Oy Canada - Another day, another looney

So to speak:

Still waiting for emergency surgery on broken ankle. Hospital ER overloaded and no private options for surgery in SK, the birthplace of Canadian Medicare. https://t.co/HVW5rrFmT8

— Heather Chapman (@PatientFactor) March 1, 2020

#Medicaid4All

Oy Canada (A Continuing Series)

Shot:

Chaser:

Medically assisted deaths provide boost to organ donation in Ontario https://t.co/PsABbMdOUb pic.twitter.com/YYcAgHA1Jq

— Ottawa Citizen (@OttawaCitizen) January 6, 2020

#Medicaid4All

[Hat Tip: Amy Curtis] 

british dad, dead patient, revenue loss

Oy, Canada! Update #3,486

Courtesy of FoIB MisHum, another of our frequent reminders about the wonders of government-run health "care" (eg MedicareForAll):

"The sister of a woman who spent some of her final hours waiting in a New Brunswick emergency room says she believes the wait contributed to her death."

Ya think?

The poor woman sat in the waiting room for almost half a day, even though she had obvious signs of respiratory distress and other symptoms of what turned out to be acute kidney failure.

The 58 year old woman victim, Marianne Porter, leaves behind 3 children, but apparently no outstanding medical bills because: hey, free!

And worth every  loonie.

Oy Canada: Make mine a double

Shot (courtesy Surgery Center of OK, about which we've posted):

"Family frustrated with lack of bed at Halifax hospital for mother with cancer"

One of the major problems with nationalized health care schemes is that the law of supply and demand is immutable. That is, there will always be a (growing) demand for health care, but there is also a limited (or at least finite) supply. We've seen what happens when you make health care a "right," and it's not pretty:

"Vowing to maintain public dental services in the province, Quebec’s health minister said Thursday he would sign a ministerial decree to block dentists from withdrawing from the public health system." The case at hand, though, is far more serious, since it involves a potentially life-threatening condition, and the patient suffering even more damage as a direct result of the system.

But then, these systems are also capable of turning out world class meds, which brings us to...

Chaser (via Ace of Spades):

"It is one of this country's great scientific achievements. The first drug ever approved that can fix a faulty gene ... But most Canadians have never heard of it."

Yup, that's right: Canadian researchers at the prestigious University of British Columbia "spent decades developing the treatment for people born with a genetic mutation that causes lipoprotein lipase disorder."

Decades, and tonnes of dollars loonies.

The condition, more commonly known as LPLD, is the result of a genetic mutation, and causes ones blood to thicken with potentially deadly results. It also renders females who suffer from it barren (due to the high risk of miscarriage).

The med, called Glybera, promises to fix all that. The problem is that it was just too expensive, and thus was allowed to whither away on the vine.

To be fair, this isn't the fault of Canada's health care system, but one of simple economics:

"Van Deventer says the company never considered lowering the price ... Why would we? Pricing shouldn't be a political decision. It should be a rational decision based on merits and values.'

Which is contra what a lot of folks here say about "Big Pharma."

Interesting dilemma, no?

Bonus:

Canadian Hospital Urgent Care Waiting Room To Patients: Kill Yourself https://t.co/Q9lwPzlPVS from The Political Hat Blog

— Political Hat Blog (@PoliticHatBlog) November 27, 2018

Oy, Canada - Part 7,285

Previously on Oy, Canada:

"Patients also experience significant waiting times for various diagnostic technologies."

And that's just to be seen and treated. But what happens next? Often, the provider prescribes a med (or meds) to help treat the issue.

That's the easy part:

I'm Canadian. I have universal healthcare. My oncologist prescribed Xeloda, an oral chemotherapy, to try to extend my life. In Ontario, oral chemotherapy isn't covered.

My insurance has been dragging their heels and just today declined coverage. #ThisDoesntSeemUniversal

— Katie Davidson (@LovlyKatieLumps) July 19, 2018

That's right: in at least one province CanuckCare© doesn't cover oral cancer treatment.

