Now Why Would He Go and Do That?
Posted in Health Care by John Moser
Danny Williams, premier of Newfoundland, has arranged to
travel to the United States for heart surgery. His decision "has raised eyebrows over his apparent shunning of Canada's health-care system." I imagine it has.
11:10 AM / February 2, 2010
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It's nice that he can afford it.
Meanwhile...
https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-08-31-mexico-health-care_N.htm?csp=FBfanpage
From your linked article:
The system has flaws, the facilities aren't cutting-edge, and the deal may not last long because the Mexican government said in a recent report that it is "notorious" for losing money. But for now, retirees say they're getting a bargain.
Don, I'm sure that American healthcare is of excellent quality, but if an increasing number of Americans are not able to afford it, and they go to Mexico (regardless of its merits) to get the healthcare they need, that's a problem. Even if their Mexican healthcare dries up, that hardly means they'll have any option in the US. A diamond eternally out of reach eventually differs little from a lump of coal.
The situation that John Moser highlighted is I think representative of the GOP/conservative sentiment towards healthcare, which is "I got mine, screw you!"
Craig, under our current system anyone can get health care. Anyone, regardless of ability to pay. The expense of our system has to do with the fact that its quality is equitable. Yes, being able to afford it is an issue, but it is the same issue as with food or shelter or anything else. Except, with health care, you really have to be in special circumstances to get better care and then that has to do with how many extra nurses you are willing to pay for or if you wish a specially catered menu. In terms of actual being-kept-alive care, we are all treated alike.
Premier Williams is probably going to the Cleveland Clinic for his heart surgery, because that is the best place to go. Would you forbid it? Somebody pays for anybody's surgery. At least Premier Williams is paying for his own. Who is paying for the "great deal" health care of those Americans in Mexico? They should be ashamed, on ethical grounds, for saying to Mexicans, "You owe me." Perhaps you are saying that their fellow Americans owe them health care? Why? If those people would be in a postion to have to pay for their emergency care in the US it is because they are not indigent. They are just unwilling to allocate their own resources to pay for their own care. I cannot see them as victims of the "system" any more than I can myself as victim of the"system" in the fact that I do not live on a warm beach in a nice, well-kept seaside cottage. I think it would improve my mental health and well-being, especially if my financial state did not dictate the way I am sheltered.
The premier of Newfoundland is not making you pay for his surgery. Neither is he making Canadian taxpayers pay for his surgery. He is paying for it himself, doing the world a favor. What business is it of anyone's, except that it shows up what a farce equal pay is. "He should be forced to suffer under Canada's national health, just like the guy who plows his driveway. If the guy who plows that driveway could go to the Cleveland Clinic to get his heart surgery, he would go. Life is full of inequities. It just is.