Is this what the liberals don't understand about health care outrage?

It's a matter of understanding -- or lack thereof.

----------------------------------------------

ATOON — The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country's health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.

Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country - who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting - recognize that changes must be made.

"We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize," Doing said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"We know that there must be change," she said. "We're all running flat out, we're all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands."

The pitch for change at the conference is to start with a presentation from Dr. Robert Ouellet, the current president of the CMA, who has said there's a critical need to make Canada's health-care system patient-centred. He will present details from his fact-finding trip to Europe in January, where he met with health groups in England, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and France.

His thoughts on the issue are already clear. Ouellet has been saying since his return that "a health-care revolution has passed us by," that it's possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and "that competition should be welcomed, not feared."

In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system.

He has also said the Canadian system could be restructured to focus on patients if hospitals and other health-care institutions received funding based on the patients they treat, instead of an annual, lump-sum budget. This "activity-based funding" would be an incentive to provide more efficient care, he has said.

Doig says she doesn't know what a proposed "blueprint" toward patient-centred care might look like when the meeting wraps up Wednesday. She'd like to emerge with clear directions about where the association should focus efforts to direct change over the next few years. She also wants to see short-term, medium-term and long-term goals laid out.

"A short-term achievable goal would be to accelerate the process of getting electronic medical records into physicians' offices," she said. "That's one I think ought to be a priority and ought to be achievable."

A long-term goal would be getting health systems "talking to each other," so information can be quickly shared to help patients.

Doig, who has had a full-time family practice in Saskatoon for 30 years, acknowledges that when physicians have talked about changing the health-care system in the past, they've been accused of wanting an American-style structure. She insists that's not the case.

"It's not about choosing between an American system or a Canadian system," said Doig. "The whole thing is about looking at what other people do."

"That's called looking at the evidence, looking at how care is delivered and how care is paid for all around us (and) then saying 'Well, OK, that's good information. How do we make all of that work in the Canadian context? What do the Canadian people want?' "

Doig says there are some "very good things" about Canada's health-care system, but she points out that many people have stories about times when things didn't go well for them or their family.

"(Canadians) have to understand that the system that we have right now - if it keeps on going without change - is not sustainable," said Doig.

"They have to look at the evidence that's being presented and will be presented at (the meeting) and realize what Canada's doctors are trying to tell you, that you can get better care than what you're getting and we all have to participate in the discussion around how do we do that and of course how do we pay for it."

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Add News to your iGoogle Homepage Add News to your Google Homepage

The Canadian Press

You can take the top three off the list, they are not broke.

The country depends on the railways and the post office.

Don't you think it costs more than 42 cents to mail an envelope across

country. If they raised it to FEDEX and UPS rates you'd be the first to ***** about it.

The same thing with the railroads, they are a necessity and if they operate at a loss the only thing to do is raise rates. How do you think the industrialists would feel about that?

You people can't see past your nose, that's why I can't stand any of you.

The only way I can understand the "thought" process of liberals, is if I consider that they are mostly all involved in milking the system one way or another. But there isn't quite enough lawyers and government employees to win elections by themselves, so they need to bribe voters with benefits.

The federal government should not be allowed to subsidize anything. Let the states do it. Since they don't have control of the currency their credit is limited to something resembling their ability to pay. Save the federal govt's credit for real emergencies, require a 2/3rd majority for emergency spending. The Tarp bailout would not be so bad, if the govt. wasn't already *** deep in debt. The porkulus since then was just stupid machine politics.

It's an interesting argument. But I'll give some benefit of doubt. First, my parent's SS check comes every month ON TIME. People have been complaining about the financial state of SS for years but the checks keep showing up. I don't see a problem. Oh and it's not broke. The common talking point is that it will be broke if we don't continue to fund it which we always do.

Medicare: Find me one senior citizen that doesn't like Medicare and I might grant you an attaboy. But you won't. Everyone complains about the little things but Medicare is free and senior citizens on fixed incomes would be lost with out it. Dr.s who take it are forced to keep their costs down. But money is money so they take it. It's not broke, the common talking point is that it will be broke if we don't continue to fund it which we always do.

Medicaid is paid for by the States and supported by the Fed. Again, another program that is heralded by the people who actually use it as a savior. The only people who complain about it are people who have their own insurance, Dr.s who are forced to keep their costs low in order to accept medicaid patients and hospitals who aren't allowed to charge medicaid patients the same as they charge patients with private health insurance. It's not broke, the common talking point is that it will be broke if we don't continue to fund it which we always do.

