The woman he was talking about didn't have a life threatening brain tumour. She had one, and the doctors said it wasn't life threatening. She lived in Kingston, and got a second opinion in Toronto, and then again in Windsor, and they all said, it's not life threatening, it can wait and she got scheduled for 5 months down the road.

When it comes to wait times, getting an MRI in Ontario can be long if it's not threatening. That lady got 4 MRIs in one week. She wanted her surgery right away, so she did that of her own will. I'll find the link, but I hate this lady is being propped up as the reason why Canadian health care doesn't work =P

Chris Matthews often annoys me with his over zealous don't let the other guy talk attitude, but I think he's done a pretty good job here. This guy's best argument as to why the guy with Parkinsons should switch to his side is, DO YOU WANT THE GOVERNMENT TO DECIDE WHETHER YOU'RE WORTH SAVING!? Versus what having no insurance because the private insurance companies have already decided he's not worth saving. At least with the government he'd have a chance, they aren't solely interested in how they can profit off him, as opposed to the health insurance companies, which are and have decided the guy isn't profitable. I swear the Republican party's new mascot needs to be a Frengie.

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>> ^Bruti79:

The woman he was talking about didn't have a life threatening brain tumour. She had one, and the doctors said it wasn't life threatening. She lived in Kingston, and got a second opinion in Toronto, and then again in Windsor, and they all said, it's not life threatening, it can wait and she got scheduled for 5 months down the road.
When it comes to wait times, getting an MRI in Ontario can be long if it's not threatening. That lady got 4 MRIs in one week. She wanted her surgery right away, so she did that of her own will. I'll find the link, but I hate this lady is being propped up as the reason why Canadian health care doesn't work =P


The CBC had a panel of experts look at her MRIs and, knowing the type of tumour (which was non cancerous by the way, "tumour", sounds bad but it's not always a dire situation) they concluded that the worst possible outcome for her waiting the five months is that she MIGHT begin to lose a little of her vision as the tumour pressed up against her optic nerve. But as soon as she received the surgery her vision would return to normal within days.

On the other hand my dad had some heart problems show up in his annual physical, his doctor referred him to a specialist, they installed a heart monitor which he wore for 24 hours. He was out of the hospital with a new pacemaker before his doctor even got the results of the specialist's tests. The system does work, especially for life threatening cases. It's only in cases where delay of treatment does not threaten life or long term disability that the system moves slowly.

Oh yeah, Drachen, it is that way and I like it. When I first got diagnosed with cancer I had two MRI's within the week and three CT scans. Once everything was mapped and charted, we did the surgery and treatment. That was four years ago, now I get an MRI every year, just to make sure it hasn't come back. They're not worried about it coming back, but they're being diligent.

So, they setup where the year before I needed an MRI they scheduled me for one, so when the following annual checkup came about, I'd see the doctor the day after I got my MRI. That's how it's been going for two years now. Frankly, I love it, let the people who need MRI's right away get access to them.

This might be the most pathetic display I've ever seen from Matthews and that's saying something. He's got so many strawmen and red herring it looks like a fish market in Oz.

I want to reiterate Crosswords' point:

Who would you rather have making your health decisions?

1 - A bureaucrat who, at worst, is completely indifferent to your situation

or

2 - A private insurance company who is trying to milk you for every dollar they can get without giving you back a penny more than they are legally obligated to?

I choose 1 any day of the week.

The only people who are really in total control of their own healthcare are those who have the resources to pay for everything themselves. And that ain't many of us.