The United States has tried to pass some form of comprehensive health care legislation since the late 19th Century. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attempted to do as part of Social Security was the first to attempt to do so, but was vehemently opposed by the American Medical Association.
President Harry S Truman attempted to do so as part of his Fair Deal, but also ran into AMA opposition . That same AMA opposition was present when President Lyndon B. Johnson got Medicare and Medicaid passed in 1965, and a serious effort to do so happened during the Nixon and Clinton and Obama administrations.
To tackle the problem of over 40 million Americans being uninsured, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed and signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010.
The Affordable Care Act cut the number of uninsured Americans in half, slowing down the rapid rise in health care costs and acted as a stimulus that fueled national economic growth.
It also has saved lives in the process.
But despite the obvious benefits of the ACA, the law has been under attack by the Republican Party since its passage. With Donald Trump now in the White House, Republicans see an opportunity to repeal the law and replace it with their own plan. Those efforts have already failed, and were opposed by much of the American population that likes many of the ACA's more popular features like allowing dependents to stay on their parent's health insurance plans until age 26, no preexisting conditions or coverage caps.
The Trump administration is resorting to other methods to kill the ACA by starving it of funding, cutting the advertising budget to publicize 2018 ACA enrollment by 90% and the cut of funding for the Navigator program from $62.4 million to $36.8 million.
They cynically hope that the less people know about when to re-enroll for 2018 ACA coverage, it will cause the overall numbers of people enrolled to drop and then the conservative 'the ACA is failing' propaganda has a veneer of plausibility.
So let's commit a revolutionary act and thwart those plans.
The 2018 enrollment period for the ACA starts today, November 1 and runs through December 15th. It's time once again to get covered, and there are people and organizations out there in your locale who will help you try to get the health care coverage you need that fits your budget.
One of the issues that continues to plague our LGBTQ community across the country is finding culturally competent health care in our various locales we reside in..
In my old stomping grounds of Louisville, which unfortunately has the LGBTQ hatemongering Southern Baptist Theological Seminary inside the city limits, it's probably a factor in why the University of Louisville's LGBT Center is fielding calls from LGBTQ Louisvillians and residents all over the Kentuckiana area on a daily basis who are searching for doctors and health care providers willing to respectfully treat LGBTQ patients.
To address these issues, the University of Louisville as part of their eQuality Project will host a LGBTQ Health Summit on September 12 at the UofL School of Medicine.
It's sponsored by the U of L School of Medicine Office of Undergraduate Medical Education, Office for Community Engagement and Diversity, and the U of L LGBT Center
"Historically, LGBTQ health has not been part of any health care or medical school curriculum," said Suzanne Kingery MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at UofL. "It is only recently that a handful of medical schools, with UofL at the forefront, have started to do this kind of training. This health summit is a wonderful opportunity for health care providers to learn about LGBTQ care so they can provide affirming care for their patients and follow best practices."
The LGBTQ Health Summit will begin at 8:30 AM EDT on that September 12 date at the School of Medicine , and early registration is encouraged for those of you health care providers wishing to attend..
When I went to my Galveston, TX based gender clinic for my first transition medical checkup 20 years ago this April, my endocrinologist at the time Dr. Lee Emery said as I sat down in the chair at her desk, "I have good news and bad news for you. Which one do you want first?"
"Let's start with the good news," I said.
"The good news is that your chances for prostate cancer because of HRT have dropped to near zero.".
"That's great! What's the bad news?'
"Your chances for breast cancer just doubled," Dr. Emery said in a matter of fact tone.
So it was with that two decade old conversation in mind I hailed the December 20 CDC reversal of an old trans exclusionary policy in the wake of the October controversy stirred up after Colorado trans woman Jennifer Blair was denied a screening.
The federal early detection program offers preventive breast cancer screenings to low-income women, but had Raymondesque language in it limiting it to people who are genetically female.
The 62 year old Blair had sought the screening after detecting an unusual growth in one of her her breasts that was found to be benign. She subsequently filed a complaint under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act in October after being forced to leave the facility without having the mammogram that would have otherwise been covered under federal law.
The medical studies concerning transwomen, HRT and breast cancer are ongoing, but we still need to be as estrogen based lifeforms doing regular breast self exams.
