Canadian Premier comes to the US for heart surgery

[1bad65]

"A prominent Canadian politician’s decision to undergo heart surgery in the U.S. has touched off a debate about national health care in his own country.

At the center of controversy is Danny Williams, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. Williams’ decision to head south across the border for his surgery is drawing fire from defenders of the Canadian health-care system – a favorite example for proponents of a government-run health care in the U.S.

Williams, a millionaire and former lawyer, left Canada on Monday to seek treatment at an unspecified hospital in the U.S. It is not clear what kind of surgery he’ll undergo, though Newfoundland Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale said that having the surgery in the province was not an option."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,584816,00.html?test=latestnews

LMAO! If this doesn't prove socialized medicine=fail, I don't know what does.

[David Jamieson]

"A prominent Canadian politician’s decision to undergo heart surgery in the U.S. has touched off a debate about national health care in his own country.

At the center of controversy is Danny Williams, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. Williams’ decision to head south across the border for his surgery is drawing fire from defenders of the Canadian health-care system – a favorite example for proponents of a government-run health care in the U.S.

Williams, a millionaire and former lawyer, left Canada on Monday to seek treatment at an unspecified hospital in the U.S. It is not clear what kind of surgery he’ll undergo, though Newfoundland Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale said that having the surgery in the province was not an option."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,584816,00.html?test=latestnews

LMAO! If this doesn't prove socialized medicine=fail, I don't know what does.

Danny Williams is a political attention ***** lol

But by all means, make whatever hay you want to out of it. Except for the 6 people left in Newfoundland, nobody gives a crap about Williams and his goofy myopic political games.

[Xiao3 Meng4]

A guy who openly wants to privatize health care declines the public system?

Shocking. ;)

Danny Williams is going to run for PM one of these days.

[BoulderDawg]

So this guy is a Canadian Teabagger...What a surprise!:rolleyes:

[David Jamieson]

nope, he's not a teabagger, he's a guy who bleats and stamps his feet a lot and behaves like an Irish gangster when he gets air time. lol

He could've gotten the care he needed right in his own province and right down teh street from himself. lol

But he is anti federalist and so everything he does has to be some statement against federal transfer payments to his province.

In summary, Danny Williams is an idiot who would cut off his nose to spite his face. the same guy who sells hydro power to another province and then demands to be in on the profits! what a jerk and an idiot.

[1bad65]

A guy who openly wants to privatize health care declines the public system?

Shocking. ;)

Keep in mind the Democrats in the US have made sure if heathcare does become law, Congress is exempt from it. Shocking. ;)

[BoulderDawg]

nope, he's not a teabagger, he's a guy who bleats and stamps his feet a lot and behaves like an Irish gangster when he gets air time. lol

gangster...teabagger......

I don't see a whole lot of difference!:eek:

[solo1]

the premiers office is scrambling to come up with an excuse. The highly vaunted Canadian health care system is in a state of collapse and more and more of them are carrying private insurance and coming to the states. I think this story gets worse there is a kid in the area that went for removal of tonsils ( who does that any more) the kid goes back to the hospital 5 days later vomiting blood , he is 12 yrs old, has a heart attack and the staff cant decide what to do, that child is in a coma and on life support. Just a taste of what we can expect with Obamas health care fix.

[1bad65]

the premiers office is scrambling to come up with an excuse. The highly vaunted Canadian health care system is in a state of collapse and more and more of them are carrying private insurance and coming to the states.

Don't forget that a couple years ago when Castro needed stomach surgery, he didn't use the Cuban socialist health care system. He had a private doctor flown in from Spain to operate on him.

[BoulderDawg]

Don't forget that a couple years ago when Castro needed stomach surgery, he didn't use the Cuban socialist health care system. He had a private doctor flown in from Spain to operate on him.


What part of Canada does Mr. Castro come from?

[1bad65]

Just STFU up. I clearly said "Cuban" when you referring to his surgery. Are you retarded? :D

[dimethylsea]

Are you retarded? :D

Of course not.. he's a liberal.

http://www.mikepellegrini.com/Graphics/sarah_palin.jpg

[David Jamieson]

the premiers office is scrambling to come up with an excuse. The highly vaunted Canadian health care system is in a state of collapse and more and more of them are carrying private insurance and coming to the states. I think this story gets worse there is a kid in the area that went for removal of tonsils ( who does that any more) the kid goes back to the hospital 5 days later vomiting blood , he is 12 yrs old, has a heart attack and the staff cant decide what to do, that child is in a coma and on life support. Just a taste of what we can expect with Obamas health care fix.

dude? what propaganda site have you been reading? lol

Our health care system is fine. It could use improvements, but that is the nature of an ongoing and organic system that is scaling all the time and especially so in the last 2 decades.