And if one follows the comments, one is reminded of this dirty little CanuckCare© secret:

"[P]rivate insurance is responsible for oral chemo (different from province to province"

That's right, our Neighbors to the North© recognize the devastating limitations of "free" health care, and have developed (and market) supplements, much like our own government-run health care system (Medicare).

The more you know....

Oy, Canada! Part 6,437

Our friend Rich W alerts us to the latest CanuckCare news, and it's not pretty:

"Waiting for treatment has become a defining characteristic of Canadian health care ... waiting times for medically necessary treatment have in-creased since last year."

That last part is important because, unlike elective procedures, medically necessary treatment indicates a certain sense of urgency. And in the case of our Neighbors to the North, there are really two distinct factors at work:

First, "[fr]rom referral by a general practitioner to consultation with a specialist. The waiting time in this segment increased from 9.4 weeks in 2016 to 10.2 weeks this year." This could be potentially life-threatening; what if that referral was to an oncologist?

And second, "[f]rom the consultation with a specialist to the point at which the patient receives treatment. " Again, if chemo and/or radiation is called for, this could mean the difference between a few days versus years of life.

And, of course, the same would hold true for someone with, for example, an acute heart condition.

And it's not just treatment that's getting backburnered:

"Patients also experience significant waiting times for various diagnostic technologies."

These include what we'd consider fairly routine things like CT scans and MRI's, as well as ultrasounds, which could help detect potential issues in the baby.

The point, of course, is that single-payer medicine (the stated end-goal of ObamaCare) isn't the panacea its proponents tout it to be.

Oy Canada: CanuckCare© Strikes Again

Previously on CanuckCare© Today:

"[A] doctor can not only deny life-saving treatment for a person in their right mind who wants it, but actually have that patient, against the patient’s will and with their full mental faculties, outright executed by lethal injection."

And that's if the patient is "fortunate" enough to even get an appointment.

For many, that's quite the luxury:

"I actually thought I misread it’: Doctor ‘stunned’ over years-long wait for specialist appointment"

What the heck's she talking about?

Oh:

The joys of government-run health "care."

But hey: it's free!

[Hat Tip: FoIB Dr Gerard G]

Single Payer Blues

So let's see what our Friends Across the Pond© have been up to. Via our friend Rich W:

"A growing crisis in hospital safety is revealed in official figures showing a doubling in the number of legal warnings issued by NHS watchdogs."

Promising!

The number of "enforcement actions" (basically citations) has more than doubled in the past year, and it doesn't appear that that rate's slowing down:

"Recent actions include a warning notice to Royal Cornwall Hospitals trust after inspectors found patients dying and left to go blind after long waits for treatment."

But hey, free!

On the other hand, it's not as if our own hands are clean:

"VA conceals shoddy care and health workers' mistakes"

Ooops.

Fortunately for those who served our country, putting their lives on the line for all of us, VA healthcare professionals are top-notch.

Oh, wait:

"Medical experts from the Department of Veterans Affairs blamed one botched surgery after another on a lone podiatrist ... In 88 cases, the VA concluded, Franchini made mistakes that harmed veterans."

Good thing the VA bureauweenies caught him in time, and that he paid a severe penalty.

"They let him quietly resign and move on to private practice, then failed for years to disclose his past ... He now works as a podiatrist in New York City."

Oy.

Okay, well then, good thing this was just a one-off.

Sigh:

"In other cases, veterans’ hospitals signed secret settlement deals with dozens of doctors, nurses and health care workers that included promises to conceal serious mistakes ."

Words fail.

On the bright side, it's not as if single payer systems promote murdering patients to save precious and scarce health care dollars, right?

Um, you may want to be sitting down for this:

"Now, in Canada, a doctor can not only deny life-saving treatment for a person in their right mind who wants it, but actually have that patient, against the patient’s will and with their full mental faculties, outright executed by lethal injection."

