Let's talk about the basic facts about the health care reform bill...

[morningland]

I do not like politics. I am neither a liberal nor a conservative so I don't like arguing about political sides.

I do want to know about this health care bill. So far, I know that it is saying that health insurance companies will be more regulated and people will be forced to purchase health insurance but....

- How are people going to purchase health insurance if they can't afford it now?

- How is this going to affect patient care?

- How will nurses be affected by this?

I want to know any basic information about this bill but I am a nursing student so... as is most likely shocking to all of you... I don't have much time to research it, lol.

Thanks and lets try and keep it friendly folks!

-Joseph

[linda2097]

Enjoy seeing your taxes doubled or tripled or quadrupled thanks to Obamacare.

[linda2097]

Canadian Premier chooses to have heart surgery in Florida....

http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-02-25/opinion/17955314_1_canadian-medicaid-patients-health-care

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

sources please.

well, let's see:

there's this:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/canadians-happy-with-primary-health-care-study-says/article1229169/

and this takes a pretty good overview of several studies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_care_in_canada

"canadians strongly support the health system's public rather than for-profit private basis, and a 2009 poll by nanos research found 86.2% of canadians surveyed supported or strongly supported "public solutions to make our public health care stronger."[color=#002bb8][5][color=#002bb8][6]

a 2009 harris/decima poll found 82% of canadians preferred their healthcare system to the one in the united states, more than ten times as many as the 8% stating a preference for a us-style health care system for canada[color=#002bb8][7] while a strategic counsel survey in 2008 found 91% of canadians preferring their healthcare system to that of the u.s.[color=#002bb8][8][color=#002bb8][9]. in the same poll, when asked "overall the canadian health care system was performing very well, fairly well, not very well or not at all?" 70% of canadians rated their system as working either "well" or "very well".[[color=#002bb8]citation needed] a 2003 gallup poll found only 25% of americans are either "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with "the availability of affordable healthcare in the nation," versus 50% of those in the uk and 57% of canadians. those "very dissatisfied" made up 44% of americans, 25% of respondents of britons, and 17% of canadians[color=#002bb8][10]."

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

Oh, I'm off early in the morning camping with no internet access for a week, so I'll have to leave this little discussion behind. Have fun.

[linda2097]

(from last link)

Danny Williams, the premier of the Canadian province of Newfoundland, traveled to the United States earlier this month to undergo heart valve surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. With his trip, Williams joined a long list of Canadians who have decided that they prefer American medicine to their own country's government-run health system when their lives are on the line.

But just as American hospitals are becoming popular vacation destinations for about 40,000 Canadians a year, California's Senate is pressing ahead with its effort to make the state's health care system more like the one in the Great White North. The Senate recently approved a bill sponsored by Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, that would install a government-run, single-payer health system in the Golden State. The Assembly will soon consider the measure.

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Lawmakers should take Williams' case to heart. Canada's experience shows that government health care leads to waiting lists, rationing and lower quality of care.

For instance, Canada suffers from a scarcity of physicians. Over the last decade, about 11 percent of doctors trained in Canadian medical schools have come to the United States to practice. Physicians' salaries are set at artificially low levels by provincial authorities: The average Canadian doctor makes just 42 percent of what an American physician does.

Canadian patients also face wait times for medical procedures. Nearly 700,000 Canadians are on a waiting list for surgery or other treatments.

A Canadian patient has to wait roughly four months for the average surgical or other therapeutic treatment. Wait times were similar a decade ago - even though the government has substantially increased health care spending since then.

Canadians also lack access to advanced medical technology. Compared to other developed countries, Canada ranks 14th out of 25 nations surveyed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in access to MRIs; 19th of 26 for CT scanners; and eighth out of 21 for mammograms.

Canadian women are nearly a quarter less likely to have had a mammogram than are American women.

Despite these visible shortcomings, many American lawmakers want to emulate Canada's system. President Obama's new blueprint for reform would greatly expand Medicaid by adding 15 million Americans to the rolls. Medicaid patients already have trouble finding doctors who will treat them because of low government reimbursements. Nearly a third of physicians nationwide won't accept new Medicaid patients, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Expanding the program will only make matters worse.

Congress would also like to beef up government-run "comparative effectiveness research," whereby officials evaluate competing drugs to determine which ones are purportedly most effective for the average patient.

Canada employs these reviews ostensibly to make sure that public money is spent wisely. But such reviews just diminish patients' access to the latest medicines. Publicly insured Canadians have access to half as many drugs as their countrymen with private insurance - and must wait a year longer to gain access to the few new drugs that become available.

America's health care system merits reform - but not of the government-heavy sort favored by the president and congressional Democrats. Expanding government control over the health care system will diminish outcomes for American patients - as well as the occasional Canadian visitor.

[linda2097]

Canadian criticizes Canadian healthcare.....

[morningland]

Obama and Bush both suck, which is why government should be minimized. Are you aware that Obama just extended the Patriot Act?

Hey Linda, I agree with you. Bush and Obama both really do suck. I did not hear that about patriot act but I don't doubt it for one second. I didn't vote for either of them because they are both tools.

I agree government should be minimized but Obama is continuing in just expanding expanding EXPANDING and it is really stupid for the American people to allow it.

[kcochrane]

Hey Linda, I agree with you. Bush and Obama both really do suck. I did not hear that about patriot act but I don't doubt it for one second. I didn't vote for either of them because they are both tools.

I agree government should be minimized but Obama is continuing in just expanding expanding EXPANDING and it is really stupid for the American people to allow it.

Just to let you know, there were a lot of "right wingers" that were dissapointed with the size of gov't and intrusiveness of gov't during Bush's term - especially the last term. I like both Bush and Obama as people, but I'm not sure either were ready for this job.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

I am SO enjoying this debate. Smart and respectful! Please continue.:yeah:

[elkpark]

Be more specific please.

Since you define government controlling (I would say "regulating," but, hey, let's not quibble over details) corporations as "the opposite of liberty," I'm just curious as to what you would call corporations controlling our government??

[linda2087]

Since you define government controlling (I would say "regulating," but, hey, let's not quibble over details) corporations as "the opposite of liberty," I'm just curious as to what you would call corporations controlling our government??

Only a small percentage of corporations bribe politicians, and they should be punished for it. Bribery should be outlawed. The bribery that was used by Reid and Pelosi to pass Obamacare should also be outlawed.

[linda2087]

Since you define government controlling (I would say "regulating," but, hey, let's not quibble over details)

If the government were to force you to buy a hamburger everyday, would you call that "regulating"?