat dog

freedom is the collective will of the people and rules that keep the rogue individual from running a muck and taking all he can from others for himself

[Jimbo1490]

FYI, SSI was declared UNCONSITUTIONAL in 1934 so congress re-wrote the entire legislation as a 'tax treaty' between the states (48 at that time) and The United States, which include DC, P.R., military bases, later Guam, Am, Samoa, etc.

SSI IS bankrupt. Freedom IS social Darwinism.

[wardd]

then its not unconstitutional

and its not broke, as is its solvent till 2040 or so then it still can pay 75% or so, so minor tweak is all it needs

and am i free to come along at gun point and take all you have?

[Jimbo1490]

You have a right to life liberty and property as I have. You do not have the right to deprive another of his right to life liberty or property. Your rhetorical question above is highly revelatory of you level of understanding of basic law, especially US Constitutional law, or even basic human social constructs. This explains a lot about the origins of your views on so-called entitlements.

Jimbo

[wardd]

but my point is about social Darwinism

with out rules protecting the least among us thats what in effect happens

and when the rules ate stacked in favor of the rich and influential that happens on a national scale

[marshmat]

Average time to service for a person walking in to a Canadian emergency room is ~20 hours

I have no idea where that figure comes from. In reality, provincial records indicate that 9 out of 10 ER patients in Ontario are looked at by a doctor, treated, discharged, and back to their normal lives within 9.4 hours or less. The remaining ten percent are the ones who are in serious enough condition to be kept in hospital overnight or longer.
Virtually anyone entering a Canadian emergency room in an ambulance, or with a major injury, or suffering from stroke, heart attack or another urgent condition will bypass the waiting room completely and be under a doctor's care within minutes.

There are a couple of private corporations that are trying to get in on the primary care scene in Canada, and they have recruited a very small number of doctors who feel they could make more money in a private system. This group has been conducting an extensive P.R. campaign in both Canada and the US for several years, using mostly falsified information. Most of our doctors, and most of our citizens, think they're nuts, so I would encourage anyone looking for information on the Canadian health system to consider your sources before making any snap judgements.