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Apparently, an ad for PatientsUnitedNow.com features a "Canadian" woman who escaped Canada's "horrible" health care by traveling to the United States to get her brain tumor operated on. I find these type of ads very offensive because they brainwash the American populace into thinking that the US is superior over every other nation on Earth. This is probably one of the most blatantly offensive political commercials that I've seen aired on public TV.

 

 

 

What are your thoughts on commercials such as these?

That wasn't anti-Canadian, it was against the idea of the US getting free healthcare. And btw, it's not saying that Canadian healthcare is bad, it's saying that it's delays can lead to problems, which they can. We oretty much get it right away, but only if you can afford it. Pros and cons to both systems.

 

 

 

So I think that if it can wait for some time and you don't have the money, go to Canada. If you have cash and need it right away, go to US. It's a decision you shouldn't have to make, but it comes with both systems.

It's a similar problem here. The money. Sure they can attend you faster, but you're gonna work triple for the next 20 years paying that stuff off.

 

 

 

Medical care should be free since life is.

It's a similar problem here. The money. Sure they can attend you faster, but you're gonna work triple for the next 20 years paying that stuff off.

 

 

 

Medical care should be free since life is.

 

 

 

And then comes the delays. All countries deserve good, equal healthcare, but unfortunately it could be a while before that happens. Lets just hope its sooner rather than later.

I'm not posting this as as angry Canadian - I'm just stating my personal experience with our health care system (which, apparently, has too much delays)

 

 

 

1- I broke my arm in the 8th grade. I was rushed to the hospital, but had to wait 20 minutes until someone actually cared for me. If I was a complete jerk-off like so many Canadians, I'd go on a campaign for better health care - yet I got exceptional service by 2 expert doctors and it cost my family nothing.

 

 

 

2- My mom, an athlete for most of her life, needed both hips replaced. It was for a better lifestyle, not even life threatening. She saw a specialist within a month and had her operation 6 months later, also free.

 

 

 

3- My uncle, with a special immune-system attacking cancer, was treated by specialized Canadian doctors. It took awhile, he almost died, but he's healthy now and now in dept of several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

 

 

The only people who whine about the Canadian health system are those that are too impatient to wait in a waiting room for over half an hour. That's what really picks my nerve, close to being violent. Those types of people claim they have lost their rights, wasting their time waiting for a doctor that will treat them for free. This add really pissed me off, not because I'm Canadian but because they're feeding the public wrong information in order to gain their own personal benefit.

Medical care should be free since life is.

 

Not in my mind. Medical care costs enormous sums, which we can see in USA's budget e.g.

 

Or, do as our crappy [bleep] socialdemocrats did for 50+ years... Have enormous taxes on everything. Be warned tho, i know americans think their fuel is expensive, but ours is about 12kr a liter (bit over a euro).

 

 

 

Edit: Fastortoise: I broke my left leg when i was 12, when playing football (soccer) in school at around lunch hour and i didn't get a cast on until 19.00 in the evening.

 

And as i said, we pay enormous taxes here, but you'll only get quick help if you've got an axe in your head.

Lol... America dares to talk about their health care? Take a look at a few European countries to see how it's done. Wouldn't want to live in America if I had to rely on their system...

 

1- I broke my arm in the 8th grade. I was rushed to the hospital, but had to wait 20 minutes until someone actually cared for me. If I was a complete jerk-off like so many Canadians, I'd go on a campaign for better health care - yet I got exceptional service by 2 expert doctors and it cost my family nothing.

 

 

 

 

Twenty minutes is actually a pretty decent time compared to what we might have to wait for in my country. A wait in the ER might take hours, depending on how many people are waiting to be treated. Once, I had a ruptured appendix and was rushed to the hospital. They kept me waiting for about 20-30 minutes before actually taking me back to a room for a doctor to take care of me, which took an hour wait for the doctor to even show up. By the time he showed up and all the scans were complete to determine that it was appendicitis, it took hours for them to even get me to the pre-surgery waiting area. Even though the surgeon was a good one, I still had to wait a considerably long time and still ended up with an expensive bill (even with insurance).

 

 

 

I've also known a person who couldn't afford insurance. She was bitten by a poisonous spider and decided against getting treatment because she knew that she could never afford the bill and figured that it would be too much stress on her family if they tried to pay it off. She died from the venom. Another problem that I have with the current system is that insurance companies have a tendency to drop a person's insurance if they end up getting an injury that the insurance company doesn't want to pay for. These commercials are sponsored by rich snobs that make a killing off of the insurance business, so they try to brainwash ignorant American citizens into protesting any initiative to reform the current system.

Down with da whyte man!!!11111

In certain parts of the American media (conservative media) the fact that a foreign government has a certain policy passes as a valid argument against that policy.

With a hybrid of the two systems things would work out fine. If you've got a brain tumor, you pay your insanely high fees and you live. If you have a far less serious problem, you wait until they have an opening and then you get it "free."

 

 

 

Of course every rich person will [bleep] and moan about how their hard earned money should be able to sit around in a bank account or go into buying a ridiculously in-efficient car while people who work 3 jobs can't afford to pay their families medical bills.

