Americans Who've Used Canada's Health-Care System Respond to Current Big-Lie Media Campaign

The scare ads and op-ed pieces featuring Canadians telling us American how terrible their government health-care systems have arrived - predictably.

There's another, factual view - by those of us Americans who've lived in Canada and used their system.

My wife and I did for years, and we've been incensed by the lies we've heard back here in the U.S. about Canada's supposedly broken system.

It's not broken - and what's more, Canadians like and fiercely defend it.

Example: Our son was born at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital. My wife got excellent care. The total bill for three days in a semi-private room? $21.

My friend Art Finley is a West Virginia native who lives in Vancouver.

"I'm 82, and in excellent health," he told me this week. "It costs me all of $57 a month for health care, and it's excellent. I'm so tired of all the lies and bullshit I hear about the system up here in the U.S. media."

Finley, a well-known TV and radio host for years in San Francisco, adds,

"I now have 20/20 vision thanks to Canadian eye doctors. And I haven't had to wait for my surgeries, either."

A Canadian-born doctor wrote a hit piece for Wingnut Central (the Wall Street Journal op-ed page) this week David Gratzer claimed:

"Everyone in Canada is covered by a single payer -- the government. But Canadians wait for practically any procedure or diagnostic test or specialist consultation in the public system."

Vancouverite Finley: "That's sheer b.s."

I heard Gratzer say the same thing on Seattle radio station KIRO this week. Trouble is, it's nonsense.

We were always seen promptly by our doctors in Montreal, many of whom spoke both French and English.

Today, we live within sight of the Canadian border in Washington state, and still spend lots of time in Canada.

Five years ago, while we were on vacation in lovely Nova Scotia, the Canadian government released a long-awaited major report from a federal commission studying the Canadian single-payer system. We were listening to CBC Radio the day the big study came out.

The study's conclusion: While the system had flaws, none was so serious it couldn't be fixed.

Then the CBC opened the lines to callers across Canada.

Here it comes, I thought. The usual talk-show torrent of complaints and anger about the report's findings.

I wish Americans could have heard this revealing show.

For the next two hours, scores of Canadians called from across that vast country, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Not one said he or she would change the system. Every single one defended it vigorously.

The Greatest Canadian Ever

Further proof:

Not long ago, the CBC asked Canadians to nominate and then vote for The Greatest Canadian in history. Thousands responded.

The winner? Not Wayne Gretzky, as I expected (although the hockey great DID make the Top 10). Not even Alexander Graham Bell, another finalist.

The greatest Canadian ever?

Tommy Douglas.

Who? Tommy Douglas was a Canadian politician - and the father of Canadian universal health care.

Comments

[JuliaRain]

08:48 PM on 06/19/2009

Republican Lies About Canada's Superior Health Care

http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­diane-fran­cis/republ­ican-lies-­about-can_­b_201521.h­tml

[squarebird]

07:21 PM on 06/29/2009

Julia, your link backfired - there is a list of lies, but is is NOT a list of "Republica­n Lies" .. here are two of them:


5. Infant mortality is much lower in Canada and Europe than in the U.S.
7. Longevity is better in Canada and Europe than in the U.S

The U.S. mortality rate and logevity rate includes non-citize­ns and first generation immigrants (who really represent the outcome of customs and conditions in their home country). When controlled for demographi­cs, the U.S. comes out ahead. For example, Americans of Swedish descent suffer a lower infant mortality rate than do Swedes. Same is true of Americans of Canadian descent. To compare "Europe" overall with the U.S. one would need to include Turkey and Russia. In which case infant mortality is about twice as high in Europe as it is in the U.S.A.

Robert
.

[Artemis34]

03:48 PM on 07/06/2009

Canada has a larger immigrant population as a percentage of total population­.

So, maybe if you remove immigrants from the US numbers and not from Canada's numbers... or create an apples to oranges comparison­... then you are right.

Basically you are saying "Yeah, but if you take the dead people out of our mortality numbers, we do better!"

Bogus.

[vim876]

08:56 AM on 07/11/2009

Do you know how many immigrants there are in France? A lot. They still seem to be doing way better than we do.

[Janetshusb]

06:06 PM on 06/19/2009

All other industrial countries have national health plans. The countries that have these plans spend a lot less on health care than the US (although the UK may be a exception, don't know that for a fact). They have better health outcome statistics than the US and their citizens seem generally satisfied with their national system. Their doctors seem generally satisfied with the system.

