I could not possibly summarize this tale of woe properly, so I will refer you directly to Valerie Sobel’s report about what happens when a sick woman, a woman in serious pain, tries to navigate the Canadian health care system. (Via Maggie's Farm) As Sobel notes, this system has been held up as the best the world has to offer, surely far better than our own rickety system.
I have already reported some statistics about wait times and the availability of MRIs, for example, but I am happy to link Sobel’s real world account. Fair enough, it’s what they call anecdotal, but still….
The moral of the story is: don't believe in politicians making extravagant promises, especially those they they insist will provide better services at a lower price. There's no such thing as a free lunch and there's no such thing as free quality universal health care.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/08/a_health_care_system_thats_the_envy_of_the_world.html
ReplyDeleteAnd, from Maggie's Farm's comments:
A health care system that is the envy of the world:
A family member in Canada went to his doctor with chest pains. After numerous tests the doctor told him that without a quadruple bypass he would die within 2 years, BUT since he was 82 the Canadian health care system felt that it was a waste of money to do a bypass on an 82 YO man so they would not do it. No waiting period issue simply that they would not do it because of budget reasons. This man knew he could drive South a couple hundred miles and go to an American doctor and have the bypass done in a week. He could have done it but he was a proud Canadian who always bragged to his American relatives that Canada's health care system was the best in the world and he couldn't bring himself to do it. He choose to keep a stiff upper lip and ride out the inevitable. Even his wife begged him to get the operation in the states but he wouldn't. It would be like admitting that he had been wrong all those years about Canadian health care and that what he paid for all those years was a fraud. He passed away peacefully less than two years later from a massive heart attack in his sleep. His wife was inconsolable. He was a kind and generous man that will be missed by his children, grand children and great grand children.
#4 GoneWithTheWind on 2019-08-09 10:51 (Reply)
That is a sad story. Sorry for your loss.
#4.1 B. Hammer on 2019-08-09 11:20 (Reply)
I am sorry to hear of your loss. I hope that his family can find peace with his passing.
None of us are perfect.
#4.2 Dangerous Dean on 2019-08-09 11:24 (Reply)
Speak for yourself, DD.
#4.2.1 Anyone in the dhimmicrat party (Link) on 2019-08-09 11:54 (Reply)
Sounds like many a European system.
Green/communist party in the Netherlands proposed a few months ago to stop supplying any but the most basic (meaning painkillers and antibiotics essentially) healthcare to people of 75 years old and older because "it's not economical to keep them alive".
Let that sink in...
Welcome to government controlled healthcare systems.
#4.3 JTW on 2019-08-09 12:25 (Reply)
"As Sobel notes, this system has been held up as the best the world has to offer, ..."
ReplyDeleteYes, well, Canadians are an incredibly smug lot. Especially the urbanites.
Speaking as an older Canadian here.
But I find our deplorables are about as grounded and decent as their American counterparts.