I'd rather wait 2 or 3 hours in a waiting room, then another 2 hours for a profile, then 4 hours for the surgery/treatment, then working 20-40 years working off the medical debts.

 

 

 

And if the persons tumor was actually 'that' bad she wouldn't have had to wait 6 months, she would have been bumped up the list quite fast. It probably wasn't even cancerous and was just growing very slowly.

The american health"care" system is an absolute disgrace, I live in the UK and although the NHS is far from perfect the fact that I know I won't be at the mercy of insurance companies in the event that I become ill helps me sleep at night.

Well what do you expect from a campaign ad paid for by an anti-universal healthcare organization? :lol:

Doesn't matter anyway. If you try to sneak into the U.S your going to get yourself kicked out.....

 

Unless you know how to hide.

I heard (although I cannot confirm its correctness) that the Indian system works completely different, and to me it sounds like a great idea, you pay the doctor a low amount all the time you are well, and it is only when you are not well that you dont pay, that way it encourages the doctors to keep their patients well, to speed their recovery as much has possible, and to be greatly concerned with preventative medicine.

I heard (although I cannot confirm its correctness) that the Indian system works completely different, and to me it sounds like a great idea, you pay the doctor a low amount all the time you are well, and it is only when you are not well that you dont pay, that way it encourages the doctors to keep their patients well, to speed their recovery as much has possible, and to be greatly concerned with preventative medicine.

 

 

 

So basically you pay a premium to your doctor; making them your insurance company and they have to deal with you? Sounds like a decent system, thats a short summary so it might have some horrible flaw that I don't see.

 

 

 

I dont feel like getting into the political banter; all I will say is I don't mind private or public health care, if the system is working properly. In the case of being American; I oppose universal healthcare because I don't trust the Government to get the system working properly.

 

 

 

edit--I wouldn't call this anti Canadian. They are advertising against universal healthcare using examples(not saying I believe or disbelieve them) and it makes sense to use Canada since it is next door. If you did this by comparing to a european country it would lose a little power since there is an ocean in the way.

The american health"care" system is an absolute disgrace, I live in the UK and although the NHS is far from perfect the fact that I know I won't be at the mercy of insurance companies in the event that I become ill helps me sleep at night.

 

I agree.

 

 

 

The NHS is slow, sloppy and not always the best. But it's free. If our family had to pay medical bills or pay for our medication (my mum alone is on about... 5), we'd be wholeheartedly screwed. I really appreciate the NHS and not having to worry about getting ill because it might cost me.

 

 

 

I like our system. If you want to go private then go you, you pay for Bupa and get the best healthcare. But there shouldn't be a need to be worried about paying for bills. Why the hell should we pay to stay alive?

I have a legit issue with the 'free for all' care. It's equally crappy care for all. I have nice insurance because my dad's worked hard and gotten a nice job. I have type 1 diabetes. With it, you can have shots, use insulin pens, or use an insulin pump. I have an insulin pump, and it's amazing and has made my life a ton better. They cost about $4000 apiece (most insurances only cover one every four years, most pumps have a 4 year warranty). If I lived in the UK or Canada, I would have much worse care, and would still be on shots because of the huge waiting lists they have for government-provided medical devices. I was actually on the government-run child health care insurance thing for a month because of a gap in our insurance coverage when my dad switched jobs. It ended up being a fiasco, because while we still paid some for it (it was like $100 a month or something) they ended up giving us a year's coverage when I only needed it for 1 month. The state ended up paying for our normal copay on a ton of my pump supplies. If they ran it better it would work better.

 

 

 

Basically what I'm saying is that the US has a better health care system because the government doesn't run it. When the government gets mixed up in stuff, it dies. We still have insurance for older people, kids, and people with disabilities/etc. It generally covers the stuff that needs to be covered. We don't need a new government run health care system. It'll fail and ruin many people's lives (-in my case, my dad's employer could choose to stop providing insurance, I would get stuck on state/fed health care, probably wouldn't be able to see my endo, not be able to afford a new insulin pump, and might not be able to afford the insulin (though I assume they would pay for that...))

I have a legit issue with the 'free for all' care. It's equally crappy care for all. I have nice insurance because my dad's worked hard and gotten a nice job. I have type 1 diabetes. With it, you can have shots, use insulin pens, or use an insulin pump. I have an insulin pump, and it's amazing and has made my life a ton better. They cost about $4000 apiece (most insurances only cover one every four years, most pumps have a 4 year warranty). If I lived in the UK or Canada, I would have much worse care, and would still be on shots because of the huge waiting lists they have for government-provided medical devices. I was actually on the government-run child health care insurance thing for a month because of a gap in our insurance coverage when my dad switched jobs. It ended up being a fiasco, because while we still paid some for it (it was like $100 a month or something) they ended up giving us a year's coverage when I only needed it for 1 month. The state ended up paying for our normal copay on a ton of my pump supplies. If they ran it better it would work better.

