Posts Tagged health care
Canadian denied health care goes to Mayo Clinic
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in Tim Walz, health care on March 8, 2010
In Best of the Web Today, James Taranto tells a story of Canadian health care that includes the Mayo Clinic.
[H]ere’s a story of someone facing bankruptcy owing to medical costs. The twist is he’s Canadian. From the Toronto Sun:
Now, with the Mayo Clinic having done what the Alberta Cancer Board wouldn’t authorize or even explain, but with the tumour unable to be totally removed, the province will now not fund the expensive drug, Avastin, that the Mayo prescribed to keep him alive and keep the remaining tumour from increasing in size–despite the costs of the drug being totally funded by the province for other forms of cancer.
Had he lung cancer, breast cancer, or colon cancer, then the cost of the drug–$4,555 per treatment, two times a month–would be totally covered by Alberta’s version of OHIP [Ontario Health Insurance Plan].
Suffering from brain cancer, Kent Pankow was literally forced to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. for lifesaving surgery–at a cost to family and friends of $106,000–after the health-care system in Alberta left him hanging in bureaucratic limbo for 16 crucial days, his tumour meanwhile migrating to an unreachable part of the brain, while it dithered over his case file, ultimately deciding he was not surgery worthy.
And so he is not only a victim of brain cancer, he is also a victim of arbitrary discrimination.
But he doesn’t.
Kent Pankow, as it turns out, has the right disease but he has it in the wrong place.
The good news is that President Obama remains committed to bringing U.S. health care into line with Canadian standards. If he succeeds, sick Canadians will eventually be set free from the ruinous temptations of places like the Mayo Clinic.
For some reason, Tim Walz hasn’t shared Mr. Pankow’s story with us.
Walz reiterates support of federal health care reform
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in Tim Walz, health care on December 16, 2009
The Olmsted county GOP considers a Post-Bulletin article about a meeting held by Tim Walz in Mankato.
Why Canadians come to U.S. for surgery
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in Tim Walz, health care on December 10, 2009
See the post over at Olmsted County GOP
Walz townhalls on video
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in Tim Walz on November 9, 2009
Congressman Tim Walz held two health care townhall meetings in our district. We have video of each. One was in Mankato on August 20. The other was in Rochester on September 12. He made some unqualified statements regarding requirements for legislation he could support. Was his “yes” vote consistent with those statements?
Some of them are mentioned in an article at the Olmsted GOP’s site.
Tort reform without tort reform: Pelosi Democrats at work
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in health care on November 1, 2009
The new House health care bill — H.R.3962 — encourages states to enact “medical liability alternatives” as long as ” the law does not limit attorneys’ fees or impose caps on damages.” There’s change we can believe in! The CBO estimates tort reform would reduce health care costs by $54 billion in 10 years but it’s illegal in the Democrat’s new health care bill.
See the text of section 2531 for yourself at govtrack.us.
I’ll Pass on ‘Opting Out’
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in health care on October 29, 2009
Ann Coulter explains how the “opt out” plan is a scam and how government is the problem in health care at Human Events.
A GOP health plan
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in Opinion on October 28, 2009
Finally. An other major media outlet — the Chicago Tribune — admits there is a GOP plan for health care. In fact, the ideas presented are part of the Patients’ Choice Act (HR.2520 and S.1099), a GOP plan presented to the House and Senate BEFORE the Democrats’ own HR.3200 (the official name of the House’s version of ObamaCare). The legislation is stuck in their respective introductory committees by their Democratic committee Chairs.
Great Moments in Socialized Medicine
Posted by Bruce Kaskubar in news on October 9, 2009
From Best of the Web Today (10/7/9)
London’s Daily Mail reports, “A grandmother dying of ovarian cancer was sent home five times by medics who said her crippling pain was caused by trapped wind.”
Barbara Collins, 68, was bed ridden for months with agonising pain and bowel problems, classic signs of the killer disease, but sent home with only laxatives. The mother of four was correctly diagnosed with ovarian cancer a staggering four months after her first visit to Manchester Royal Infirmary, and died 10 days later. Mrs Collins’ family criticised the medics, who they say made her feel like a nuisance. She could have survived if only her cancer had been diagnosed sooner, they claim.
As former Enron adviser Paul Krugman notes, “In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We’ve all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false.”