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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated

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To: Alastair McIntosh who wrote (78488)10/17/2004 10:17:00 PM
From: aladin  Read Replies (2) of 793835
 
Alistair,

There is little difference in hospital waiting times for critically ill patients. You may be thinking of the waiting times for elective surgery.

You should define elective for those on this thread. They are thinking something different than you are.

My Mother in Nova Scotia had a heart attack last year and had a stent inserted. My sister says she really needed 3, but she can live with one - so she waits - 6 months so far. She is coming here in November so I will get her seen. My father-in-law in Ontario has congestive heart failure - and has no surgery scheduled. He takes pills and waits - 3 months so far. It took him six weeks to see a cardiologist.

Statistics show that Americans live longer and better with heart disease - there was a recent expose in the Globe an Mail - but its subscription. And guess what - no one in Canada (or any other government run healthcare program that I can find) keeps stats on how many die while waiting.

The US has 2 levels of Health Care - one for the poor and uninsured and another one entirely for the insured or wealthy. Fear mongers in Canada always point to the 40 million uninsured (a real problem here), but ignore the healthcare received by the other 250 million.

Canada also has 2 systems - the Provincial system where you live and the one just over the border in the US for those who don't feel they can afford to wait. Driving from Ontario to NY you are bombarded by billboards advertising chemo, cardiac and radiology clinics.

Chemo you ask? Average wait in Ontario can be 6 weeks after diagnosis and being referred.

When I left Canada in 1983, I bragged often and saw it as a better system. British friends had warned about the whole waiting thing, but it hadn't happened in Canada. Well these last 21 years it has eroded and if something big isn't done Stats Canada won't be able to hide it in another 10 years.

At the Cancer Center at Duke there is a map of the US and of the world with pins in it. There are a lot of Canadian pins. The average wait time for chemo here is less than 24 hours.

John
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