Tag Archives: Waiting

Videos explaining what government-run health care is like in Canada

Here are a few helpful videos of some Canadian health care horror stories.

The Cheryl Baxter Story:

A Short Course in Brain Surgery:

Two Women:

The Lemon:

And one more video from On The Fence Films called “Dead Meat“.

While you watch these videos, keep in mind that these people pay about half their incomes into a socialist system for thirty years. Usually, both adults in the family are working their whole lives to pay into this system. The money is spent by politically correct leftists on politically correct leftist research, such as polygamy studies. The politically correct leftist government grants taxpayer-funded treatments, for their preferred constituents, many of whom do not even pay into the system.

For example, things like breast cancer, in vitro fertilization, contraceptives, abortions, STDs, AIDS, drug rehabilitation and sex changes are well-funded by the government. But since men are politically incorrect in a feminist society, the mortality rate for prostate cancer, which only affects men, is abominably poor compared to countries like the United States. (See this article for a comparison of other health care outcomes).

The take home lesson for us in the United States is that this is a tremendous vote-buying scam. You will have ignorant but well-meaning Christians voting for the Democrats from the time Obamacare passes. Many Christians are typically ignorant of free market capitalism and do not realize that they are trading in their liberty and prosperity for “free health care”.

Christians rationalize their vote for massive government-run social programs as “compassion”, and try not to think about how they are really voting in favor of abortion, same-sex marriage and the end of religious liberty. I find it amusing to talk to Canadians who love free speech and single-payer health care, not realizing that the single-payer health care is the exact thing that sets a nation on the road to restrictions on free speech.

Even Canada is moving towards privatized health care

Here is a post from the American Power blog that cites an LA Times article entitled In Canada, a Move Toward a Private Healthcare Option. (H/T Blazing Cat Fur)

Excerpt:

When the pain in Christina Woodkey’s legs became so severe that she could no long hike or cross-country ski, she went to her local health clinic. The Calgary, Canada, resident was told she’d need to see a hip specialist. Because the problem was not life-threatening, however, she’d have to wait about a year.

So wait she did.

In January, the hip doctor told her that a narrowing of the spine was compressing her nerves and causing the pain. She needed a back specialist. The appointment was set for Sept. 30. “When I was given that date, I asked when could I expect to have surgery,” said Woodkey, 72. “They said it would be a year and a half after I had seen this doctor.”

So this month, she drove across the border into Montana and got the $50,000 surgery done in two days.

“I don’t have insurance. We’re not allowed to have private health insurance in Canada,” Woodkey said. “It’s not going to be easy to come up with the money. But I’m happy to say the pain is almost all gone.”

Whereas U.S. healthcare is predominantly a private system paid for by private insurers, things in Canada tend toward the other end of the spectrum: A universal, government-funded health system is only beginning to flirt with private-sector medicine.

[…]“What we have in Canada is access to a government, state-mandated wait list,” said Brian Day, a former Canadian Medical Assn. director who runs a private surgical center in Vancouver. “You cannot force a citizen in a free and democratic society to simply wait for healthcare, and outlaw their ability to extricate themselves from a wait list.”

Be sure and take a look at some of the videos I collected together detailing some of the horror stories.

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Hot Air and Michelle Malkin post new video of Michele Bachmann’s town hall

I am happy because lots of major blogs are saying nice things about my favorite representative Michele Bachmann. (You can see all my posts on her here)

In a new video from a town hall meeting, Michele slaps down an idiot heckler.

She starts out by trying to inform the audience of the perils of nationalizing health care, citing the recent story about the 4000 NHS patients who were denied hospital beds for giving birth. So they ended up having their children in all kinds of nasty places.

The Daily Mail wrote:

Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley, who obtained the figures, said Labour had cut maternity beds by 2,340, or 22 per cent, since 1997. At the same time birth rates have been rising sharply – up 20 per cent in some areas…

‘It shows the incredible waste that has taken place that mothers are getting this sort of sub-standard treatment despite Gordon Brown’s tripling of spending on the NHS.