The guy is a premier of a province in Canada. He has better access to Canadian health care than anyone else in his province. Same as any of your politicians. lol

Listen, the idiots in the states who want to walk around without healthcare for whatever reason they choose to do so are grabbing onto this and Williams, when he awakens from his operation will make a big noise about it and go on and on and then he'll do some other stunt.

Private health insurance? more and more you say? Do you even realize how stupid what you just said is to someone who actually lives here?

The province pays for most healthcare, treatment, surgeries etc. They do this through what's called federal transfer payments to said provinces, which is then used to pay for services rendered to doctors and hospitals that fill those needs.

Many drug prescriptions are not covered and that is where separate plans come in.

dental care is not covered and separate insurance is required.

Primary health care is what's covered.

I can get my broken arm fixed, I can get the drugs to ride through that pain and I get the ambulance ride and after care all because i pay taxes and I don't pay extra out of pocket for any of it.

You try doing that in the states without healthcare and get back to me about you experience.

you will pay for every single thing and part of your taxes still goes to medicare!

who's the sucker now?

lol

[B-Rad]

Health care costs are insane here in the U.S., not to mention there's severe issues with crooked billing companies. I was taken to the hospital once for being severely dehydrated after getting some kind of stomach virus or flu, she was hoping they could give me an IV. Ended up costing about $5000 after my insurance paid their part. Luckily a charity covered the cost for me since my salary was well below the poverty level.

Also had cases where the billing company was pulling some billing shenanigans after a workplace injury. First of all they charged an extra $170 for one of those stretchy braces you can by cheap in the supermarket ($70 for the brace and another $100 for "strapping the knee").

2nd, they billed both my company and me directly at the same time. Tried to collect from me for about 6 months afterwards.

3rd, a full year after everything had been taken care of, they billed my insurance and me for everything again, but changed the names of what had been done (relabeled my brace and strapping of the knee charge as a "surgery").

Same thing happened for a strep throat treatment I received several years ago. Got a new bill for it last year.


BTW, anyone find medical bills and insurance statements increasingly difficult to read? Last one I got had things listed in 4 different unlabeled columns and weren't even in chronological order.

[xcakid]

I've posted this two examples of socialized healthcare before. But it seems appropriate to post again here.

A kung fu students grandmother who lived in Canada had really bad back problems. Socialized healthcare refused to operate and instead just kept giving her drugs. After 5 yrs., buried in red tape and being bed ridden. Her family here decided to put money together to had the surgery here in the US. After the surgery she migrated to the US. She is now working p/t and able to run around with her grand kids and is the biggest supporter of our existing health care system.

My best friend in college married a UK citizen and migrated there. His dad also transferred there with his company along with his mom. They come back to the US for any major health care issues. He said that socialized health care is fine for the common cold. However, any major medical issues and you get bogged down with red tape and not being able to find any specialist that is worth a ****. They are fortunate that they do have the means to be able to come to the US for such care.

Outside of people known to me, socialized health has had a history, and continue to have the track record of, putting a burden of the countrys economy that supports it. It nearly bankrupted Germany. In the UK, it has become a joke with regards to their dental standards. China has a socialized healthcare, and who would want to be hospitalized there?

[BoulderDawg]

So what?

I come from Georgia. A distant relative of mine recently went to Minnesota for treatment of a serious disease. They just didn't trust the doctors in the south. Are the doctors in the south subpar because of this?

You can come up with individual stories to support anything.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Our healthcare is far from perfect, it needs fixing.
We don't have enough urgent care clinics and as such, our emergency rooms can be over packed with non-emergencies.
In some places we have shortage of doctors.
Preventive healthcare is becoming more of a priority but still not high enough.
We have bad doctors and good doctors but a belief that every doctor should be a great one and their is shock when we get exposed to a bad one.
People should be better informed about their healthcare choices.
We also have one of the best Cancer hospitals in the world and one of the best childrens hospitals in the world.

[sanjuro_ronin]

In regards to our buddy from Newfoundland, well, he is a rich dude ( he gives his salary to charaties so that is cool) that likes to do things his way.
I recall reading that, for his condition, that in Alberta there is one of the best doctors in the world there and he never even consulted with him.
Seems to me like a case of "I do what I want".