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Post by westerner on Dec 6, 2003 20:40:26 GMT -5
I would just like to know why the government cares if people want to take care of themselves by getting private medical care. I recently tore my bicep and was told it would require surgery and that it was considered voluntary surgery which meant that I would be put on a waiting list. The problem was that by the time I would be called in my bicep would be healed incorrectly. So I found a surgeon, told him my situation and told me I would be on the waiting list as well, until I offered to pay cash. I had my surgery within 48hrs after that. I know that my problem was minor in comparison to some peoples problems but if I had cancer or some other disease I would like to know that I could get in right away in a private clinic rather than be put on a waiting list only to watch my problem grow worse. I think the government is cracked on this one.
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Post by BEAVER on Dec 8, 2003 18:47:51 GMT -5
Westerner:I do have to agree with you,if one want's to shell out once own money'why not'  ? I doubt it hurts the rest of us in fact if a citizen want to pay his own medical bill at a private clinic so be it, would make the waiting list shorter,OR? Correct me if I am wrong. I do firmly believe in our "Healthcare System" lets make sure no present or future polititions will"Americanize" it, trust me there are elements out there trying very hard to just do that,it is my hope, enough Canadiens patriots (Im not talking about drinking beer)are still around to fight for our'Canadien way'of life as well as of our resources,unfortunately all I can see is "Canada for sale"anything for a buck to the highest bidders mostly 'foreigners',our biggest threat is "Globalisation" make NO mistake obout it.  |
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Post by BEAVER on Dec 8, 2003 18:48:20 GMT -5
Westerner:I do have to agree with you,if one want's to shell out once own money'why not' ? I doubt it hurts the rest of us in fact if a citizen want to pay his own medical bill at a private clinic so be it, would make the waiting list shorter,OR? Correct me if I am wrong. I do firmly believe in our "Healthcare System" lets make sure no present or future polititions will"Americanize" it, trust me there are elements out there trying very hard to just do that,it is my hope, enough Canadiens patriots (Im not talking about drinking beer)are still around to fight for our'Canadien way'of life as well as of our resources,unfortunately all I can see is "Canada for sale"anything for a buck to the highest bidders mostly 'foreigners',our biggest threat is "Globalisation" make NO mistake obout it. |
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Post by Laurel on Dec 9, 2003 11:57:28 GMT -5
I think that if you can pay for your own surgery, then go for it. My question is who are these doctors, and where are these surgery's taking place. Perhaps in the "closed" operating rooms. Is that why the wait list is growning; because of these "unused" OR's. A friend broke his leg in June of 2002. It was misdiagnosed, and as a result healed sideways (the bone is twisted) he waited 2 months on the "urgent" wait list for a cat scan, and is still on the wait list for surgery. Where does it all end?
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Post by EGO on Dec 9, 2003 19:22:54 GMT -5
There are a few private surgical suites around that are in use, and they are not attached to the hospitals. there is at least one in Kelowna, and a couple in Vancouver that I know of. So they don't affect O.R. availability in the hospitals.(They might affect surgeon availability...). I was surprised to see the anouncement of bill 92, as this government has always seemed to be in favour of the use of provate clinics, MRI scans etc. I think this bill is a direct response to the federal go't threatening a with-holding of transfer payments if the province didn't do something about private payers "jumping the line." The thing is though, the private payers who can afford to jump the line actually make the line shorter for the people who can't afford to pay out of their own pockets.
Maybe this bill is one of those things that will look good on paper, will ensure the the transfer payments are made fromt he feds, but in the end will not really be enforced, and things will not really change. It's possible, we have a lot of laws that are not fully enforced. Come to think of it....do we have any laws that ARE fully enforced?
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Post by polisci on Dec 10, 2003 0:41:47 GMT -5
The problem with skipping the line-ups and paying cash for surgery isn't an overly visible one. It's easy to make the logical connection between people seeking private medical care and shorter line-ups for everyone else. It isn't quite as easy to look in the long term. Private doctors in private clinics make more money than do doctors who work in public institutions. Why would doctors work in public hospitals when they could make a lot more money working privately? The fact is that the best doctors and surgeons will move over to the private clinics and leave the public system with a lower level of care. Moreover, these private clinics will pop up until the market is no longer profitable, which looks like a long way away. So, more and more private clinics will pop up, creating a rather large and rich private medical care interest group that will lobby government to further privatize services. So, although jumping the line seems like an ok practice, but it will have the long-term consequences of private medicare growing, thus taking the best doctors away from the public system. It would be ridiculous, however, to blame those who choose to seek private care, as most of them need the surgery now; however, they should be the ones lobbying the government hard for rebuilding our healthcare system, the very system they gutted earlier. We need to rebuild our public system and remove the need for private clinics.