Once you hit age 40, mammograms need to be done on a regular basis to save the boobies. It's even more important for us African-American transwomen because we are susceptible to acquiring a type of breast cancer that is aggressive and fast growing, so it's even more important that we do so, especially if the cis women in our family have a history of breast cancer.
Cancer prevention expert Dr. Jacqueline Miller issued a memo stating "federal funds may be used to screen these transgender women."
The memo specifies patients must be "transgender women (male-to-female)
who have taken or are taking hormones and meet all program eligibility
requirements."
The new CDC policy takes effect today, and will probably lead to one day saving someone's life.
More evidence of the positive karmic momentum wave that trans human rights is on north of the 49th parallel.
After first saying they wouldn't cover GRS surgeries in the provincial health plan in the wake of passing trans human rights legislation in the province citing fiscal issues, after reviewing medical evidence and a chat with NSRAP, Nova Scotia's provincial health minister David Wilson reversed that decision and said they would do so.
With that decision Nova Scotia becomes the eight Canadian province to provide funding for genital realignment surgeries.
Alberta, British Columbia,
Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan
are the others that offer varying levels of funding for GRS.
Kevin Kindred, the chairman of the Rainbow Action Project, said he’s
pleased Nova Scotia reversed its stance because for some people, the
surgeries are medically necessary for mental health.
“This is the best and most effective method to return transgendered people to a good state of medical health,” Kindred said. "They’ll go from being a drain on the health system … to being positive, contributing members of society.”
Wilson said the province will “move as quickly as it can” to set up
standards of care and negotiate funding levels for the treatment, adding
that the section of the physician’s manual that prohibits funding for
the surgery will be immediately removed.
The Health Department will begin researching whether there are
medical professionals in Nova Scotia who can do the operations, and if
not, where they can be done, he added.
The first president to push and get passed health care reform in US history. It's spike the political football time and work like hell to get this man reelected on November 6 along with a Congress that can help a presidential brother out.
Any time Alberta is mentioned in our conversations concerning Canadian politics, my Timmy's Ice Capp loving homegirl refers to Wild Rose Country as 'that wretched province' for its rampant Canadian style conservatism.
I end up feeling obligated to defend Alberta and its dedicated activists who live there like Mercedes Allen. I know all too well what it is like to have your nation's liberal progressive activists comfortably ensconced in liberal areas taking frequent potshots at your home turf due to the conservafool politicians in charge of it pimping jacked up social policies.
Never mind the fact you and others are busting your behinds to get progressive political momentum restarted in your conservative leaning home area.
On April 7, 2009 Alberta's conservative provincial government delisted SRS from its provincial health plan in order to save money, but discovered that the 700,000 CAD it costs for the 16 surgeries a year was just a tiny sliver of the 12.9 billion CAD provincial healthcare budget. It not only didn't produce the savings they thought it would, all it did was piss trans Albertans off enough to cause a tipping point moment that got them to organize, fight and file lawsuits against the province over the issue.
Of course our trans cousins in Alberta are ecstatic about the welcome news.
We are pleased that the current administration sees value in caring
for all Albertans needs, enabling them to live happy, fulfilled lives.
The return of this coverage, whose removal only saved Albertans $0.18
each annually, will give hope to those for whom GRS was previously out
of reach. While there are many other issues facing Trans-identified
Albertans, this is a huge step in the direction of respect and dignity
for the Trans Community by the Alberta Government. Thank you for taking
this important first step.
Those Alberta lawsuits probably would have been successful because Ontario tried a similar delisting tactic in their OHIP provincial healthcare plan. After a ten year battle, in March 2008 they had to restore SRS funding in OHIP after losing a human rights lawsuit similar to the ones being filed in Alberta.
Once again, another win for the Canadian trans community and in conservative dominated territory on top of that which makes it even sweeter. Way to go, Alberta trans community!
For a long time the topic of being transgender was something seen as
taboo but as it gains more needed traction many medical entities are
starting to see that in fact being transgender is NOT a mental illness
but a medical condition no different then FAI, heart diseases, or more
commonly asthma. But as it has been seen time and time again companies
blatantly put discriminatory exclusions to care within 75% of their
policies made available to the general public. Making obtaining proper
healthcare such as even regular physicians visits nearly impossible for
many all because the care is deemed as transition related and
immediately kicked back as denied!