"Free" health care: worth every penny you pay for it.

Wednesday LinkFest

■ From the Oy, Canada! Department, our friend WeirdDave alerts us to a report on how that free health care's working out for our Neighbors to the North©:

"Canadians who need medically necessary surgeries waited longer than ever for treatment"

And the average was about 5 months! But hey, free.

■ And speaking of "free" health care, our friends across The Pond prover once again that government-run health care schemes are no bargain:

Why not have a government-funded single payer health care system like they do in Europe? Here's why:Europeans pay for it with enormous taxes pic.twitter.com/GyTg2b8pmH

— Robert Zubrin (@robert_zubrin) June 23, 2017

■ And finally, you just know that ObamaCare's in free-fall when a high profile Democrat congresscritter explicitly admits it on camera:

[Courtesy WeaselZippers and FoIB Rich W]

Oy Canada, Part 5,294

As we've often noted, the ACA was always designed as a path to a single payer, nationalized health "care" scheme. And we've also noted many times that CanuckCare (seems to be a primary role model for that goal) isn't doing so well as a panacea of health care delivery.

"There’s just one problem: The Canadian model of universal coverage is failing."

The Canadian system is government funded, but delivered by what are essentially heavily-regulated private entities. And we really do mean "heavily regulated:"

"Canada’s government-controlled health-care system has become more restrictive than communist China’s."

Yikes.

And something else which was new to me: we've long known that private, supplemental health plans are available Up North©, but what we did not know is that "it applies only to procedures and services that fall outside the CHA;" that is, only for things like dental, vision and prescription meds.

And, of course, it's going broke, as "it relies almost entirely on current taxpayers to subsidize the disproportionately large health-care needs of elderly Canadians in their final few years of life."

Hunh.

[Hat Tip: Dr. Shane‏]

Oy, Canada (Part 2,740)

It's been a while since we've checked in on the health "care" system of our Neighbors to the North©. It appears that things haven't improved. Take, for instance, the case of Stefan Molyneux:

"Canadians know how awful socialized medicine is, and Canada is plagued with immense wait times and a strained system, which Stefan’s recent experience illustrates."

Here's his story:



"Average wait time for MRI in Canada is 101 days. I got one the next business day."

Coming here soon (the 101 day wait, that is).

Oy Canada! (Part 2,739)

Two years ago, we noted that "Canada's Supreme Court has ruled that under the "law of the land" in Ontario, a government board, not the family or doctors, has the ultimate power to pull the plug on a patient."

On the one hand, this is pretty scary; after all, it's what will happen under the IPAB. On the other, at least one knows the score, and can (try to) plan accordingly.

On the gripping hand:

"Canadian Medical Association considering allowing doctors to LIE about patients death to cover up euthanasia."

Wait, what?!

Oh, it gets worse:

The Quebec Medical College is already doing this:

"The physician must write as the immediate cause of death the disease or morbid condition which justified [the medical aid in dying] and caused the death. It is not a question of the manner of death (cardiac arrest), but of the disease, accident or complication that led to the death."

So if one has cancer, or some other fatal disease, and one is euthanized (perhaps under government orders) the cause of death won't be listed as the lethal injection, but the cancer itself.

"The deceased died of a sudden and severe influx of electrons."

Sure, go with that.

[Hat Tip: The Political Hat]

And speaking of waiting: Oy, Canada!

"At some point in time, every Canadian will be placed on a medical waitlist."

Says whom?

Says the folks who actually market "wait list" insurance to our Neighbors to the North. And they should know, since they actually live it, literally putting their money where their mouth is.

But wait, health insurance in Canada is free!

Indeed, and worth every penny (or is that loonie?).