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Post by Tannah on Dec 12, 2003 17:41:53 GMT -5
theres alot of misunderstanding regarding this topic I've noticed.
Some people think that private practices will have to close because of it which isnt exactly the case.
I don't personly have a problem with a person paying his medical bill out of his own pocket, but I kid you not allowing this to take place will further errode the public medical system. I'm personly rather suprised that the BC Liberals had the forsight to block this. For the more we allow this the closer we get to the american system of health care, that we know does not work. when you find out you need a triple bypass do you want to morgage or sell your house just to pay the medical bill? If privatly funded healthcare happens it will in time lead to the american capatilistic system. So when you go under the knife for somthing serious you will have to pay first.
The actuall problems with medicare are not easy to see, what most people see is the symptoms. and they incorectly diagnose the problem. It wasnt 20 years ago that we had too many nurses.. Globalisation pressures and pressure from the Americans to desocialise our medical system are some of the big reasons. Corruption is also another reason.
My advice to you Arm Chair Quarterbacks is take a few big steps back and look at the big picture.. Becuase its alot diffrent from what you likly think it is..
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Post by EGO on Dec 12, 2003 23:20:41 GMT -5
The medical system we have in Canada is not working either. What's wrong with admitting that, taking parts of a private system that work, and melding that with the public system we have to make it more likely to survive? It doesn't have to be exactly like the American system. You can't just say it's one or the other or the world will end as we know it. I'd rather have a two tier system that works, where everyone can get health care, than hang on to the idea that we can sustain what we have right now and have it collapse around me. The health care system is a big sponge that sucks up resources at an ever increasing rate. It's only going to get worse as the population ages. Somethings gotta give. The nurses, the doctors, the lab techs, health care workers, all of these people are going to want more money in their next contracts, which are coming up in the next year or two. The system can't keep going as it is.
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Post by EGO on Dec 12, 2003 23:25:24 GMT -5
One other thing. I don't think the best doctors would move over to private clinics.
I think that the doctors who want to make the most money will move over to the private clinics, and in my experience, these are not the best doctors.
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Post by screamingbanshee on Dec 12, 2003 23:38:36 GMT -5
Hi - I just thought I'd post my thoughts on the private surgery topic. I am in support of having the option to pay for surgery with the idea that it would ease the overloaded health service. However, I have two experiences I would like to share. The first being my own surgery - It was deemed life threatening and I was in surgery within a week. The other - someone I know is waiting for cancer related surgery, however not immediately life threatening, and she has to wait a year and a half. Her surgeon also does plastic surgery (breast implants etc.) here in town on a daily basis and the queue for his private clinics is much shorter. So, although my experience was great - why should someone with 6K to blow on boobs get in before someone with cancer waiting to have hers removed? Something to think about.  TEXT |
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Post by westerner on Dec 13, 2003 2:25:13 GMT -5
First of all I would like to thank everyone for there opions and would just like to comment on the last post. Breast implants are done in a private clinic and not at the hospital so they dont tie up hospital beds. This is what I meant by saying that if I needed it I would like to know I could get quicker medical attention, the government sure doesnt care what your problem is or how bad it will be if you wait a year and a half when it is life threatening. By taking the option to get it done privately wouldnt that be freeing up hospital space for someone else? I know people will argue that I am taking up a doctors time but the problem seems to be hospital bed space, this is just going off my past experiences.
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Post by screamingbanshee on Dec 13, 2003 11:18:17 GMT -5
Hi, I just wanted to clarify my point...it wasn't that private surgery doesn't tie up hospital beds...it was that the same surgeons do the private surgery so therefore...it ties up the surgeon. I'm still for private surgery though...this is just one glitch that I have noticed.  |
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Post by EGO on Dec 13, 2003 12:12:31 GMT -5
Private surgery doesn't really tie up the surgereons either though. There is only so much surgery time to go around, and if the "boob" doctor wasn't doing private surgeries, it doesn't necessarily mean that his free time would be filled up in the public system. I've heard of a couple of different surgeons saying that if it weren't for private surgical suites, they acutally wouldn't be getting enough time in the public system to keep their skills sharp.
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? I doubt it hurts
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