That's from a Change.org petition created by A. Rob, who is frustrated like many transpeople are about the automatic exclusions for trans medical care written into the health care policies that many US transpeople have to deal with.
It is the odious legacy of radical feminist trans oppressor Janice Raymond, whose 1980 Social and Ethical Aspects of Transsexual Surgery paper to the US government resulted in the stripping of state and federal aid to indigent trans people and the insurance companies beginning to add transsexual medical exclusions in their policies with deleterious results to our lives and our health.
WPATH and the American Medical Association are just two of the professional organizations that reject the Raymondite thinking and have been pushing the insurance companies to drop those anti-trans coverages based on Raymond's transphobic letter and the discrimination it creates.
"RESOLVED, That the AMA support public and private health insurance
coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder (Directive to Take
Action); and be it further
RESOLVED, That the AMA oppose categorical exclusions of coverage for
treatment of gender identity disorder when prescribed by a physician
(Directive to Take Action)"
A Rob's goal is to get 10,000 signatures on this petition, and you can sign it by clicking this link
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, AKA the Health Care Law is one year old today. I would rather have universal single payer health care like Canada and the rest of the civilized world has, but it's a start.
The GOP's still lying and trying to kill this bill, but as they're finding out the more the truth comes out about the health care bill and what it positively does for people and the clock ticks inexorably toward the 2014 date of full implementation of the law and its provisions, the better the knowledge deprived American public finds out about it and what it positively does for them, the better they like it..
I think it's a travesty and a shame that one of the wealthiest countries on the planet has such piss poor health care for its citizens, and it is an embarrassment to me as an American we don't have Universal Single Payer health care like other comparable industrialized nations.
Yes, the health care reform bill signing to paraphrase Vice President Biden, was a big fracking deal. One of the many reasons I want the GOP bums thrown out of power on November 6, 2012 and President Obama to get a second term is to continue the work toward ensuring that all Americans have access to affordable high quality health care.
I know that it won't happen with a Speaker Boehner or the Republifool Know-Nothings in charge.
While I was in Oneonta I watched the contentious debate before the House vote on the health Care reform bill late Sunday night-early Monday morning.
While I'm not happy about it and want nothing less than universal single payer health care (or Medicare for all), it's a starting point.
If we liberals all agree that Medicare for All is a worthy goal, then our first order of business is to show up to the polls en masse in November. We need to defend the legislators that braved Tea Klux Klan attacks to vote for the bill and show that there's a political upside to passing groundbreaking legislation, not a penalty.
These folks will face unrelenting levels of ignorance from now until November. Some have been spat on called derogatory names, and had bricks thrown through their office windows. The brownshirt tactics need to be repudiated.
We need to stand up and fight just as fiercely for our value and ideaas just as fiercely as the Tea Klux Klan does for their misguided ones. We would ideally like to do it with more dignity and class than they do.
But if they want to act like nekulturny WWE wrestlers, so be it. Bring on the political brass knuckles, the sharp tongued rhetoric and kick their behinds.
Liberal does not mean wimp, and we need to reinforce that fact to these America hating fools on a regular basis. We need to stop being scared of stupid people, lead and start being the 'A' students that were mandated in 2008 with cleaning up the mess the conservative 'D' students left.
We also need to regularly point out, compare and contrast the superiority and fairness of liberalism to their failed, selfish and predominately monoracial political philosophy.
Leadership means you have to make some tough choices that are not politically popular. Let us as liberals and proud Democrats always make sure we are on the side of people who seek justice and fairness.
Let's make sure we do what's right, not what's right wing.
When America is at its freest and fairest, its because it practiced and espoused liberal values. We regress as a country to dark, sinister places when conservative selfishness rules the day.
The bill that passed and was signed by President Obama Tuesday tells the world that we're tired of being the only country without universal health care coverage for its citizens. We're tired of being 49th in health care issues and are finally joining the rest of the industrialized world to emphatically acknowledge what they did decades ago.
Health care is a right, not a rich person's only privilege.
This infuriating video is one reason why I have little to zero tolerance for teabaggers and conservafools in general.
All I can say about the heartless fools mocking this man with Parkinson's disease is that when the karmic wheel comes around, I'd hate to be you.
This is the true face of the GOP, the Tea Klux Klan and the conservative movement.
Did it make you angry seeing that? Good!
Now channel that anger into positive action to preserve our majority. Our best revenge for this gentleman is to get busy registering voters and planning to bumrush the polling places in November.
You can bet that these wastes of DNA who disrespected this man will damned sure be there to vote GOP as soon as the polls open. We need to working even harder to give these people an electoral beatdown they'll never forget.
It's March Madness, and while the Democrats scramble to get the votes necessary to pass health care legislation, the 2010 NCAA Men's and Women's tournaments get underway along with the NIT and WNIT.
My Coogs are playing Maryland later. Unfortunately my Lady Coogs season is over after dropping a tough game in Lubbock last night to the Texas Tech Lady Raiders 80-77 in their WNIT opener.
But congrats to both the Cougar men and women B-ballers. We UH alums and H-town are so proud of you.
And now, since it's Friday, let's continue the basketball theme and see who will exhibit championship level ignorance and stupidity to win this week's Shut Up Fool! Award.
As I mentioned, the health care debate is going on and this week's winner got it for attacking an 11 year old child who lost his mother due to lack of health care.
Marcelus Owens mother Tiffany died in June 2007 of pulmonary hypertension. It's a rare condition described as high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs that can lead to heart failure. It has no cure, but is treatable with consistent medical care that can cost up to $100,000 a year.
Owens was an assistant manager at a fast food restaurant when she became sick in September 2006. As she became sicker, she missed work and was eventually fired, leaving her without health insurance. She was treated twice in an emergency room and died at age 27 after a week of unconsciousness. His grandmother Gina Owens has custody of Marcelas and his two younger sisters.
His story has been championed by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) as more prima facie evidence as to why we need health care reformj now in this country.
But as usual the conservafools, led by Limbaugh and Beck went on the attack and the SUF winner got it for piling on.
Michelle Malkin wins for attacking 11 year old Marcelus Owens.
Malkin called him "one of Obama's youngest lobbyists" who has been "goaded by a left-wing activist grandmother," promoted by Murray and has become a regular on the "pro-Obamacare circuit."
Malkin also suggested there were other programs that could have helped Tiffany Owens , adding, "It's not clear that additional doctors' visits in the subsequent months would have prevented her death."
Gee Michelle, didn't know you were a medical doctor as well as a batshit crazy bully.
I love Sen. Al Franken (D-MN). This is what the GOP and the conservative movement was afraid of when they fought his election by the citizens of Minnesota.
Check out this video of Sen. Franken smacking down Repugnican Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and rebutting the lies he just told about the health care bill.
Some peeps in the transgender community have a longstanding love-hate relationship with Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). He has been at times a major impediment to transpeople being included in ENDA.
Many of us, myself included still haven't forgotten and are still pissed about the 2007 ENDA debacle in which he was a major player.
So I was a little taken aback when I heard that the Democratic congressmember who smacked down conservaidiocy at his recent health care town hall meeting was none other than the 'Purple One' himself.
I've been one of his more vehement critics here at TransGriot and elsewhere over the last decade because of the ENDA debate.
I have to give Rep. Barney Frank his props on this one. This is the way that ALL Democrats should have been calling out the conservafools when this faux outrage at their town hall meetings first started.
The health care industry, the GOP, their lobbying groups and shills have thrown $130 million dollars and counting into the battle to kill health care reform.
They have tried to scare seniors by claiming health care is a plot to kill our senior citizens. They have distorted, delayed and now organized mobs similar to the the 2000 'Brooks Brothers Riots' that shut down the Bush-Gore recount in Miami-Dade County with the express goal of shutting down discussions at Democratic congressional legislators town hall meetings.
I was wondering how long it would take for the Forces of Intolerance and their corporate paymasters to use transpeople for one of their classic tried and true tactics to oppose reforms.
The Greed Over People party have joined in the effort to scare and bamboozle the stupid Faux News watching sheeple into opposing health care reform that benefits them all in the name of protecting their windfall profits:.
No sooner had that thought crossed my mind than when I flipped on the computer and read Autumn Sandeen's post at Pam's House Blend about her name being dragged through the muck of the health care debate by conservafool Peter LaBarbera.