 

 

 

Basically what I'm saying is that the US has a better health care system because the government doesn't run it. When the government gets mixed up in stuff, it dies. We still have insurance for older people, kids, and people with disabilities/etc. It generally covers the stuff that needs to be covered. We don't need a new government run health care system. It'll fail and ruin many people's lives (-in my case, my dad's employer could choose to stop providing insurance, I would get stuck on state/fed health care, probably wouldn't be able to see my endo, not be able to afford a new insulin pump, and might not be able to afford the insulin (though I assume they would pay for that...))

 

 

 

OR, let the state provide free health care to the poor and you can pick a private doctor if you like. And don't provide the lame "too much taxes" excuse. We're wasting billions of dollars in weapons research and production, when we could use that money to aid, not harm, people.

The only people who whine about the Canadian health system are those that are too impatient to wait in a waiting room for over half an hour. That's what really picks my nerve, close to being violent. Those types of people claim they have lost their rights, wasting their time waiting for a doctor that will treat them for free. This add really pissed me off, not because I'm Canadian but because they're feeding the public wrong information in order to gain their own personal benefit.

 

 

 

My thoughts exactly.

How many people here have even had to live under not one of those systems, but both? That's the whole point of these ads. It plays off of one person who had a bad experience, trying to manipulate people who've never had to use a Canadian system.

 

 

 

The title made me chuckle, though. Looks like something in the Enquirer.

 

 

 

The Canadian system doesn't look too awful to me, but then again I haven't been to the doctor in years. I don't even have my immunizations. Whoops.

I'm split on the issue. Free health care is an awesome and effective idea when you're country is small and manageable. If you live in Luxembourg or Switzerland its very easy to give free healthcare to everyone since there are a finite amount of hospitals and the government can cover costs quite easily.

 

However, the United States isn't Canada, the US has over 320 million people spread over ten thousand hospitals. Its a nightmarish task, especially when you consider how many illegial immigrants there are, and they will all get the benefits of free health care without paying a dime (leaving the rest of us to pay the expensive costs).

 

Free health care isn't free, you pay for it in taxes.

 

 

 

The other fact is that the United States is traditionally on the forefront of medical advances. Open heart surgery, organ transplants, cancer treatments, endoscopic surgery, and the first use of stem cells were all things first done in US hospitals. This has happened since there is so much money in the system that people are driven to discover new techniques so they can sell them to surgeons in the US and make millions. Remove the wealth, remove a lot of the motivation.

 

 

 

It's also easier for other countries to go socialized since the US remains a capitalistic system. Like the commercial showed, citizens of other counties have little to loose by getting socialized medicine since if they want they could just go to the US for new and expensive treatments. Not so sound arrogant or patriotic but the U.S. has what is widly known as the best hospitals in the world. In the hieght of the cold war the Russian Prime Minister needed eye surgery and he went to Johns Hopkins (in Balitimore) since no hospital in his country could do the surgery.

 

 

 

So like I said, its easy and conviniant for places like Canada or France to go socialized health care. Everyone gets access to free basic care, and medical advances are still being developed by counties like Japan and the US. If someone gets really sick and the system can't care for them, they just go to the U.S. and get world class treatment. The U.S. going full socialized medicare will be... interesting.

 

 

 

But all that being said, I'm still for the idea. I just pray it doesn't bankrupt the tax payers and hinder our medical advances that much.

Everyone could afford health care just fine if there weren't national mandates put in place by politicians who have no experience in the field of insurance, or medical care. Insurance companies are required to incorporate extremely expensive and unusual procedures into the costs of standard plans, and that causes insurance to be unaffordable for many people. 83% of people in America say that the quality of their care is excellent or good, and another 12% say that it is fair. 70% say that they are very satisfied with their overall coverage, and another 15% say that it is fair. Only a very small minority of people are truly dissatisfied with their care. 57% are actually satisfied with the COSTS of their care, for all the blabber about that.

 

 

 

(http://www.gallup.com/poll/102934/major ... hcare.aspx)

 

 

 

This happens in crisis after crisis. Clueless politicians write laws about things that they do not have the slightest understanding of, cause huge disasters, and then randomly blame whoever they can for their failures. The bill is the size of two large phone books. I strongly doubt that most of the congress even has a vague understanding of the bill that they passed. The billl is going to force people to either never change their private policy or their employer, or accept government care.

 

 

 

Based on the way that they manage the budget, our Congress can't do basic math. They wont be able to pay for it unless there is no cost overrun, and there has probablly never NOT been a cost overrun with any government project. They can't add or subtract, they can't multiply or divide, they snort crack, they send sexy texts to 16 year old interns, they don't know about any issues or read anything, and they stand on their pedestal and ask me to give them more control of my life, because apparently I'm too stupid to manage it. Yes, THEY are the ones who know what they are talking about. What a joke.

A lot of the reason that the US healthcare system is so crap is because of lobbyists from the group which benefits most from the state it is in - insurance/pharmacutical corporations who make billions in profits every year. Fair enough that the standard of care is OK for people who can get insurance, but what about those who can't? and what about when they decide not to pay out?