The Question Thread

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rstrong
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Re: The Question Thread

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Canada also topped the list for having the highest proportion of patients with long delays to see specialists, with 56 per cent waiting longer than four weeks, compared with the international average of 36 per cent, CIHI said.
Here's where comparing notes with an American friend illuminated the difference. Both of us were diagnosed with sleep apnea around the same time.

In my case the waiting list for the overnight respiration / blood oxygen test was over a year. Of course I didn't wait a year; I had it done through RANA Medical within a week. $196, covered by my insurance through work. Insurance that's much cheaper than in the US because of what the public system covers. The actual cost was more, but public system pitched in what it would have cost the taxpayers had I stayed in line.

Meanwhile, it took two years for my American friend's doctor to convince his insurer that he needed the test. THEN it was done quickly. It cost his insurer $2000, and it confirmed what he and his doctor expected.

So by the stats, I had a long wait and he didn't. In reality he had a long wait and I didn't.

Again, our system is mediocre compared to Japan's or some European ones. Their high population density helps a lot.

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Re: The Question Thread

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Plus, when tens of millions are excluded from the line, the line is shorter.
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Re: The Question Thread

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JTA wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:37 pm
When the collapse happens I'll barter with my programming and computer repair skills. Give me some food for an app to track your resource consumption. Got a virus on your computer? Fixed if you give me a gallon of water.
That reminds me: One can download Wikipedia. English only, no page history or page discussion, and it fits in a reasonable space.

Combined with the half-terabyte of non-fiction (engineering, construction, etc.) eBooks I already have, plus several terabytes of documentaries (the last 200 episodes of NOVA, etc.) and more shows than Blockbuster ever had, it could help a lot in a partial collapse where the internet goes down.

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billy.pilgrim
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Re: The Question Thread

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rstrong wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:36 pm
billy.pilgrim wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:03 pm
Do we have a Canadian heath care thread?

There is this that the morons at liberty news are wetting their pants over

http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/can ... 743c507eed
Canadians know their healthcare system is mediocre. It's just far, far preferable to the US one. We all know Americans and hear their horror stories. "US Style Healthcare" is used in Canadian elections the same way that "communism" or "terrorism" is used in American ones.

One thing in the report that I have a few suspicions about: The "29 per cent of Canadians had to wait four hours or longer before being seen by a practitioner during their most recent emergency department visit."

Canada and the US use different standards to measure this. The Canadian wait time is the time from arrival to being either released, or admitted into the general hospital population. The American time is the time until you first see a doctor.

I visited emergency for chest pains a decade ago. (Turns out I was OK, but there's a family history of heart disease so I was told to go if I wasn't sure.) I was triaged by a doctor within five minutes. And got a thorough checkout by another doctor 20 minutes later. And was released after EKG, X-Rays and blood test results came back after four hours.

By American standards I had a five minute wait time. By Canadian standards I had a four hour wait time. I think the standard they're using here would call it a 20 minute wait if not four hours.
Please respond to this, it looks like bs to me



I have an uncle who lives in Canada. He was placed on a 6 month waiting list for heart bypass surgery. He wasn't about to wait so long for that sort of surgery. So he started making arrangements for coming to the US, in order to get his operation done here.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Vrede too
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Re: The Question Thread

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I can't speak to the specifics, but if that was the norm Canada would not have superior health outcomes to the US.
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Re: The Question Thread

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billy.pilgrim wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:52 pm
I have an uncle who lives in Canada. He was placed on a 6 month waiting list for heart bypass surgery. He wasn't about to wait so long for that sort of surgery. So he started making arrangements for coming to the US, in order to get his operation done here.
My only experience is with my mom, who had quadruple-bypass surgery within 48 hours of the initial detection that she had a problem. And even then, the surgery was delayed so that my brother could fly in and see her before surgery.

There was indeed a long waiting list. But her problem was immediate, so arrangements were made to have her surgery done sooner.

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Re: The Question Thread

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rstrong wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:36 pm
. . . "US Style Healthcare" is used in Canadian elections the same way that "communism" or "terrorism" is used in American ones . . . .
:lol: :clap:
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I will not go quietly.

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Re: The Question Thread

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Boatrocker wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 3:09 pm
rstrong wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:36 pm
. . . "US Style Healthcare" is used in Canadian elections the same way that "communism" or "terrorism" is used in American ones . . . .
:lol: :clap:
That wasn't a joke! It's entirely true.

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Re: The Question Thread

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rstrong wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 3:06 pm
billy.pilgrim wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:52 pm
I have an uncle who lives in Canada. He was placed on a 6 month waiting list for heart bypass surgery. He wasn't about to wait so long for that sort of surgery. So he started making arrangements for coming to the US, in order to get his operation done here.
My only experience is with my mom, who had quadruple-bypass surgery within 48 hours of the initial detection that she had a problem. And even then, the surgery was delayed so that my brother could fly in and see her before surgery.

There was indeed a long waiting list. But her problem was immediate, so arrangements were made to have her surgery done sooner.