Folks, you don't have to be very politically sophisticated to predict that GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) activists and their liberal allies are going to demand "Tranny-Care" under a federal health insurance system, in the name of "fairness" and "inclusion" - even if it's not passed initially as a "benefit." And yes, the idea of subsidizing body-disfiguring "operations" surely would be considered "queer" by the average tax-paying American. Already, trans activists are strategizing on the best ways to get taxpayers to pay for their gender-confused mutilations "sex change" procedures -- and Human Rights Campaign and other homosexual lobby groups boast of their support for same in cities like San Francisco. -- Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.com
Okay peeps, if y'all want affordable health care in our lifetimes, it's past time to fight these bastards tooth and nail.
I've been talking about the need for the United States to join the rest of the industrialized world and implement universal single payer health care for 'errbody' in our nation.
Best way to do it is pass HR 676, which expands Medicare coverage to all and bans insurance companies from denying peeps coverage due to 'preexisting conditions'.
Since the GOP, the HMO's, and the American Medical Assn. have been spreading lies about the Canadian healthcare system, time to post more video debunking those lies.
Found this on YouTube. It's about an event held in Washington discussing HR 676, the bill which will establish if passed into law a single payer universal health care system in the US.
Ever since President Harry S. Truman proposed in 1945 setting up a universal health care system in the United States, the GOP and its constituent conservative groups have fought it tooth and nail.
Here's some news footage from the early 70's discussing Richard Nixon's proposed healthcare reform plan.
TransGriot Note: You know the conservaliars, the HMO's, the pharmaceutical companies, the AMA and their lobbyists are gearing up to kill President Obama's health care reform.
They also hate Rep. John Conyers' HR 676, which would expand Medicare to cover all Americans by converting it into a single payer system.
The conservaliars save special hateraid for the Canadian Health Care System and don't want to see it replicated on this side of the border.
Thy are already slinging the 'socialized medicine' shade at any system that doesn't perpetuate the status quo where they make obscene amounts of money.
It all adds up to the average American's health care plan being, 'Don't Get Sick.'
Any moment now I expect them to go dig up or clone Ronald Reagan so they can trot him out to reprise his anti-Medicaid commercials from 1961.
Well, as an American, I'm sick of this crappy system we have now. If little ole embargoed Cuba, Costa Rica and the world major industrialized nations can have universal healthcare for their citizens, what's wrong with the nation that put a man on the moon 40 years ago not being able to do so?
Thanks to Physicians For A National Health Program here's a February 5, 2008 article by Sara Robinson of TomPaine.com busting the conservamyths about the Canadian healthcare system.
Robinson is an American citizen who is a Canadian resident, so she is in an excellent position to compare and contrast the two.
I'll just hit the highlights. The full article is here on the PNHP website.
Here's Renee's Global Comment post as a beneficiary of that system tellin' it like it T-I-S is about her experiences with the Canadian system as well.
***
1. Canada’s health care system is “socialized medicine.”
False. In socialized medical systems, the doctors work directly for the state. In Canada (and many other countries with universal care), doctors run their own private practices, just like they do in the US. The only difference is that every doctor deals with one insurer, instead of 150. And that insurer is the provincial government, which is accountable to the legislature and the voters if the quality of coverage is allowed to slide.
The proper term for this is “single-payer insurance.” In talking to Americans about it, the better phrase is “Medicare for all.”
2. Doctors are hurt financially by single-payer health care.
True and False. Doctors in Canada do make less than their US counterparts. But they also have lower overhead, and usually much better working conditions. A few reasons for this:
First, as noted, they don’t have to charge higher fees to cover the salary of a full-time staffer to deal with over a hundred different insurers, all of whom are bent on denying care whenever possible.
In fact, most Canadian doctors get by quite nicely with just one assistant, who cheerfully handles the phones, mail, scheduling, patient reception, stocking, filing, and billing all by herself in the course of a standard workday.
Second, they don’t have to spend several hours every day on the phone cajoling insurance company bean counters into doing the right thing by their patients. My doctor in California worked a 70-hour week: 35 hours seeing patients, and another 35 hours on the phone arguing with insurance companies. My Canadian doctor, on the other hand, works a 35-hour week, period. She files her invoices online, and the vast majority are simply paid — quietly, quickly, and without hassle. There is no runaround. There are no fights. Appointments aren’t interrupted by vexing phone calls. Care is seldom denied (because everybody knows the rules). She gets her checks on time, sees her patients on schedule, takes Thursdays off, and gets home in time for dinner.
