The President and Congress hash out a federal government-mandated and funded medical plan, and whatever they come up with, I will support 100% — under ONE CONDITION:

THEY have to use it, TOO!!

NO MORE special medical plans for Congress and the President/VP, nor for their families. For life. Even AFTER they leave office. Nor are they permitted to opt-out or obtain private medical care, ever, even if such is available to the rest of us under their proposed plan. They’re stuck with whatever they think is good enough for the rest of us.

What’ya wanna bet that they’d actually come up with something that WORKS in that case?

Undiagnosed because they didn’t have the hundreds or thousands of dollars it costs to get simple diagnostic tests.

My husband immigrated to Canada from the US in 2005. To immigrate you need to get a physical exam, a chest x-ray and some blood work that is sent to immigration authorities.

If he had had them done in the US his insurance wouldn’t cover it and he would have had to pay $850 for the office visit and exam, $280 for the chest x-ray and $139 for the blood work. (All amounts US dollars)

He opted to have the medical report done here in Canada and it cost us $125 for the office visit, $25 for the x-ray and $23 for the blood work. (All amounts CDN dollars)

The x-rays and blood work were both done at the facilities of private companies who have a contract with the province to deliver these services.

To say that there isn’t any private companies or private insurance companies in Canada is to lie. For $128 a month, both my husband and I had health insurance nearly identical to what the US senators get. There’s room for both insuring everyone and the private sector to make money and people like Inhofe are lying to you if they say there isn’t.

I guess these yahoos did not stop to consider the fact that when national health care was clubbed to death in its cradle back in 1994, the population of the country was an average of 15 years younger (and probably a lot healthier) than now. Graying boomers, with their diabetes and creaky bones, have practically guaranteed that health care is Topic A in any political debate nowadays. The question is no longer IF we will have health care but WHEN HOW MUCH and WHAT KIND.

Have you ever been to Canada? It’s urban areas are some of the most diverse in the world. Toronto is the most racially diverse city in the world. Maybe rural areas of Canada are homogeneous, but that’s not unique. Visit some of the small towns where I grew up in southern Missouri, places where someone was considered a foreigner if their name sounded “Eye-tallee-un.”

(Cancer survival in five continents: a worldwide population-based study (CONCORD). Lancet Oncology 2008)

Ladies and gentlemen, if anyone ever asks if you want socialized medicine, say yes!

miles, you’re free to pay thousands for a cat scan tomorrow on top of the thousands you’re paying to a private health insurer who won’t cover the cat scan because they’ll find a pre-existing condition somewhere.

Mike – the very first post being Inhofe’s statistical horseshit? If so, I don’t have the source for that, but many here suspect it is his ass.

If you are looking for the stats that led me to my reply, regarding overall mortality rates (how Canadians enjoy an extra 2.5 or so years of life over their American brethren) … that’s from the CIA Factbook and also pretty much identical to UN figures.

Brad’s numbers are Brad’s, but I expect he got them from similarly reliable sources.

This year, I was diagnosed with a low-grade, but invasive brain tumour. My CTs, MRIs, Neuro, Neuro-Onc, and Neurosurgery consults were all paid for, and copies of the clinic notes and radiology reports faxed to my family doc. All of them spent time with my family, explaining to me the options. I thought about it, and a few months later, I underwent surgery to remove the tumour. I was provided the pathology reports, and now will have MRIs every 4 months for a few years in order to check for recurrence (my last one was clear!).

Neither I, nor anyone in my family ever thought about the cost, except once perhaps, to say “Thank God we don’t live in America.” I am dead sure that it would have cost a bloody fortune. OHIP (that’s the Ontario Health Insurance Program – Medicare in Canada is funded through, and mostly by, the Provincial governments) paid for the whole thing from start to finish, and, God-willing, will continue to for as long as I need.

Now I have “pre-existing condition.” I suppose in the US this would have some sort of effect on my future health insurance options. This is not something I worry about.

Get yourself a real health care system, people.

the US is very diverse, Canada much less so.

Depends on what you mean by diversity.

Also: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/imm_net_mig_rat-immigration-net-migration-rate

These two countries are very different in life style and diversity of culture. the US is very diverse, Canada much less so. this too makes a difference. If costs where the only concern, the Canada system is much cheaper and much slower. I do not know if Americans are willing to wait weeks for a test to be performed…a good question.

Cost effective my butt.