Amtrak and the Post Office are similar deals. Does your mail ever not show up? Does your mailman misplace your mail every day? Do you not receive your bills on time? Yes you do. So, the notion that the government isn't doing it right is bull. Passengers on AmTrak always love the service. Again, neither of these programs are broke. The common talking point....oh you get my point.

The only people trying to convince anyone that the government can't pave roads or build schools and educate children and college students, or run a military, or control epidemics or collect taxes or control air traffic, regulate financial markets and banks, or protect citizens with police departments or put out fires at your neighbors homes are people who have something to gain by none of these things existing. Don't believe the hype.

This country has always had deficits. It hasn't stopped anything yet. This is still the best country on the planet. Things have gotten tough, things have gotten better. Everything moves in a cycle.

Cash for Clunkers....you think that wasn't a success? Take the dealer in your town. C4C only ran for about 7 days. Let's say the dealer in your town who is owed $200K was able to give the maximum rebate for all of the cars they sold. That would mean he sold 45 cars in 8 days...which is unheard of. Let's say that the average price of those cars is $20K. That means he made almost $1 Million dollars. Let's say he gets $35%. That means he made $350K in profit. And he's owed an additional $200K when the government gets around to sending him a check. And he's having trouble? Are you kidding me?

All I can say man is relax. This country has been producing bills for years. If you didn't know it, Senators don't always read the bills. Their legislative aides read and write the bills according to what a Senator wants included. If you don't like the way it's done, then get out and vote for the change you wish to see.

But seriously, the Crying Wolf thing is getting old.

I am amazed that so many Americans are not aware about Obama’s healthcare plans. During the election, he campaigned for these changes stating that he felt it was unfair to have a system where insurance companies try to escape paying claims.

Remember, he was elected to bring in these changes, elected by the American people who want healthcare reform. And he discussed his plans in debates with McCain, and he still won the election.

First of all, too many people do not know that Obama wants to make insurance more available to all. His system is similar to that which works in Holland, Taiwain and Switzerland. It works there and private healthcare companies provide most the insurance to the people there.

FACT - the USA spends more on healthcare PER PERSON than any other nation on the planet.

FACT – insurance companies admit that they push up costs, buy politicians and do not pay out for many claims when they should.

FACT - the US has higher death rates for kids aged under five than western European countries with universal health coverage.

That means that a dead American four year old would have had a better chance of life if they were born in Canada, France, the Netherlands, Cuba, Switzerland, Germany, Japan etc, all of which have universal health coverage. And no western European nation with universal healthcare has moved away from it.

King Hussein is waffling, HHC jester Sebelius is making comments she has to walk back, and the appearance of disarray and smell of failure is distinct. Do not let your guard down- the fight is not over, indeed, like the Hydra, when you cut off one head, two more take its place. Now, like a possum playing dead, they have floated the trial balloon of “Co- ops”- instead of the government single payer plan that has had people up in arms.

The thing is, there is just sooooooo much to dislike in this FUBAR of a bill, that even if single payer option was out (it isn’t), the “death panel” question is still a valid one, as Andrew McCarthy points out in a National Review Online posting:

In suggesting it’s hyperbole to say death panels are — or were — in the bill, the editors engage in a little hysteria of their own, describing the function of such panels as “deciding whose life has sufficient value to be saved.” But few people worried about death panels think the process will be anything so crude. It will be what Mark Steyn described in his column this weekend: the bureaucrats won’t pull the plug on you; they will gradually restrict your access to various forms of treatment while you wither away prematurely. Maybe if Palin had called them “Dying on the Vine Panels” our opinion elites would have been more understanding — though I doubt it, Palin derangement syndrome having proved itself more infectious than Bush derangement syndrome.

Yea, you see, that is the problem here, it is not the message, but the messenger that gets mocked. You can’t mock the message, because it is true in an omissive sense- so if you don’t like the message, but cannot effectively refute it, you minimize and mock the person who said it.

In British Columbia, a part of Canada, and a part of the Vaunted Canadian Healthcare system, they have cut “elective” surgeries by at least 15% for the rest of this year, because they haven’t the money to pay for them. That would mean that Barry’s granny wouldn’t get her hip replacement, because she wouldn’t qualify for anything but the pain pills if she lived there.