Now some guy from Detroit is claiming that hospitals are full of Canadians getting MRIs because they have to wait sooooooo long in Canada
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Re: The Question Thread

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billy.pilgrim wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:26 pm
rstrong wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 3:06 pm
billy.pilgrim wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:52 pm
I have an uncle who lives in Canada. He was placed on a 6 month waiting list for heart bypass surgery. He wasn't about to wait so long for that sort of surgery. So he started making arrangements for coming to the US, in order to get his operation done here.
My only experience is with my mom, who had quadruple-bypass surgery within 48 hours of the initial detection that she had a problem. And even then, the surgery was delayed so that my brother could fly in and see her before surgery.

There was indeed a long waiting list. But her problem was immediate, so arrangements were made to have her surgery done sooner.

Now some guy from Detroit is claiming that hospitals are full of Canadians getting MRIs because they have to wait sooooooo long in Canada

His latest


"You're missing it here. It was only his plan of coming to the states which compelled them to shorten the delay. Another person not in the position or wanting to do the same would have been at serious risk."


He has said several times now that the Canadian government put his uncle on the short list when they found out that he was planning to go to the US
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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rstrong
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Re: The Question Thread

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billy.pilgrim wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:26 pm
Now some guy from Detroit is claiming that hospitals are full of Canadians getting MRIs because they have to wait sooooooo long in Canada.
It's certainly believable that *some* Canadians are going to Detroit. Say, patients from across the river in Windsor, rather than sending them all the way to Toronto. Much like there are deals to send patients from Canadian border communities in western Canada to closer American hospitals. Or how Sarah Palin's family got treatment in Canada when they lived in Juneau.

Like how I used private company RANA Medical for sleep apnea, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a private company shuttling people across the border from some tests and treatments. (Then, like RANA, billing the public system for what it can and the patient and their private insurer for the rest.)

The hospital near me got a Gamma Knife a couple years back. Those, MRIs and other high-end equipment are bloody expensive. Sometimes it's better just to ship patients to where a high population density makes it affordable.

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Re: The Question Thread

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billy.pilgrim wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:40 pm
He has said several times now that the Canadian government put his uncle on the short list when they found out that he was planning to go to the US
Uh huh. Dunno why it would bother the Canadian government if he were to go to the US. It would even save the government money.

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Re: The Question Thread

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rstrong wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:49 pm
... Those, MRIs and other high-end equipment are bloody expensive. Sometimes it's better just to ship patients to where a high population density makes it affordable.
And where an out of control 'fee for service' (rather than outcome) healthcare reimbursement system makes it profitable to put an MRI in every podunk town.
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Re: The Question Thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Mon Jun 26, 2017 5:32 pm
Vrede too wrote:
Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:50 pm
Which should we be most worried about - AGW, malevolent AI, nuclear war, a killer asteroid or the Yellowstone Supervolcano?
Kids shouldn't have to worry about at least 5 legit existential threats, 6 counting some super disease, with 3 of them being human made.
7 counting Canadian-style healthcare. :o ;)
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Re: The Question Thread

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Well, I'm relieved to see I'm not the only one who thinks about "after the fall".
I always worried about cigarets. Glad that fear is gone, but I do have lots of lighters to tide me over, and a magnifying glass for starting fires.
After 9/11, I went through a mental checklist. Plenty of water, lots of rabbits and birds, and enough books to operate a lending library.
I'm pretty savvy about edible weeds, and living on a farm, (disturbed soil) we have plenty of those.
Don't forget, politics aside, firearms and ammunition. Those of us who are prepared are targets.

But if the big one drops ... bye-bye. My parents bought a place with a bomb shelter, and I figured it was pretty useless except for hiding from the law.
Se Non Ora, Quando?

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Vrede too
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Re: The Question Thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Tue Jun 27, 2017 11:54 am
Communities of some sort may survive long term, most individuals won't. My plan - trade on my medical skills....
New plan - go to k9nanny's.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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Re: The Question Thread

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Lady O and I have always lived in a state of at least semi-preparedness, with bug-out kits, supply of non-perishable food, water, cash, etc., and quick/easy plan to batten down the house. (on as side question, every time there's a big storm in Florida the TV stations always show crowds buying out plywood at Lowe's. I always wonder did all those people just move here since the last storm, or what did they do with the plywood they bought the last one?) But realistically, you can only plan for relatively short term disasters. Even if you can put away a years worth of food, it's still only a year. Nuclear destruction isn't going to be over in a year. Total breakdown of the economic and governmental system isn't going to be over in a year. The first Civil War wasn't over in a year.

So if we're fine for probably a month of storm/flood/cyber attack/power shortage, whatever, but really, even if you managed to survive the nuclear blast, do you want to live the life that would be left? Probably not.

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Re: The Question Thread

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O Really wrote:
Wed Jun 28, 2017 11:07 am
Even if you can put away a years worth of food, it's still only a year. Nuclear destruction isn't going to be over in a year. Total breakdown of the economic and governmental system isn't going to be over in a year. The first Civil War wasn't over in a year.
...The Trump presidency won't be over in a year...

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Re: The Question Thread

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O Really wrote:
Wed Jun 28, 2017 11:07 am
... The first Civil War wasn't over in a year....
"first"? :shock:
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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rstrong
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Re: The Question Thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Wed Jun 28, 2017 12:34 pm
O Really wrote:
Wed Jun 28, 2017 11:07 am
... The first Civil War wasn't over in a year....
"first"? :shock:
Wait for the next Democrat to be elected President. With the last one...

We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!
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Good thing no-one listens to that guy.

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