Canadian Health Care

But wait!  There's more....the HC bill allows the president to establish his own private police force, called the Ready Reserve!  It's all there in the bill!  

I read this on a political message board.  Couldn't believe my eyes.  Oh, the same person that posted about the police force also believes that the moon is hollow.

:-)

I think that Obama should sign an executive order demanding that everyone just chill for 24 hours. Turn off all  radios and tv and reorganize themselves.  No internet. Definitely no youtube.

Hello from a stateside bc sister.  I have started a thread that's a bit hidden away

Sec. 10413. Young women's breast health awareness/support

I'm posting on your thread to personally invite my Canadian bc sisters, as well as bc sisters from other countries to share their knowledge and experiences with health care as it impacts bc prevention diagnosis, treatment and access.   I know there are many women on these threads that care very much about women throughout the world who are living with breast cancer, and especially our future generations.  I would like to invite you to share what it was like as you transitioned to the system you have today ... what you feel is best about your healthcare ... what, if anything you would change.  I've also provided some links regarding our recent legislation to hopefully start some diaglogue.  I hope you will share your experiences and expertise with us.  Thanks!

Yeah, Barbe, I certainly didn't have to live through any transition - great available health care from the start.

Coulter - all I can say is Ugh. What I hate the most about people like her is that people care what she says, and pay her money so spew her crap. She has as much credibility to me as Paris Hilton. I wouldn't pay to listen to either of them. 

Barbe1958 - I'm not sure we're allowed to schedule our own mammograms once we've had breast cancer. I've always been part of the Breast Screening of Ontario program and every year have scheduled my own mammograms. However, this year, my doctor told me that once you've had breast cancer you can no longer be part of the program and in addition, all mammograms must be scheduled by your doctor. I'm actually having one tomorrow at PMH. It's such a long drive that I wish I could just ship them my boob by Fed Ex, have the mammo done and then have it shipped back to me using their 9 AM guarantee service.

I just returned to Canada on Monday after being in the US for the past 4 + months. I unfortunately had a health problem while I was there and was so pleasantly surprised to see a specialist in one day, had a CT scan the same day and another type of test the following day. Thank goodness for out of country health insurance!! But it was nice to have all the tests done and know the results within days of having the initial problem.

That said, I love our health care system. I often wonder if our parents went through a "transition" or whether they were just thrilled to have the system put into place?

Mantra, they just love Canadians with our travel insurance.  I am surprised they didn't offer some kind of surgery and its aftercare too.

Mantra you are quite right. At least in my part of Ontario once you have had any sort of breast cancer, you don't make your own appointments with the Breast Screening program. I guess the theory is that once you have a diagnosis, you no longer need "screening", you need ongoing care and there should be someone following up with you.

I cannot believe some of the sentiments on 'the other' thread.  I will not post this article there but it sums up my feelings about the subject.

"In an April 2009 poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington, 72 percent agreed with the statement that "poor people have become too dependent on government assistance programs." That's up from 69 percent in 2007."The economic downturn has made the middle class less generous toward others," said Guy Molyneux, a partner at Hart Research Associates, a Washington firm that researches attitudes toward the poor. "People are less supportive of the government helping the poor, because they feel they're not getting enough help themselves."It's a divided country, splitting on a fault line: those who think the poor are poor because they don't try enough, and those who think the poor simply need help."Matt Wray, a sociologist at Temple University, agreed: "Hatred of the poor is fueled by the middle class's fear of falling during hard times."Americans don't understand how the poor are victimized by a lack of jobs, inefficient schools, and unsafe neighborhoods, experts say."People ignore the structural issues - jobs leaving, industry becoming more mechanized," said Yale sociologist Elijah Anderson, renowned for his study of the Philadelphia poor. "Then they point to the poor and ask, 'Why aren't you making it?' "Americans tend to blame the victim, according to Angela Sutton, 33, of Northeast Philadelphia. "People think we like mooching off the system, and don't see the circumstances that put us here," said Sutton, who was shot in the stomach at 14 and raped by a relative the next year while growing up in North Philadelphia.A former welfare recipient, Sutton is an unmarried mother of two children living on disability insurance and food stamps. "They think we're lazy and want a free ride."Talk radio has especially galvanized against the poor.In June, conservative Rush Limbaugh denigrated food stamps, which hunger experts have said are vital to poor children.

