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[February 9, 2009 @ 9:13 am] Stuart Browning
In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Nadeem Esmail of Canada’s Fraser Institute warns Americans about the rationing that will inevitably come courtesy of “Universal Healthcare”:
Bill Murray waited in pain for more than a year to see a specialist for his arthritic hip. The specialist recommended a “Birmingham” hip resurfacing surgery (a state-of-the-art procedure that gives better results than basic hip replacement) as the best medical option. But government bureaucrats determined that Mr. Murray, who was 57, was “too old” to enjoy the benefits of this procedure and said no. In the end, he was also denied the opportunity to pay for the procedure himself in Alberta.
February 16th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Wow, that’s really sad. But that’s not how Obama’s plan would work. One would still have the option to pay for such procedures themselves, or have their own insurance pay for it. Good try, though.
February 16th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
what if he was unable to afford it himself? he was definitely NOT “too old” to enjoy the benefits.
and if the government starts paying for medical care, then insurance premiums will go up even more.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:50 am
I just spent 5 weeks as a student in a Family Medicine office in central new jersey. In that 5 weeks I can tell you about as many cases as was listed of people in the US. There was the 60 year old man who has a sarcoma on his shoulder meassuring 11cm (roughly the size of a grapefruit) who, because he doesn’t have insurance, went to the ED to finally get it looked at, who scanned it and told him to come to the family practice. We are still trying to get in touch with an oncologist who will be able to provide for him without paying. There was also a 52 year old man who around 6 weeks ago was stepping out of his car, heard a pop in his knee and feel down. He couldn’t get up and was taken to the ED where they took imaging, saw no fracture and sent him home. Because he has no insurance, he was finally able to be seen at our clinic where we found him to have a quad tendon tear which will require surgery. He is now probably on a 6 month waiting list for the Orthopaedic clinic at the local University hospital who will the probably schedule him for a surgery (if they do at all) 3-4 months later.
So, how is our system any better? Both have shortfalls. But, the issues brought up in the Canada system A) effect fewer people B) can be fixed with infrastructure increases (we have much higher amounts of CT scanner and MRI machines per person than in canada) C) a different means of evaluating the merits of a procedure and claim (like the hip replacement… right now many orthopods in the US would turn that guy down too, but mainly because, and I heard this from 2 patients with bad knees in the clinic, they don’t do joint replacements on people younger than 65, but if they follow the recommendations from the USPSTF or the orthopaedic board we can better prevent them).
No system is going to be perfect. Anecdotes can be said about any and every system (and they are). If you look at the overall population statistics, what we have is much worse than what many other countries have.
May 9th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I can’t believe the comments by the FP resident in New Jersey. Our free market regarding health care is the best in the world. Socialized medicine is fine as long as you don’t get sick. If you have a serious illness you are in big trouble with socialized medicine. I live in Sun City West, Az. An over 55 yr retirement area. We have friends from Canada that live across the street. They told us about a man that had off and on sever head pain. The FP thought he might have a brain tumor and tried to have him get an MRI. He would have to wait 6 months to have a MRI. He came to the USA to have it done. Yes, he had a large tumor in his brain. In Canada he found out he would have to wait at least 6 months to have the surgery. He thought he might die before then. He had no insurance, so they sold thier home for cash so he could come to our country to have the surgery, Be careful for what you ask for because you may get it and this could happen in our country. The government has to control cost and their will be many area’s in medicine that you either will have to wait a long time to have done and their will be procedure’s you will be denied to have done.