Monday, November 10, 2008

Healthcare Alternatives....11/28

I went back in the draft status posts--ones in which I hadn't completed the thought process--and ran across this list of waiting periods for procedures under the Canadian healthcare system:

For Canada, waiting times:
General surgery: 14.3 weeks
Orthopedic
surgery: 40.3 weeks
Cardiovascular surgery: 8 weeks
Urology: 11.5 weeks
Internal medicine: 11.5 weeks
Radiation oncology: 5 weeks
Medical
oncology: 4.9 weeks.


Now in some cases, those are to get the initial evaluation, not treatment. Realize that we still have Canadians coming over the border to American facilities for diagnosis and treatment because it is so much faster. It might be cheaper in Canada, but if you die while waiting for an appointment, cost becomes less of a factor. (My caveat to the Obama healthcare initiatives.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

so you're a loser who gets fired from for-profit Essent health care and now rips on socialized medicine. so what type of health care system does a low life loser such as yourself thrive in?

fac_p said...

Sorry Patti, but that doesn't fly. Can survive/thrive in almost any environment.

But I have my preferences as to quality--both in what I do and what goes on around me.

I'm just waiting for the Christmas layoff--it would fit--but locum work has never bothered me.

How 'bout Survivor: Essent

Who gets voted off the island now?

Anonymous said...

Patteyer- you made a mistake calling Essent a for=profit firm, when the whole company is so far in the red. You sound like a higher-level person in one of the Essent hospitals, so that explains why you're acting the apologist.

I've worked for both non-profit and for-profit facilities, and have no real preference. I do, however, take great exception to how Essent treats the front-line employees, the ones who do the real work while those in the front office either take credit or pass blame depending on what has happened.

I am currently employed at a non-profit company that looks on us employees as assets, not liabilities they're forced to pay benefits to. So stuff the loser garbage.

I also do not care for, nor do I want to have forced upon me, givernment-mandated health care with no choices as to physicians, hospitals, or insurance plans. That may work in countries where socialism is tolerated, but it won't fly here.

So, patteyer, what health care system would YOU have us saddled with?

I'm waiting..............