‘Labour have let down mothers by cutting the number of maternity beds and by shutting down maternity units.’…

The NHS employs the equivalent of around 25,000 full-time midwives in England, but the Government has promised to recruit 3,400 more.

However, the Royal College of Midwives estimates at least 5,000 more are needed to provide the quality of service pledged in the Government’s blueprint for maternity services, Maternity Matters.

At the same time almost half of all midwives are set to retire in the next decade.

Well, as soon as Michele cites this story, some silly heckler starts to babble something about how similar things happen in American hospitals, like the hospital in MN. So Michele immediately shuts him down with this: “I’ve given birth here probably more times than you, sir.”

Click through to see the video either on Michelle Malkin or on Hot Air. And notice the positive reactions from Michelle Malkin and Ed Morrissey.

Also, click here for a picture of Michelle Malkin AND Michele Bachmann. Aren’t they lovely?

Blazing Cat Fur’s horrific experience with single-payer health care in Toronto

I spotted this story from Blazing Cat Fur while browsing at The Blog of Walker.

Excerpt:

I suppose I should have been tipped off by the fact that the surgeon who performed my Mom’s angioplasty last Friday couldn’t be bothered to check up on her afterward. This same surgeon discharged her Saturday morning from TGH, Toronto General Hospital – by phone.

Tuesday afternoon my Mother suffered a “False Aneurysm“, this it was explained, is a fairly common side effect caused by the anti-clotting medication she has been prescribed. However the Brit’s inform me that “The most common cause of pseudoaneursym is femoral artery puncture during cardiac catheterisation.”

[…]She was scared, in a great deal of pain and very weak by the time she hit TGH’s ER, though commendably the paramedics had stabilized her – this was 6:20 PM. The paramedics stayed with her, monitoring her vitals and answering my questions as best they could until well after their shift ended at 7. At 8:30 PM, in order to release the paramedics my 84 year old Mother was officially admitted to TGH. Admission consisted of moving her from the ambulance gurney to a hospital gurney and pushing her 20 yards down the corridor, next to the homeless guy with the festering sores on his legs. The attentive care of the paramedics was replaced by – nothing.

We waited over an hour for a resident to finally stop by and inquire what the matter was. My shocked stare, which arose after she asked in all seriousness, if the angioplasty had been a success, caused her to retreat and summon the physician on duty. Wisely the attending doctor suggested that a physical examination was in order, she then disappeared with the resident in tow. A nurse was dispatched who informed us that my Mother would have to be undressed for the examination. Since this Angel of Mercy made no offer to assist I took it upon myself to undress my bedridden mother in a public corridor, in full view of the passing parade of visitors, patients and staff – truth be told the homeless guy was pretty discrete or at least preoccupied.

It goes on, and on, and on.

This is one of the saddest things I have ever read.

And it happens in England, too

Here is a Daily Mail story that I spotted over at The Western Experience. (And also ECM sent it)

Excerpt:

Thousands of women are having to give birth outside maternity wards because of a lack of midwives and hospital beds.

The lives of mothers and babies are being put at risk as births in locations ranging from lifts to toilets – even a caravan – went up 15 per cent last year to almost 4,000.

Health chiefs admit a lack of maternity beds is partly to blame for the crisis, with hundreds of women in labour being turned away from hospitals because they are full.

Latest figures show that over the past two years there were at least:

* 63 births in ambulances and 608 in transit to hospitals;

* 117 births in A&E departments, four in minor injury units and two in medical assessment areas;

* 115 births on other hospital wards and 36 in other unspecified areas including corridors;

* 399 in parts of maternity units other than labour beds, including postnatal and antenatal wards and reception areas.

Additionally, overstretched maternity units shut their doors to any more women in labour on 553 occasions last year.

The Western Experience also linked to the story of a man who had his appendix removed by the NHS – TWICE!

I knew that the left was concerned about the doomsday overpopulation myths, but this is ridiculous!

Further study

Learn more about health care policy from my previous posts on health care: