This is just one of the reasons I hate corporate America. And one of the reasons why I am so glad I found what I love to do and I am doing everything I can think of to do so that I can launch/build my own private practice and hope that I can sooner rather than later get it to a fully financially thriving and stable practice that covers every expense I have plus some.
And before you start telling me how great it is in Canada let me just tell you that it isn't so rosy up there either. I have met with and emailed with more than a handful of Canadian women with stories that would make you cry.
In the U.S. the people in control are the insurance companies. In Canada it is a governmental system. Power is power and the mindset is the same. The only difference are the group of idiots denying life-saving treatments or benefits. Shit is shit!
I have a sick mother. Thank goodness she has insurance and has been able to get her treatments for the last 10 years. So don't think I don't realize that it works well too.
The problem is that in THIS case there isn't room for a fuck up! Sorry but there really is no other word for it. When it comes to healthcare it is often life or death. So it isn't ok when there are stories like this even if they are the few rather than the majority. It's just not!
SICKENING! JUST SICKENING!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
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11 comments:
I read this article too and it's just awful! I know you'll do well with your private practice!
Lee :)
Hi Lee, The only thing I can say for the people who made that disgusting decision is KARMA.
Thanks, your lips to g-d's ears.
Yeah, no system is perfect that's for sure. I basically have my own business, so when I work I'm on contract, which means I don't have any benefits, it's quite expensive at times but luckily the basics are covered by the health care system. Anything over that tho, I'm on my own.
Drowsey, yeah it sounds like getting the basics is a bit easier where you are from what you say. A lot here depends on where you live. Being a NYer my rent is so high and right now my income is so low that I can't qualify for any help yet I don't have insurance as I am running my own show. If I get help from family for rent they include that in my income ratio. If I don't I risk not paying my high rent and even then not qualifying for the help. It's really insane. If I lived in some small town in the south with the same monies I might fare better to get help. It's complicated. But past that it all sucks, your country or mine. And it's really pathetically sad.
Up here in Canada things are peachy keen? Don't know who you have been talking to but, unless the treatment is either cosmetic or highly experimental, nobody here is ever denied treatment. I'm walking around with hundreds of thousands of dollars of surgery (cardiac) a cent of which didn't come out of my pocket (less the small ratio of my taxes I guess). Gotta be pretty thankful that Canada ROCKS!
Heidi, I am glad that you had been able to get what you needed. Unfortunately you are only one person and probably what you needed was considered very standard. NO ONE, do you hear me, no one should be run ragged because the government or an insurance company refuses to allow proper medical care even if it isn't the typical case. Many of the women who have written to me over the years from Canada have asked me NOT to make their cases public and I have respected that. They fear retribution on the biggest scale. It's rather sad. There is one in particular that I swear would make you cry. It's not ok for sick women to be tossed around because their primary doctor won't allow them to see a specialist and instead sends them to the ER who in turn then after hours of waiting in pain sends them back to their primary. It's cyclical, cruel and wrong. And that's YOUR system and not my words. The same BS happens here, but the insurance companies are the one's denying. The difference is that here if you have the money you can just walk in and say do this. In Canada you'd be hard pressed to get a practitioner to go along with that and none of this comes from my own experience. I can only go by what I have been told over and over and over. Now with that said, a person like me with very little funds can't do that so guess what.
It just sucks! And as I said this is life or death and you don't get a second chance and it ain't ok.
OH BTW in your country Rituxin is not approved or at least was not for the time my mother took it over the last 10 years. It's NOT experimental and it saved my mother's life. It's not ok to make sick, really sick people go through that. It's not. PERIOD! You're countries system isn't better than ours and I am really tired of those who try to shove that message down our throats here.
It's different, and as Drowsey pointed out, in some areas easier and makes life better, but it isn't better and this rivalry and anger that seems to cross borders about this really needs to stop.
OK I have had my blow off of steam today for sure.
Medical care may be poorly managed like in every country in the world, but atleast nobody is refused care based on their socio-economical status. As well, there are plenty of bad, careless doctors no matter where you go. THAT should be a crime as should being refused medical care.