This is called rationing, people- when you can’t get the surgery you want, when you want it, then a form of rationing exists, no matter how you wish to parse the words, the facts are plain. The whole system becomes, in effect, a “death panel”, simply by denying the care that is needed.

Many people have touted the number 46 million people who do not have health insurance, but these same people are adding in the illegal aliens (12- 20 million), and young people who are healthy and opt out of health insurance because they want to spend their money doing other things, like paying bills, or having fun. That is a part of living in the U.S.- you have the choice to do this.

At least for now-if Hussein has his way, call it single payer, or Co-op, or whatever you wish, that choice will be smaller, and our participation will be compulsory. I do not know about you, but I hate compulsory things- oh, some things I know are “for the public good”, such as no racing in the school zones, or driving on the sidewalks- you know, things like that. But I bridle at the thought that my government has the gall to think that it knows better than I what is good and proper for me.

This government thinking has extended to Cap and Trade, and every other bill they have been trying to pass before we the people can read it, and that is not right. Just by trying to fool us, these alleged representatives have become traitors, plain and simple.

Heck, one, Rep. Massa, of New York, has stated plainly that he will go against the wishes of his constituents and vote the way that he sees fit. Rather arrogant of him, and if I was one of his constituents, I would want a one- on- one conference with him and persuade him to see things my way.

Other Dems, like Peter Schiff, say that if single payer option isn’t in the bill, there might be a hundred reps who would not vote for it- good. Don’t vote for it.

A bad bill should die an ugly death- that’s right and proper.

After that is dead and buried, then perhaps we can actually get something substantial and positive done.

Sarah Palin, in her own way, took the talking points away from Hussein, and did this country a service- for that, we (all of us, Republicans AND Democrats) should thank her. Her words might have been incendiary, but in essence they were spot on.

Hussein got FaceBook’d.

That is some of it but it is even easier than that! A majority of people are for getting health care for people who don't have it but 67% are against it if it will affect their insurance or costs them more! If the health care bill was about getting those insured that aren't and that is all it did it would pass with almost no problem! But typical Democrats the over reached once again in an attempt to get themselves more power. Once again putting party ahead of country.

Of course it's stupid! You must be one of those people like me who enjoys watching poor people die from cancer! It's funny to watch them die in agony while their families try and scrape together enough money for them to afford treatment. All of their systems slowly shutting down well the doctors are busy giving extra strength Advil to the rich people who can afford it. It's what makes America a place worth living in.

And that page count! I mean, who wants anything that big? In fact, lets do away with EVERYTHING! I mean, that lawbook IS pretty big. And nobody understands it for sure! I mean, it's not like anyone READS anything! Surely not you or I! I know I have never read anything that long!

Oh wait, I live in canada, where when I need life saving medicine, I GET IT. Face it, you have to start somewhere. People's lives and deaths shouldn't be based on how much money they have. This is step one. I'm sorry if big words and large page counts scare you, but I have no problem with government passing big laws if it means better lives for people who are suffering.

Although I admit, the stimulus packages could be spent better. They could feed every hungry child in the world for their entire lives with that stimulus package. But I mean, it's food for starving kids, or extra cash for people to make cars with. It's not like it's hard to see that the car companies need it more. We can't blame the government or THAT.

Remember this little nugget...

November 14, 2008

By Joshua Slocum

The brand-new U.S. Capitol Visitor Center formally opens Dec. 2, only four years overdue and about three times over budget. Originally projected to cost $261 million, its "official" cost is now $621 million, bloated by add-ons and countless cost-overruns.

(funny thing..they didn't release these figures until just After the election)

_____________________________________________

Now multiply this result X 10,000 and you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect when the bureaucrats are running the health care industry.

And how many government pies do corporate lobbyists have their fingers in?

There are problems in many areas of government, but can you really establish why those problems exist? The political power of vested interests causes government agencies to be run for purposes other than for what they were established.

Most liberals and their ilk pooh pooh things concerning the other socialistic

failures~~as long as they get their Universal Health Care Program passed

Then everything will float their boat

But do you wonder why the bill (even if is passed today) will not take

effect until 2013?

Obama hopes to be elected 2012~~and by the time he is in the second

term (and that's a big IF) the health care will be a mess and it will be too

late for the government to back out of this mess