liveonearth: (Default)
liveonearth ([personal profile] liveonearth) wrote2006-11-21 08:34 pm

Canada's socialized medicine

http://www.aapsonline.org/nod/newsofday360.php
We like to give Canada as an example of a large nation with socialized healthcare that works, but it doesn't look so good from the perspective of this article.

One time I was kayaking waterfalls in Mexico with a bunch of Canadians and they decided to attempt a 70 meter drop (I didn't even consider it). Because of the shape of the drop I knew that it would be very difficult to land correctly--boats would tend to "pancake"--meaning to land too flat. This is how you compact your spine, compact your spine, compact your spine! (sing along) Anyway dude #1 ran it with skill and avoided smashing any vertebrae, though he did smash his face. Canadian dude #2 landed too flat and was in great pain with a broken back.

To make a long story short, he went to the Mexican hospital and got the doc to write up his injury without mentioning what he had done to sustain it, and specifically avoided mentioning the height of the waterfall. He got pain meds and a flight back to Canada to get fixed up.

[identity profile] neptunia67.livejournal.com 2006-11-22 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes! magazine's most recent issue was devoted to health care: comparing American health care with that of countries with socialized medicine at different levels (I think they compare Canada, UK and France). I'll read up on it some more and will comment further with some interesting facts.

I'm not sure if Canada's system is what we should follow, but we need to do something in this country to cover everybody for medical. And the pharmaceuticals need to be stripped of their power. More to come later.