With "food care," as Limbaugh put it, the "obese" poor "buy Twinkies, Milk Duds, potato chips, six-packs of Bud, then head home to watch the NFL on one of two color TVs and turn off their cell phones, and that's poverty in the U.S." (What he didn't say is that food stamps can't be use 

While hostility toward the poor may be on the rise, there is a growing sense that a dismal economy will move even the middle class toward poverty. Some ask: Will Americans hate them as well?"When you can work the minimum wage and still be poor," said Meg Bostrom of Topos, a Washington research group, "when people don't get paid sick leave, when jobs are scarce, and when inequality between the rich and working class grows, well, you're making conditions for poverty. Poverty doesn't just happen. And the hardest workers in America will continue to struggle."

You can find the entire article here: 

 http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20100215_In_hard_times__Americans_blame_the_poor.html

I have a nephew in Michigan who had a good job with a lumber company.  With the collapse of the housing industry he was laid off.  He started listening to Rush, and now believes everything that demagogue spouts.  We've had to make him stop emailing us some of the really vile and hateful statements/excerpts from Limbaugh's show.  In fact, I just cannot talk to him at all, it upsets me so much.  My nephew was very close to his mother (my sister) but she died of leukemia when he was just 20.  There are many reasons I wish my dear sis was still alive, and one of them is that she could talk some sense into her son -- we sure can't.

When reading on that other thread - yes I'm a lurker - it is disturbing how the poor are blamed for their condition. But when you really look, it is only a few posters making those statements. When you look at the number of american ladies on this site, you see that most women are not posting there. I'd like to believe that most women who are travelling down this road would not begrudge anyone the best treatment possible, no matter how little they contributed.  I for one, love reading your posts Layne!!! 

"give their heads a shake" - or something! I have learned so much about the extreme right by lurking on that forum. Having posted once or twice, I learned quickly about not being welcome there - that a small few really do not want to hear anything contradicts their world view. And it seems that their world view is "I'm OK and if you aren't that's your fault and I'm not going to help you, especially with any part of my taxes, because that would make you dependent and rob me of my freedom" or something like that.

Sooo happy to live in  Canada - well, not so proud of our PM these days but that's another rant.

Nevermind...

I agree with what you are writing about the other thread. I'm also a lurker. What troubles me is that by allowing those hate mongers to go on and to bully other people away, they take control. If this board is a microcosm, then the same thing will happen out there in the real world. People have to stand up to them and show that those hate mongers are in a minority. Otherwise they do gain power. If you look at history, when tyrants get into power, that is the pattern that occurs. I do worry about what is going on south of our border. (that being said, I sometimes worry about our own democracy) .... sorry didn't mean to do a political rant. I am most grateful that I don't have to worry about being able to pay for my medical treatments. I'm also grateful to live in a country where we seem to care about those less fortunate and even though we still can do better, at least health care is seen as a basic human right.

Thanks for that. A good giggle before bed!!!

Layne, do you know what is most wonderful about our universal health care?  We go about day to day and don't even realize how lucky we are.  For most of us, it's the only way we have known.  It is only in times like now when the US is looking at their health care, that we really realize just how very lucky we are.

I just did a quick calculation.  Approximately 48% of provincial tax dollars go to Health Care.  Put that way, it sounds like a lot, but actually, is way less that what I hear US insurance coverage costs.

There are lots of people everywhere looking down on those who need more "assistance".  Not just Canada and the US, but everywhere in the world.  My experience is those are the same people who will cheat on their income taxes.  Cheating on your income taxes is just a form of illegal welfare (IMO).