Re: I'm glad it's working for her....

> My sister has already experienced the delays, but she has also received
> treatment she would not have gotten in the states. Here she would be
> getting no care whatsoever, except perhaps care obtainable through an
> emergency room. But even that is not guaranteed here, contrary to what
> some people may think. A woman with whom I am acquainted broke her arm and
> sought care in an emergency room. She was sent away by a very rude doctor
> because she did not have the money to pay, or any medical insurance. Would
> this same doctor send a dog with a broken leg away? When this woman
> thought there would be another doctor on duty she returned. She had no
> choice; after all, her arm was not going to set itself and she could not
> afford to pay for medical care. Even as I write this I can hardly believe
> this could be the truth. But when she related this experience I found her
> account believeable. Anyway, this time the doctor did treat her. He said
> he had mentioned her to his wife and she lit into him for his callousness.
> Amazing Grace.

> I am sure what you have said about Canada is true. Yet I bet my
> acquaintance would never have been turned away from a Canadian hospital.

The situation you describe is illegal and should be reported. Emergency rooms cannot turn away patients because of a lack of ability to pay. In fact, a large portion of their patient load consists of people without any money who go there for routine medical care only because they cannot be turned away. They may have to wait for 12 hours, but they cannot be turned away. Are you sure your acquaintance didn't go to Urgent Care? Urgent Care is NOT the same thing as the hospital Emergency Room.

The situation MaaMaw describes fits in with what my parents used to talk about. Living in Seattle, it was not unusual to have frequent contact with Canadians, some of whom came to the States for medical care paid for out-of-pocket because they would have died waiting for the Canadians to get around to it. The way they told it, the money in the system routinely ran out sometime in November, and there was basically no surgery or other lifesaving measures done until January. If you could afford to get yourself to Seattle or Minneapolis or Detroit or even smaller markets like Spokane or Great Falls, good for you. If not, oh well. Sorry.

When certain members of Congress were pushing to change our medical care system to resemble the Canadian one, my blood would just boil. Our system is flawed, but let's not make it even worse!

End of soap box.