There are many common problems around the world that affect the medical profession as a whole, but what we are talking about now are the infrastructures implemented by countries to manage these services, not the actual providers themselves. If I didn't have a good job with benefits, i'd be pretty grateful NOT to be in the USA.
As far as drug policies, to each country their own. Though said drug works well for your mom, clearly it is still a wee bit on the controversial side here. I think that Canada should relax their policies a little bit, but not to be at par with the states as there have been plenty of horror stories about drugs going on the market too soon and billions of dollars of litigation settled thereafter. Being a free system here, I think that we are more conscious of the potential long term risks that may be associated, as they turn into possible future expenditures. Sounds a little bit too diplomatic when it comes to somebody's well being but medicine is a business. More so in the USA than Canada. Don't forget that on average most prescription meds here cost 33% less.
Lastly, though I too have been given the run around and had to wait for care, what I ultimately received and still do, was FAR from the norm and was handled both gracefully and efficiently by all parties involved. Best thing was taht neither myself or my insurance company paid a cent for it.
Heidi, I am not going to go into all your points but rather hit it on a larger scale...as frankly I am fighting a bad cold and I am really too darn tired.
First Rituxin isn't experimental. 10 years for my mother and more before she took it doesn't constitute experimental.
The International Leukemia and Lymphoma society agrees with me on this. Hmmm!
Secondly when someone has cancer and you tell them they can't have a lifesaving drug, simply writing it off with your nonchalant attitude that it's considered experimental etc.. and while sad but has to be ways is just grossly offensive.
My mother is now 63. Do the math my dear!
Not only does the International Leukemia and Lymphoma society agree with me but if you did your homework rather than just spouting off your bias to defend your system rather than being open to taken an honest critical look at it, as we here are doing in the US as well for ours, you'd know that they know exactly what markers a person needs to have Rituxin work for them. Thank goodness my mother had it.
Much of the approved breast cancer drugs in Canada and here in the US have not anywhere near the knowledge of why and whom they work for. So perhaps they should be considered experimental as most women don't respond to them and die from them rather than the actual Cancer.
But that's ok, you go ahead and prefer your sytem over ours. That's why I have clients who come all the way from Canada to give birth here, cause it is so much better and easier there, when they could have the care for free. OK! Sure whatever.
And BTW we do have goverment funded healthcare. It's call Medicaid and is for those without jobs.
And if you'll please take note not just to Heidi but to anyone reading this response by me, that my original post NEVER made claims that the US system was better than Canada's, but you should note that this particular Canadian went directly to making such arrogant claims and well it has truly pissed off this American.
OH well...for some comment relief go see my animoto animations. This chick with a cold needs to cool down!
happy birthday to meeeee! happy birthday me me! happy birthday me!
Okay, I so have to leave a comment here! I'm from Canada also, and there are clearly pros and cons to health care ANYWHERE!
For example, here in Canada, for orthopedic care (hips, knees etc) you have an average waiting time of 18 months. Yes. 18 months. Most people wait until they are in severe pain before they will see their GP for anything, so take that, and add 18 months, and you have HELL ON EARTH for that patient.
In the U.S. your waiting times are much less (so I've heard), but you pay more out of pocket. I'm young enough to prefer the waiting times, but I'm sure soon, I will give anything to get medical care when I need it.
In Canada we get our meds only after they have been tried everywhere else. That is again both pro and con. If we are sick, help us. Don't make me wait until this drug has healed 9/10 Americans. That is wrong.
I don't know how this works where you are, but here, you cannot be denied medical care for lack of insurance. How is it there?
Regardless, there are pros and cons to everything, and I so love a good debate. I'm at work, so I didn't have time to read the entire views from the comments, so I apologize if mine are a repeat.
Have a great day! And I will definitely be back for more. I love it when people tell it like it is. (When it's not to me, about me, or in my face. lol)
Rhonda, Well said! You're my kinda gal!
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