The truth is, some lucky Canadians can skip the lines and head for the border; those left behind face often excruciatingly long wait times for treatment. Which is where the clever folks at Acure [ed: get it? "A cure"] come in:

"Medical Access Insurance provides Canadians with expedited access to specialist consultation, diagnostics and surgery for over 135 treatments and conditions. Medical treatment for covered conditions will be provided in weeks – not months or years."

One wonders about franchise opportunities as ObamaTax comes to fruition.

Oy Canada! Part #1,387

So CanuckCare© is superior to our own (soon-to-be-replaced) system? By one metric, at least, sure:

"Canada does guarantee its citizens ... access to a Web site to check on wait times for surgeries."

Well, that's helpful!

Of course here, we have no need for such a site, since we don't really have wait times for necessary surgery. Ooops.

As noted health policy wonk David Hogberg notes, "Ms. Gorsuch in fact had her surgery canceled twice and was waiting for her third one went she suffered a fatal heart attack ...On the upside, she’s no longer on the waiting list."

Now that's comforting!

It seems that the key difference between CanuckCare© and ObamaCare© is that the former is a reality, and the the latter is merely a probability.

Feel better now?

Oy Canada! Runaway Costs Coming Home to Roost

So our "broken system" needed a mutli-trillion dollar fix, based at least in part on the "success" of Canada's?

Not so fast there, pardner:

"The light bulb has gone on and the Ontario government has finally realized that the current method of financing health care in this province is not sustainable ... Premier Dalton McGuinty warned that if serious reforms are not implemented soon, health spending will consume 70 cents of every provincial dollar spent in 12 years. Not only would this increase government rationing of health care services, it would also crowd out other critical public services."

A couple of key points here:

■ What exactly comprise "serious reforms?" Is the Premier perhaps hinting at returning to a privatized system?

■ I found this little throw-away particularly delicious: "increase government rationing of health care services." In fact, this is a profound admission that the Canadian system is, in fact, based on rationing health care, and they still can't hold down costs.

Boy, I'm thrilled we've chosen that route, too.

Oy Canada! PLUS MVNHS© Losing Steam?

Even as we rush headlong into the abyss that is ObamaCare, it would be wise to consider the (tragic) fates of those who already suffer under such a system.

First up, our Neighbors to the North©:

"Kent Pankow lives in Edmonton, in a province and a country that is trying to either kill him or bankrupt him ... Suffering from brain cancer, Kent Pankow was literally forced to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. for lifesaving surgery."

Such is the nature of "free" health care: if the government provides it, the government can deny it. And by the way, that argument does not apply to insurance companies, which can, at worst, withhold only payment; they cannot withhold actual treatment.

In the event, Mr Pankow suffered from a fast-growing tumor which, had it been elsewhere in his body, would have been covered. He was doubly unfortunate, though, because the government-run health care system deemed him ineligible for treatment. Which doesn't mean they refused to pay for it (although that's exactly what happened), but that the unaccountable bureaucrats explicitly refused to grant him access to care. Death Panels, anyone?

Now, $106,000 later, the poor man gets hit again:

"[T]he province will now not fund the expensive drug, Avastin, that the Mayo prescribed to keep him alive and keep the remaining tumour from increasing in size."

Again, had the tumor appeared in, for example, his lungs or colon, the government would have provided this life-saving medication. In effect, they've condemned him to a slow and painful death.

Quick, let's do that here!

[Hat Tip: FoIB Peter Krieger]

Meanwhile, across the pond, the MVNHS© faces its own Death Panel:

"Hundreds of NHS wards to be shut in secret plans"

Turns out, the folks who run that other scheme of socialized medicine haven't figured out how to rein in the cost of health care, either. So they'll do what any other service provider would in the face of increasing red ink: cut back on the delivery of said services. Again, this is the heavy hand of a government-run system: they have the gold, they make (and enforce) the rules. Such a system is inherently unsustainable, as the headline above demonstrates.

So what do sick Brits do when their government shuts them out? Well, they turn to their own health insurance plans.

