Dear friends,
Health care is a big issue in the states just now. I am not writing to take a stand on what should be done. I am just writing to relate to you my personal experiences and first-hand observations as someone who has lived in Canada and you can make of it what you feel is right.
The other night I was channel surfing and happened to get Hannity's America. I have never watched that show, but he was talking about how bad Canadian health care is and how the U.S. should never consider such a system. Some of the remarks he made were flat-out untrue. I just want to clarify some of them.
One thing he said is that people have to wait a long time for surgeries and sometimes die because they can't get the surgery they need. That is DEFINITELY not true. My neighbor across the street had been feeling bad for some time and didn't go to the doctor. When she was feeling so bad she couldn't stand it any more, she went. It was too late for her. She had cancer, uterus, ovary, I am not sure which. But the point is that she was diagnosed in the morning and that very afternoon she was in surgery. Any time there is a life threatening situation, there is no delay. She passed away, not because of the delay in treatment, but because she waited too long to go. The doctors really faught for her life with surgery, chemo, and radiation.
Granted, people do have to wait for non-life-threatening surgeries sometimes. Another neighbor had a bad hip and had to wait a few months for hip replacement surgery. Her life was never in danger.
I was in Canada when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The day I was diagnosed, I was referred to a very nice cancer center, and in less than a week I was on chemotherapy. The same day I saw the oncologist, as a matter of fact. There was no waiting for me.
My step-daughter ran into complications from a twin pregnancy that required surgery. The problem was twin-twin transfusion syndrome. The next day after diagnosis she had the surgery. No waiting. Both twins and mama are ok now.
One other thing about the medical care here. When you call a doctor's office in the states and say you are sick, they say, "What kind of insurance do you have?" When I was diagnosed with cancer (a very expensive disease) here in Canada, nobody asked me about insurance. I told them I didn't have insurance up here. Their reply was that they didn't even want to talk about the money, they just wanted to make me well. I got the same reply from 3 different doctors. The family doctor I first went to, the surgeon and the oncologist. My other step-daughter is a pediatric nurse. She told me about a family whose son became ill who was not on the Canadian health care plan. The doctor took care of the child, the family was poor, and paid him with an apple pie.
Every Canadian can go to any doctor he chooses. There is no list of preferred physicians. It doesn't matter if you go to a doctor near your home or umpteen hundred miles away.
The only problems I have seen with the Canadian system is that you do have to wait for elective surgeries. I have not known anyone to have to wait for any treatment when the disease was serious. The good thing about it is that NOBODY has to go untreated because they don't have insurance. NEVER is anyone turned away. Yet I have personally seen people, little children even, turned away from a doctor's care when they are sick in the states. To me, that is worse than anything, even having to wait for surgery for a bad hip.
I don't care what you think is the right thing to do about health care in the states. But just don't believe all the lies you hear about what it is like up here. It has minor problems to be sure. But it is a pretty good system when you get right down to it.
I can't tell you how I beamed with pride when I saw that letter from my mother. I, like many of you for a long time thought that my mother was the smartest person I knew, and quite possibly the smartest person in the world. Of course, growing into an adult I eventually realized this wasn't the case, but I can tell you that my mother is still nobody's fool. Even though she is a Republican, she is definately not Sean Hannity's fool.
I am also even prouder of my mother for fighting and so far winning her battle against breast cancer. It is a five year window to be cancer-free, and she has made it for three of them. She is a brave, God-fearing woman that I am very proud of and has my undying respect and love Republican or no. Now, if I could just get her to come around to voting for John Edwards......
Best wishes to all those who won't let party loyalty blind them on both sides of the aisle!!!
Comments are closed on this story.