One unsurprising side effect of all this is that the doctors I see here are, to a person, more focused, more relaxed, more generous with their time, more up-to-date in their specialties, and overall much less distracted from the real work of doctoring. You don’t realize how much stress the American doctor-insurer fights put on the day-to-day quality of care until you see doctors who don’t operate under that stress, because they never have to fight those battles at all. Amazingly: they seem to enjoy their jobs.
Third: The average American medical student graduates $140,000 in hock. The average Canadian doctor’s debt is roughly half that.
Finally, Canadian doctors pay lower malpractice insurance fees. When paying for health care constitutes a one of a family’s major expenses, expectations tend to run very high. A doctor’s mistake not only damages the body; it may very well throw a middle-class family permanently into the ranks of the working poor, and render the victim uninsurable for life. With so much at stake, it’s no wonder people are quick to rush to court for redress.
Canadians are far less likely to sue in the first place, since they’re not having to absorb devastating financial losses in addition to any physical losses when something goes awry. The cost of the damaging treatment will be covered. So will the cost of fixing it. And, no matter what happens, the victim will remain insured for life. When lawsuits do occur, the awards don’t have to include coverage for future medical costs, which reduces the insurance company’s liability.
3. Wait times in Canada are horrendous.
True and False again — it depends on which province you live in, and what’s wrong with you. Canada’s health care system runs on federal guidelines that ensure uniform standards of care, but each territory and province administers its own program. Some provinces don’t plan their facilities well enough; in those, you can have waits. Some do better. As a general rule, the farther north you live, the harder it is to get to care, simply because the doctors and hospitals are concentrated in the south. But that’s just as true in any rural county in the U.S.
You can hear the bitching about it no matter where you live, though. The percentage of Canadians who’d consider giving up their beloved system consistently languishes in the single digits. A few years ago, a TV show asked Canadians to name the Greatest Canadian in history; and in a broad national consensus, they gave the honor to Tommy Douglas, the Saskatchewan premier who is considered the father of the country’s health care system. (And no, it had nothing to do with the fact that he was also Kiefer Sutherland’s grandfather.). In spite of that, though, grousing about health care is still unofficially Canada’s third national sport after curling and hockey.
And for the country’s newspapers, it’s a prime watchdogging opportunity. Any little thing goes sideways at the local hospital, and it’s on the front pages the next day. Those kinds of stories sell papers, because everyone is invested in that system and has a personal stake in how well it functions. The American system might benefit from this kind of constant scrutiny, because it’s certainly one of the things that keeps the quality high. But it also makes people think it’s far worse than it is.
Critics should be reminded that the American system is not exactly instant-on, either. When I lived in California, I had excellent insurance, and got my care through one of the best university-based systems in the nation. Yet I routinely had to wait anywhere from six to twelve weeks to get in to see a specialist. Non-emergency surgical waits could be anywhere from four weeks to four months. After two years in the BC system, I’m finding the experience to be pretty much comparable, and often better. The notable exception is MRIs, which were easy in California, but can take many months to get here. (It’s the number one thing people go over the border for.) Other than that, urban Canadians get care about as fast as urban Americans do.
4. You have to wait forever to get a family doctor. False for the vast majority of Canadians, but True for a few. Again, it all depends on where you live. I live in suburban Vancouver, and there are any number of first-rate GPs in my neighborhood who are taking new patients. If you don’t have a working relationship with one, but need to see a doctor now, there are 24-hour urgent care clinics in most neighborhoods that will usually get you in and out on the minor stuff in under an hour.
It is, absolutely, harder to get to a doctor if you live out in a small town, or up in the territories. But that’s just as true in the U.S. — and in America, the government won’t cover the airfare for rural folk to come down to the city for needed treatment, which all the provincial plans do.
5. You don’t get to choose your own doctor.
Scurrilously False. Somebody, somewhere, is getting paid a lot of money to make this kind of stuff up. The cons love to scare the kids with stories about the government picking your doctor for you, and you don’t get a choice. Be afraid! Be very afraid!