What, you didn't know that our Cousins Across the Pond have figured out the shortfalls of their public health system? They're not stupid:

"[O]ne of the main reasons for the current great value of Health Insurance Policies for UK citizens [both at home and abroad] is that British providers of health insurance are being pressed by their consumers [both current and potential] to make every saving possible."

Told ya so.

Oy Canada!: Premier Update

Earlier this month, we reported on the Canadian Premier [ed: comparable to our "Governor"] who chose to ignore his country's fine - and FREE! - health care system in favor of one of those evil, greedy American providers. This blatant and unmitigated attack on socialized medicine came at a time when our own country is considering such a system, and undermines our efforts to nationalize our own broken and inadequate health care system.

Even more appalling is the reason this ungrateful pol gave for his decision:

"An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision."

How dare he?!

Impugning the superior - and FREE! - Canadian system just because he wanted effective health care. And it gets worse:

"[H]e went to Miami to have a "minimally invasive" surgery..."

So one can't count on the outstanding - and FREE! - Candian system for even minor ailments?

Please remind me why this would be worth emulating.

Oy Canada! Medical Tourism Part ??

Previously, we reported on Canadian Member of Parliament Belinda Stronach, whose fight with breast cancer led her to California for life-saving surgery.

Now, in a blatant attempt to derail ObamaCare©, Canadian Premier Danny Williams has chosen to circumvent the obviously superior (and free!) Canadian health care system, by flying to the United States for heart surgery, which is widely and freely available in his home country.

Right?

So again we'll ask: Why do President Obama, Sen Harry Reid and Rep Nancy Pelosi hate Canadians?

[Hat Tip: RedState]

Oy Canada - Early December Edition

One of the most significant problems with gummint-run health care is that, just as with most things the government touches, red tape and stringent rules often lead to broken - or at least in this case damaged - hearts:

"An elderly woman with a cane and a heart condition was told to bring her husband into a Nova Scotia hospital on her own or call 911 after he suffered a heart attack 10 metres [32 feet] from the facility's front door"

Not only did the hospital turn her away, they told her that they'd only treat hubby if he arrived by ambulance, for which she'd be charged. But of course, Canadian health care is free, right?

In fairness, my experience with American hospitals is that those arriving by ambulance are almost always bumped ahead of those who arrive by private transport; still, requiring such seems a bit Big Brotherish.

Just another example of what we may be in for.

Oy Canada: Insurance Insurance

A while back, we reported on one insurance carrier's unique (if odd) plan that essentially guaranteed that one could jump back onto an individual medical plan if one's group insurance was lost. The hook was that "(f)or a fee, one buys the right to purchase some kind of health coverage if one becomes at once uninsured and uninsurable." The idea was that one was essentially buying one's future insurability.

Of course, such a plan would be a waste of money for our Friends to the North©, right? After all, they already have free health care, and lots of it.

Or maybe not:

"A group in British Columbia has offered medical waiting-list insurance to members whose government treatment is on hold."

Yup. Although we've detailed Canada's major shortage of actual health care over the years, even we hadn't quite grasped just how little is actually readily available to the average Canuck. Much as our AAA offers roadside assistance to stranded motorists, the British Columbia Automobile Association wanted to offer its members bedside assistance to those stranded on the side of the rocky Canadian health care road.

Folks who bought the policy and subsequently endured a 45 day wait for a covered expense were guaranteed access to a private clinic in BC, or even in the good ol' U S of A.

Or would have been:

"The program, which took two years to develop, never got beyond the pilot phase ... The association shut it down when critics howled and government officials checked to see if such a program was actually legal in Canada."

"Actually legal in Canada." If that doesn't send Arctic chills down your spine, then you're not paying attention: it is apparently illegal in Canada to actually try to help oneself gain access to health care. Yet that's exactly the kind of system that many proponents of a nationalized health care system want to impose on us.

Tell me again why that's a "good thing?"