'It's my health, it's my choice,' Danny Williams says

Globe & Mail ^ | 23 Feb 2010 | Sarah Boesveld

[docbnj]

"This is my heart, it's my health, it's my choice."

With these words, Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams defended his decision to hop the border and go under the knife for heart surgery in Florida.

The minimally invasive mitral valve surgery he needed is not available in Newfoundland, he told his province's NTV News channel in the first part of an interview aired last night.

"Did some checking, of course, and what was ultimately done to me, the surgery I eventually got ... was not offered to me in Canada," he said.

But it is available in his home country, a point that cardiologists fervently made last night.

"It's his body, it's his money, hopefully, but don't tell us the operation cannot be done here. It can be done," said Arvind Koshal, director of cardiac surgery at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton.

[docbnj]

This surgery could have been done in Canada, but the Newfoundland Premier chose Florida instead. A related article reports on a poll which shows that a majority of Canadians asked did not blame the Premier for his decision.

[O6ret]

And he got a winter vacation out of it too.

[GailA]

OBAMANOMICS--TRICKLE DOWN DESTRUCTION of the economy

SET THEIR LOCAL AND DC LINES ON FIRE!

Sen. Scot Brown's number is 202-224-5443

Capitol Hill switchboard is 202-224-3121

Lots of local demwit phone numbers on this thread.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2408217/posts

Rename, repackage, rewrite it a tad smaller, and sell another pig in a poke.

Tennessee has joined several other states in trying to pass a Health Care Freedom Act. NO COLAs for granny, retired Military or retired fed employees. BIG NEW fees for Tricare for Life retired over 65 Military's secondary health ins. (DOD bill already passed, delayed but goes into effect 2011)

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/10/military_tricarefees_blocked_100709w/

New Dem mantra: Woof, woof eat dog food granny....ala let them eat cake.

OBAMA’s WAR ON SENIORS

Friday, February 19, 2010

Obama says slight fix will extend Social Security

http://townhall.com/news/us/2010/02/19/obama_says_slight_fix_will_extend_social_security

Health Care Rationing for Seniors Another Problem in New Obama Plan

http://www.lifenews.com/bio3058.html

Socialized Med Thread

TRI CARE FOR LIFE This from a google search:

http://economicspolitics.blogspot.com/2009/05/tricare-for-life-is-obama-trying-to.html

This option would help reduce the costs of TFL, as well as costs for Medicare, by introducing minimum out-of pocket requirements for beneficiaries. Under this option, TFL would not cover any of the first $525 of an enrollee’s cost-sharing liabilities for calendar year 2011 and would limit coverage to 50 percent of the next $4,725 in Medicare cost sharing that the beneficiary incurred. (Because all further cost sharing would be covered by TFL, enrollees could not pay more than $2,888 in cost sharing in that year.)

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf

http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/hcva09/hcva110609-1.htm

Bill Would Restrict Veterans’ Health Care Options 11/06/09

Buyer and McKeon Offer Amendments to Protect Veterans and TRICARE Beneficiaries

Congress plans to block Tricare fee increases
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/military_tricarefees_blocked_100709w

By Rick Maze - Staff writer, Oct 7, 2009

Tricare fee increases imposed last week by the Defense Department will be repealed by a provision of the compromise 2010 defense authorization bill unveiled Wednesday by House and Senate negotiators.

Snip

The fee increases were announced on Sept. 30 and took effect on Oct. 1, but the defense bill, HR 2647, includes a provision barring any fee increases until the start of fiscal 2011.

Snip

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bill Matz, president of the National Association for Uniformed Services, said the announcement of fee increases was shocking considering that the Obama administration promised earlier this year to hold off on any new fee Tricare fee increases until fiscal 2011.

“President Obama and DoD assured NAUS and the entire military family earlier this year that there would rightly be no increases in any Tricare fees” in fiscal 2010, Matz said. “We took them at their word, and I can’t believe that a co-pay increase like this was allowed to go forward,” he added.

Bambi doesn't keep his promises...so buyer beware.

[Boonie]

I had hernia surgery a couple of years ago...My doctor said I could have the surgery in two days...I opted for four because I had a couple things to do first....

Curious, I looked into the same surgery if I was Canadian...the two day wait in USA would’ve been 5-7 WEEKS in Canada...

[Texas Jack]

I predict that within five years of Obamacare being inflicted upon the citizens of the Untied States, modern medical facilities will sprout up just across the Mexican border manned by the very best of American physicians and care givers.

These facilities will be available on a cash only basis for politicians, Hollywooders, union bosses, school teachers, and others of the political class.

Mexico will allow them to operate via kickbacks (usual Mexican business procedures) and because of the additional income it will bring to the local economies.

So, I am of the opinion, following the rule of unintended consequences, that the people who will suffer the most under Obamacare will be the very ones that Obama says he's trying to help.

[bgill]

Egads, I’d go to Mexico before having any medical procedure done in Florida. Get a hangnail there and they’ll call in Judge Greer and his minion Felos.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"This is my heart, it's my health, it's my choice."

The exact thing we're fighting to keep here in America. Not only for the sake of America, but for all of those Canadians who do what he did.

[walford]

“The wait times for cardiac surgery in Canada are relatively short...”

Am I the only one who suspects that the “relativity” of this wait time depends upon whom the patient is? Even though this guy is a senior provincial official, he didn’t want to gamble with his life as to whether his body would hold out while DMV clerks determined his fate.

You can thank the United States’ private health system for providing you with this choice, Mr. Williams. Pray that we don’t follow your country’s example anytime soon.

[DrC]

“You can thank the United States’ private health system for providing you with this choice, Mr. Williams. Pray that we don’t follow your country’s example anytime soon.”

I thought this response to the BBC article was interesting and illuminating:
“I’d prefer to keep the private health options outside Canada. We have a very good public system which incorporates individual medical practices and businesses so it’s not at all state-run. All our resources should be directed to the single system we have. There’s enough competition outside our borders (both expensive in the US and less costly in emerging nations) to stimulate a good, cost-effective response here.”

In short, here’s a Canadian freely acknowledging they are free-riding on the U.S. system, by devoting public resources to a cheap public option and allowing border-crossing to effectively serve as a safety valve. If the US foolishly followed the Canadian approach, what nation would serve as OUR safety valve???

[Drango]

Of course it can be done in Edmonton and other Canadian cities...The real question is HOW WELL can it be done? Vote with your dollars and your life.

[Gay State Conservative]

Just as Mexicans (and the Mexican government) pray that we never build a *real* wall at the border,Canadians had better pray that we don't adopt their health system because if we do the only way they'll be able to avoid those 12 month waits for a heart operation is to go to India.

[The Great RJ]

Yes, the procedure can be done in Canada but at only two medical centers. So how long would it take for someone from Newfoundland or Alberta to get through the red tape and have their surgery scheduled at one of these two centers? How many medical centers in the US can perform this procedure? My bet is a lot more than two.