Health Care Part Deux

Ok, so Kyle “took a sledge hammer to the frame” of my post on health care (by the way Kyle, I’m touched that you read such rubbish as my blog). You can catch up here.

After I had the initial conversation with sis, I did ask a few of my friends who I know in Toronto. I wanted to know if free market cure is really painting an accurate picture of what it’s like for Canucks to get treatment or not. One of them (the wife of my friend Steve) emailed me back with this long (but I thought appropriate) response:

“First, the Canadian Healthcare system is by no means perfect. It
tries to fulfill a need to create a decent, level playing field for
everyone, not just the rich. So it doesn’t always work perfectly. I
feel sorry for the brain tumor guy, but I would think that there is
probably a better way to go about this. For instance, had he gone to
an emergency department and waited, he probably would have received a
CT scan there that may have detected the tumor that day. You learn
how to work the system to your advantage. His referral to a
neurologist may have been to one Dr. had his GP tried to call every
neurologist in the province, he probably could have been seen by one
if he had travelled a bit.

My life experience with Doctors: Put a dollar value on these things
as you go along and tell me how broke we would have been. We do not
have private medical insurance through Steve’s employer.
We have 2 children. I can’t even imagine how much that must cost,
just to give birth to them. Even the monthly, then weekly trips to
the OB how much does that cost? Ryan’s birth was prolonged and
complicated, he was jaundiced, all of these required additional
treatments and $$$$$
Kira we had a choice to have a midwife. It was brilliant, and I went
home after a few hours.

Ryan has had his elbow dislocate three times. 3 trips to the ER with
doctors seeing him each time.
He has had a small hairline fracture that required a cast. Numerous xrays etc.
Ryan has had inflammation in his left hip called Toxic Synovitis. It
could have been septic, we had to go to Sick Kids to have a blood
test, ultrasound, and xrays and CT to rule it out. IF it was septic
and undetected he could have lost his leg…..it wasn’t but, how much
would that have cost us? We did all that in one day.
Kira, so far so good. : )

After I had Ryan I had what they call a “thyroid storm”. My thyroid
went massively out of control and I lost 60 pounds in a month and then
it reversed itself and I not only gained weight but began tripping,
slurred speech and my hair was falling out. After testing it was
discovered that I needed daily thyroid meds. No biggie, but lots of
doctors and tests.
Then after Kira I had another storm in which my eyes became crossed
and there was pressure on the cranial nerve. I saw a neurosurgeon
within a couple weeks and an MRI shortly after, at the time we didn’t
know if it was a tumor or not. I saw people timely and quickly. I
had CTs and MRIs.
Believe it or not everything eventually worked out OK, once I stopped
breastfeeding and stopped taking my thyroid meds, my body reverted
back to its “normal” state and everything worked out in the end. It
was post-partum thyroid something or other and it worked out in the
end.
Can you imagine the dollar value on that?

Our son Ryan has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder and ADHD.
Now, here’s where our system does fall off the rails a bit. There are
yle="font-style:italic;">not very many developmental pediatricians who know how to diagnose
psychological/neurological disorders properly. If you go to a
psychologist, it is not covered by provincial health care. Many of
Ryan’s therapies are not covered, so now we are slowly going broke.
Thank god I will be able to go back to work this Sept, so that will
stem the tide a little longer.
We did find a wonderful pediatrician that is covered by OHIP, but
Ryan’s additional therapies cost out of pocket.

I cannot imagine having to pay for everything out of pocket, their
yearly check ups, the usual childhood bumps and bruises, etc. I know
what it is like to pay separately, but for everything would be crazy.
Lucky for us Steve does have a good job and does make a decent living,
and we’ll catch up in the end. I can’t begin to imagine the toll that
it would take on someone working at Walmart?

The point of the Canadian system is that we all put a little bit in
the pot so that everyone can have a decent minimum of heath care
without having to take out another mortgage to do it. It is for the
greater good, for the most benefit for the most people. It is the
idea of a “just society”, rather than what can I get out of this for
myself and fuck the guy down the street if he doesn’t have a good
enough job to pay for the health care for his family. Mr Brain Tumor
should also go down to Toronto Sick Children’s Hospital, and take a
look around. Every one of those kids there has a family that would be
slowly going broke just because little Timmy decided to get luekemia,
think about that one for a while, or a cleft palate.
Yes we pay a lot of taxes, but after the dough you guys just spent on
Iraq, so will you. I’d rather pay for health care than guns to shoot
people in some god forsaken desert.

Oh yeah, Steve’s dad just had triple by-pass surgery AND radiation for
prostate cancer. They haven’t spent their entire retirement savings
to pay for it. He came out good in the end, but isn’t going to have a
heart attack when the bill comes, and at 75 he doesn’t have to go back
to work or sell their home and live in some shack to pay for it.

Again, let me be clear. Our system is not perfect, but there has to
be a minimum of care for everyone, to create a decent society. I love
the fact that on one hand you have the huge right-wing religious
influence saying God this and God that, but when it comes to actually
caring about your neighbour, they really don’t give a shit.
I guess maybe that’s what it is up here. We all put into the pot so
that we can try to care about our neighbours when they are in trouble.

Just in case you think I’m nuts, I did live in Indiana for a year. I
saw my roommate get massive bronchitis and was really in need of some
care, but she wouldn’t go because she was from Pennsylvania and her
parents didn’t want her to go to the doctor there, but to wait until
she got home so that their insurance wouldn’t find out that she was
out of state or some such crap as that. I also had another Canadian
friend who wiped out on his motorcycle, he was not wearing a helmet as
is the perogative in Indiana, and had to get 4 stitches across the
bridge of his nose, it cost his parents over $300US to pay for it.

It ain’t perfect but I wouldn’t trade it for what YOU’VE got. I
might be willing to try Sweden, or France though. Michael Moore
should look at their systems.

Well, you asked……..thanks for asking. Tell your sister not to
believe everything the Republicans tell her.

Oh yeah, the brain tumor guy is the exception, and if he had worked on
it a bit they could have found another solution, like going into the
ER at Toronto Western Hospital (which is a neurological centre) and
wait there, they probably would have seen him before 8 months.
Besides, she says in the video that they are willing to pay but the
gov’t wouldn’t allow it. She’s paying now, so why is she complaining?
4 months for a brain MRI seems too long. I do know of people who
have waited 2 years for knee and hip surgery. They are in a lot of
pain, but still have to wait. It sucks, but it’s all we’ve got right
now.

Americans need to remember that nothing is perfect, but you need to
work for the best solution for all, not the best solution for those
that have enough money.”

I guess I could have edited that, but I didn’t…because I’m lazy–and I wanted you to hear it straight from the canuck’s mouth…not picked a part and worked to my advantage.

Ok, so if we all agree the current system sucks, but we can’t agree that Canada style is the answer (or can we?). Can we start the discussion on what might work?

Kyle?