Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends? ......Realize that the doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight.
Yeah. Nobody knows more about health care than doctors. Reagan understood this. We must heed the doctors call....we must, as Reagan said, realize the doctor's fight is our own:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of U.S. doctors now favor switching to a national health care plan and fewer than a third oppose the idea, according to a survey published on Monday.
How about that. Doctors know best. Just like Reagan said.
No one knows better than doctors how we spend more on health care than any other country in the world. How we could take the money we spend on Medicaid and Medicare alone, make a Xerox copy of the Canadian health care system, cover every person in this country, and have cash left over.
Read that last sentence again. I just solved this country's health care crisis in 29 words. Christ I'm a genius.
For those of you who are gonna tell me now about how much the Canadian health care system sucks, you can do so just as soon as you can find a Canadian who'll trade their heath coverage for whatever card you're carrying around in your pocket. Go ahead and look. Until you find one, we'll just work off the assumption that me and most of the doctors in this country are right. Reagan knew you could trust me and the doctors. Not the Physician's Assistants though. No matter what their position on national health care, I'm not sure I'll ever trust a Physician's Assistant.
So will you make yourself aware? Please? Then convey that information to family and friends? Like Reagan would have wanted you to? Will you follow your doctor's prescription before it's too late?
On everything else Reagan was wrong though.
Thanks to the alert reader who tipped me to the doctor survey.
7 comments:
When a Canadian can't see a doctor for 9 months, or can't get a transplant because he's 56, or has to wait 2 years for an MRI, he can come to the United States.
If we become Canada II where will go?
We need a free market solution, there isn't another United States for us to use as a fallback.
My impression of canadian health care was that it did not offer prescription coverage, though. So does that really solve everything?
Illinois recently passed a new pharmacy practice act. PAs and NPs can now do medication therapy management. Never mind that they know shit about drugs. Yay for our awesome pharmacy lobby.
I'm pretty sure the Canadian one who's family remortgaged their home to keep him is a US ICU instead of a Canadian one would have preferred my $50 co-pay. I'm also pretty sure the guy I know who bought an insulin pump out of his own pocket would have preferred my $10 co-pay.
While Canadian health care means anyone who needs to be in a hospital gets to be in a hospital, it does in fact, suck.
Without private insurance on top of it, you don't really have coverage for a lot of things that insured Americans have access to. And I won't even get started on the waits.
However, with all the money we save, we could improve on Canadian health care, no?
I've been waiting for an appointment at MAYO for over a year for my kids. This April we will finally have our chance at a MAYO experience.
My point? "Rationing" or "Waiting" in health care is not unique to Canada. And, hard as it may be to believe (especially to those of us in the “insured” ranks), rationing in the US is proven to be worse than most other countries. Here are some good facts:
Rationing is defined as denial of necessary medical care. The U.S. already rations care and the level of rationing in the US is worse than in other countries (Other countries with single-payer....)
In 2007, the Percentage of US residents that did not fill prescription or skipped doses? 23%, this is compared to 13%, 8%, 11%, 2%, 10%, & 5% in the countries of Austria, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK
In 2007, what percentage of US residents had a medical problem but did not visit a doctor? 25%, as compared to 13%, 4%, 12%, 1%, 19%, or 2% in other countries
In 2007, what percentage of US residents skipped a test or treatment or follow-up? 17%, as compared to 5%, 8%, 2%, 13%, or 3% in other countries
(The source for the above percentages is the 2007 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey)
I know that anecdotal evidence doesn't count for much, but I thought that I would write an anecdote with my own experience in the Canadian health care system. A few years ago, I had a detached retina. This is a medical emergency that, if untreated, can lead to blindness in that eye. I called up my opthalmologist's office and explained my symptoms. The guy has a waiting list of several months. I got in to see him the same day I called. He booked me for surgery the next day, provided that I could get a medical exam to show I was fit to undergo anesthesia. To save time, I walked into a doctor's office in the same building. I had never seen this doctor before. I explained the situation and he did an exam immediately. I went into surgery the next day. Problem solved.
Rationing exists in any health care system. In the U.S., health care is rationed by ability to pay. In Canada, it's rationed by need. I wouldn't trade my Canadian health care coverage with that of any average American.
As a Canadian pharmacist, no trading please... especially after I read how much Auralgan costs there. You have to be kidding. Here it's OTC and costs about $10. I am also shocked at the price of Rx Cortisporin. Off the top of my head, I don't know how much it is but $20 for the brand name, maybe up to $30 would be about it. Here, drug prices are regulated by the government (thank God). I'll keep our system, thank you very much. As will most of us.
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