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In January, I wrote about Canadians coming to the U.S. in search of I.C.U. beds. Well, it would appear that emergency cardiac patients are also being rushed southward for care. The Globe & Mail reports the following:
421 emergency cardiac patients have been sent to the United States from Ontario since the 2003-2004 fiscal year to Feb. 21 this year.
Many of these patients receive unsuccessful treatment in Canadian hospitals and must be sent to the U.S. for heart catheritization. The Globe & Mail describes the case of Kaukab Usman:
[Usman] had a heart attack after a gym workout in Windsor on Dec. 9. She was rushed to hospital and given clot-bursting drugs. When they failed, she was sent to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where she had angioplasty on one clogged artery and two stents inserted.
So, why is the vaunted Canadian single-payer system unable o provide proper care for these patients? Canadian Medical Association president Brian Day offers the following:
‘We keep coming back to the same root cause,’ Dr. Day said in a telephone interview from Ottawa. ‘The health system is not consumer-focused.’
In other words, the people who run Canada’s single-payer system are insulated from their “customers,” and thus have no incentive to provide good service.
We are told that government-run health care would be cheaper and more efficient that the current U.S. system. Well, the costs of Canada’s system are rising at unsustainable rates and it can’t provide necessary care.
Is this the kind of system we need in this country? I don’t think so.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 am
I work as a independent contractor for the US Federal government and am the first to acknowledge the bloatest inefficiencies that it contains. However, the current free market has some serious flaws —
1. People like me with a pre-existing condition CAN’T PURCHASE COVERAGE for the condition. I’ve tried, they won’t do it. It’s not a matter of price, I just don’t make it through underwriting. I’ve not been hospitalized for my condition (a common one) for 30 years and it keeps me from working about 5 days/year. I make a decent income, but without the power of the group, I’m hosed. The invisible hand is apparently asleep on this one.
2. Since I can’t get insurance coverage for my condition, I’m willing to purchase medicines/treatment on my own. However, I can’t get anywhere close to the group rates on medicines/procedures/etc. For some simple things, like bilateral chest X-Rays, I can’t even call and get price quotes — the hospital doesn’t do free market. How can the free market work if I can’t compare apples to apples?
I wish I could say that free markets will work for this problem, but it won’t. Some government regulation (at least) is needed to level the playing field. As a matter of fact, I’m going to put my shingle away and go be an employee because I have no leverage in controlling health care costs. I’m already getting the highest deductible, but the rates keep going up even though my family is essentially not using the benefits.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 am
I work as a independent contractor for the US Federal government and am the first to acknowledge the bloatest inefficiencies that it contains. However, the current free market has some serious flaws —
1. People like me with a pre-existing condition CAN’T PURCHASE COVERAGE for the condition. I’ve tried, they won’t do it. It’s not a matter of price, I just don’t make it through underwriting. I’ve not been hospitalized for my condition (a common one) for 30 years and it keeps me from working about 5 days/year. I make a decent income, but without the power of the group, I’m hosed. The invisible hand is apparently asleep on this one.
2. Since I can’t get insurance coverage for my condition, I’m willing to purchase medicines/treatment on my own. However, I can’t get anywhere close to the group rates on medicines/procedures/etc. For some simple things, like bilateral chest X-Rays, I can’t even call and get price quotes — the hospital doesn’t do free market. How can the free market work if I can’t compare apples to apples?
This is not to mention the fact that most Joes simply don’t have the skills or time to sift through all the medical information out there to make good free-market choices. If we’re going to truly let the markets decide, we will need an intermediary between the care providers and the patients to help them weigh all of the choices. Just like we have CPAs and brokers for sifting through tax laws and volatile markets, we would need a “medical care broker” to help folks make decisions that are both good for health and good for the pocket. The average doctor who deals with mostly insured patients doesn’t generally keep up with the retail prices of everything — they just order what’s best for the patient.
I wish I could say that free markets will work for this problem, but it won’t. Some government regulation (at least) is needed to level the playing field. As a matter of fact, I’m going to put my shingle away and go be an employee because I have no leverage in controlling health care costs. I’m already getting the highest deductible, but the rates keep going up even though my family is essentially not using the benefits.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:30 am
We were featured on a CNN special called
Broken Government ~ Healthcare ~ Critical Condition…
We almost ran out of insurance for our cardiac baby by the time he was 10 months old.
We were not eligible to purchase private insurance and we earned over the federal poverty level to qualify him for Medicaid.
We were given horrible options. Thank God my husbands employer increased the lifetime cap for all it’s members just in time. Otherwise, who knows where we would be right now.
Our boy will need open heart surgeries for the rest of his life… he was born without a pulmonary artery.
Please watch:
Our friends, the Zeiglers come up first… and I come on at the 5:25 mark til the end.
Something needs to be done.
HEALTHCARE IS UNAFFORDABLE!
Stanford was paid $26,000 a day (and that was at a 40% discount) not including labs, xrays, doctors, surgeons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m6gZxK0J4k
Our politicians need to listen to us…
no one can afford the cost of medical these days.
March 5th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Stuart, it is easy to attack the shortcomings of the Canadian health care system which is focused on the patient and not “consumer focused” as you suggest.
While our system fails occasionally for the most part it provides health care that is effecient and world class in contrast to the horror show of the American for profit model.
I have responded to your “Short Course in Brain Surgery” video at my Sparkplug Blog.
March 7th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Here again, less than 1/10th of one percent of Canadiens come to the US for care. This is another red herring spin.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
[…] This week the Globe and Mail reported that “Inside Sylvia de Vries lurked an enormous tumour and fluid totalling 18 kilograms. But not even that massive weight gain and a diagnosis of ovarian cancer could assure her timely treatment in Canada.” She sought treatment in the United States, as do Canadians in need of intensive care and emergency cardiac care. […]