For the record: Canadians pick their own doctors, just like Americans do. And not only that: since it all pays the same, poor Canadians have exactly the same access to the country’s top specialists that rich ones do.
6. Canada’s care plan only covers the basics. You’re still on your own for any extras, including prescription drugs. And you still have to pay for it.
True — but not as big an issue as you might think. The province does charge a small monthly premium (ours is $108/month for a family of four) for the basic coverage. However, most people never even have to write that check: almost all employers pick up the tab for their employees’ premiums as part of the standard benefits package; and the province covers it for people on public assistance or disability.
“The basics” covered by this plan include 100% of all doctor’s fees, ambulance fares, tests, and everything that happens in a hospital — in other words, the really big-ticket items that routinely drive American families into bankruptcy. In BC, it doesn’t include “extras” like medical equipment, prescriptions, physical therapy or chiropractic care, dental, vision, and so on; and if you want a private or semi-private room with TV and phone, that costs extra (about what you’d pay for a room in a middling hotel). That other stuff does add up; but it’s far easier to afford if you’re not having to cover the big expenses, too. Furthermore: you can deduct any out-of-pocket health expenses you do have to pay off your income taxes. And, as every American knows by now, drugs aren’t nearly as expensive here, either.
Filling the gap between the basics and the extras is the job of the country’s remaining private health insurers. Since they’re off the hook for the ruinously expensive big-ticket items that can put their own profits at risk, the insurance companies make a tidy business out of offering inexpensive policies that cover all those smaller, more predictable expenses. Top-quality add-on policies typically run in the ballpark of $75 per person in a family per month — about $300 for a family of four — if you’re stuck buying an individual plan. Group plans are cheap enough that even small employers can afford to offer them as a routine benefit. An average working Canadian with employer-paid basic care and supplemental insurance gets free coverage equal to the best policies now only offered at a few of America’s largest corporations. And that employer is probably only paying a couple hundred dollars a month to provide that benefit.
7. Canadian drugs are not the same. More preposterous bogosity. They are exactly the same drugs, made by the same pharmaceutical companies, often in the same factories.
The Canadian drug distribution system, however, has much tighter oversight; and pharmacies and pharmacists are more closely regulated. If there is a difference in Canadian drugs at all, they’re actually likely to be safer.
Also: pharmacists here dispense what the doctors tell them to dispense, the first time, without moralizing. I know. It’s amazing.
8. Publicly-funded programs will inevitably lead to rationed health care, particularly for the elderly.
False. And bogglingly so. The papers would have a field day if there was the barest hint that this might be true.
One of the things that constantly amazes me here is how well-cared-for the elderly and disabled you see on the streets here are. No, these people are not being thrown out on the curb. In fact, they live longer, healthier, and more productive lives because they’re getting a constant level of care that ensures small things get treated before they become big problems.
The health care system also makes it easier on their caregiving adult children, who have more time to look in on Mom and take her on outings because they aren’t working 60-hour weeks trying to hold onto a job that gives them insurance.
9. People won’t be responsible for their own health if they’re not being forced to pay for the consequences.
False. The philosophical basis of America’s privatized health care system might best be characterized as medical Calvinism. It’s fascinating to watch well-educated secularists who recoil at the Protestant obsession with personal virtue, prosperity as a cardinal sign of election by God, and total responsibility for one’s own salvation turn into fire-eyed, moralizing True Believers when it comes to the subject of Taking Responsibility For One’s Own Health.
They’ll insist that health, like salvation, is entirely in our own hands. If you just have the character and self-discipline to stick to an abstemious regime of careful diet, clean living, and frequent sweat offerings to the Great Treadmill God, you’ll never get sick. (Like all good theologies, there’s even an unspoken promise of immortality: f you do it really really right, they imply, you might even live forever.) The virtuous Elect can be discerned by their svelte figures and low cholesterol numbers. From here, it’s a short leap to the conviction that those who suffer from chronic conditions are victims of their own weaknesses, and simply getting what they deserve. Part of their punishment is being forced to pay for the expensive, heavily marketed pharmaceuticals needed to alleviate these avoidable illnesses. They can’t complain. It was their own damned fault; and it’s not our responsibility to pay for their sins. In fact, it’s recently been suggested that they be shunned, lest they lead the virtuous into sin.
Of course, this is bad theology whether you’re applying it to the state of one’s soul or one’s arteries. The fact is that bad genes, bad luck, and the ravages of age eventually take their toll on all of us — even the most careful of us. The economics of the Canadian system reflect this very different philosophy: it’s built on the belief that maintaining health is not an individual responsibility, but a collective one. Since none of us controls fate, the least we can do is be there for each other as our numbers come up.
This difference is expressed in a few different ways. First: Canadians tend to think of tending to one’s health as one of your duties as a citizen. You do what’s right because you don’t want to take up space in the system, or put that burden on your fellow taxpayers. Second, “taking care of yourself” has a slightly expanded definition here, which includes a greater emphasis on public health. Canadians are serious about not coming to work if you’re contagious, and seeing a doctor ASAP if you need to. Staying healthy includes not only diet and exercise; but also taking care to keep your germs to yourself, avoiding stress, and getting things treated while they’re still small and cheap to fix.
Third, there’s a somewhat larger awareness that stress leads to big-ticket illnesses — and a somewhat lower cultural tolerance for employers who put people in high-stress situations. Nobody wants to pick up the tab for their greed. And finally, there’s a generally greater acceptance on the part of both the elderly and their families that end-of-life heroics may be drawing resources away from people who might put them to better use. You can have them if you want them; but reasonable and compassionate people should be able to take the larger view.
The bottom line: When it comes to getting people to make healthy choices, appealing to their sense of the common good seems to work at least as well as Calvinist moralizing.
10. This all sounds great — but the taxes to cover it are just unaffordable. And besides, isn’t the system in bad financial shape? False. On one hand, our annual Canadian tax bite runs about 10% higher than our U.S. taxes did. On the other, we’re not paying out the equivalent of two new car payments every month to keep the family insured here.
When you balance out the difference, we’re actually money ahead. When you factor in the greatly increased social stability that follows when everybody’s getting their necessary health care, the impact on our quality of life becomes even more significant.
And True — but only because this is a universal truth that we need to make our peace with. Yes, the provincial plans are always struggling. So is every single publicly-funded health care system in the world, including the VA and Medicare. There’s always tension between what the users of the system want, and what the taxpayers are willing to pay. The balance of power ebbs and flows between them; but no matter where it lies at any given moment, at least one of the pair is always going to be at least somewhat unhappy.
But, as many of us know all too well, there’s also constant tension between what patients want and what private insurers are willing to pay. At least when it’s in government hands, we can demand some accountability. And my experience in Canada has convinced me that this accountability is what makes all the difference between the two systems.
It is true that Canada’s system is not the same as the U.S. system. It’s designed to deliver a somewhat different product, to a population that has somewhat different expectations. But the end result is that the vast majority of Canadians get the vast majority of what they need the vast majority of the time. It’ll be a good day when Americans can hold their heads high and proudly make that same declaration.
Reminding you TransGriot readers in the New York City metro area that the 3rd annual Transgender Health Fair is kicking off today at 5:30 PM.
The Transgender Health Fair brings together hundreds of community members who are seeking health care information and connections with providers who are experienced in working with the transgender community.
There will be free health screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, mental health and more. Transgender-specific health information will be available, as will information on smoking cessation, nutrition, health insurance and more. We'll also be featuring Medicaid enrollment.
Transphobia in healthcare is unhealthy, and the Transgender Health Fair is the place to find the competent, sensitive health care information and services you've been looking for!
The health fair will be taking place at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York City and will run until 7:30 PM.
For those of you TransGriot readers in the New York City metro area, the 3rd annual Transgender Health Fair is kicking off tomorrow from 5:30-7:30 PM.
The Transgender Health Fair brings together hundreds of community members who are seeking health care information and connections with providers who are experienced in working with the transgender community.
There will be free health screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, mental health and more. Transgender-specific health information will be available, as will information on smoking cessation, nutrition, health insurance and more. We'll also be featuring Medicaid enrollment.
View this year's program (cover, inside) for a list of participants.
Transphobia in healthcare is unhealthy, and the Transgender Health Fair is the place to find the competent, sensitive health care information and services you've been looking for!
The health fair will be taking place at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York City.
To tackle the problem of over 40 million Americans being uninsured, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed and signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010.