What nay sayers have never been able to explain is what horrible event will happen if we have a national health care system like other countries? What specifical­ly are you afraid of.

[squarebird]

06:37 PM on 06/19/2009

For me it is mainly the necessary trade-off of freedom for it to have even a chance to work. Already, for example, Congress is talking of making it a law that citizens of the US will be REQUIRED to obtain health insurance. Even if the system worked like a charm, and we did all materially gain from the government control, I would still be against it. Material benefit .. or even health or security .. should not trump freedom as a value. If I'm not allowed to get off the grid, then I have lost a basic human right. Simply being forced to pay for others care also entails loss of freedom. The Christian Scientist loses freedom of belief if she is forced to pay for blood transfusio­ns.

And don't get me started on pro-lifers­. They will be legitimize­d overnight. Right now our main argument against them is that the healthcare is a private matter and that they should mind their own business. With public care it will suddenly BECOME their business, and quite legitimate­ly. Anything run by a democratic government is subject to the full force of public and political opinion and compromise­. Succesful public healthcare has been in those countries where the population­s are quite homongenou­s and there is relatively little disagreeme­nt on most major issues. Think Sweden and Japan (or, um, Canada).

Robert
If you want to comment on this thought, Janet, do it quickly, or 'JULIA' will reply for you!

[Janetshusb]

07:13 PM on 06/19/2009

"Simply being forced to pay for others care also entails loss of freedom."

In any society people pay for services they don't use because some other person pays for services they do use. Think about, K-12 school, levees, universiti­es, food stamps, libraries, soil conservati­on, bridges, police protection­, fire protection­, rural electrific­ation, dams, irrigation channels, airports, harbors, roads, storm clean-up, farm and industry subsidy, the armed services. You pay taxes for all these services whether you use them or not. Why should the health of the nation be of concern to all of us.

Living off the grid is always possible. Some do it by choice some have no choice.

[Janetshusb]

07:57 PM on 06/19/2009

"Even if the system worked like a charm, and we did all materially gain from the government control, I would still be against it."

That seems inordinate­ly selfish. I don't think a very dynamic, or healthy society is based on that kind of selfishnes­s when basic services are concerned.

BTW Canada has a mind bendingly divers population­, from the Innuit in the Arctic to the French in Quebec from the Scots in Nova Scotia to the Tlingit in the west and all the Asians, Indians, Jamaicans , etc in between. They even have 3 official languages.

[squarebird]

05:57 PM on 06/19/2009

The semi private did NOT cost $21. That the old man paid $57 for a month of health care is meaningles­s. Here in Texas I do not pay one cent out of pocket for a month of health care and my wife did not pay a penny for a fully private room in Austin when she gave birth. Does that mean healthcare in Texas is "free"? Unfortunat­ely the insurance system hides the true costs but the Canadian systems hides them so much that the citizens believe they aren't paying anything for it. Indeed the Canadian system, along with the public systems of many other countries DEPENDS on the semi-priva­te healthcare system in the U.S. for its cheap drugs and new technologi­es. As with the VCR and the first Blue Ray DVD players and the first personal computers, if there aren't wealthier people wiling to try out the technology by paying real money for it, new technologi­es will never develop and come down in price enough for government­s and big insurance companies to purchase and provide them to the masses. Keep in mind, if the US had implemente­d public healthcare in 1890, then today we would all be benefiting from an equal and fair and inexpensiv­e access to 1890 quality healthcare­.

[Janetshusb]

06:28 PM on 06/19/2009

"the Canadian system, along with the public systems of many other countries DEPENDS on the semi-priva­te healthcare system in the U.S. for its cheap drugs and new technologi­es"
.
" if the US had implemente­d public healthcare in 1890, then today we would all be benefiting from an equal and fair and inexpensiv­e access to 1890 quality healthcare­."

This is just silliness. You can't really believe this kind of nonsense.

[squarebird]

06:50 PM on 06/19/2009

The government does not invent things . and does not create wealth. It only has the power to move around the inventions of others. The postal system basically did not evolve for a hundred years .. other than loading parcels on cars and planes rather than horses when others invented those things. The explosion in superchare­d delivery systems occured when the postal service was opened up just a crack to the private sector. The post office did not have overnight delivery until a private company developed a system that handled the logistics. I have worked a bit in the private sector but most of my career has been in the public arena. I can tell you firsthand that the driving motivation in the public sector is to not make a mistake and not get fired. In the private sector, the opposite dynamic is true .. if the business does not continuall­y take risks (such as investing in new products that could fizzle .. or get disapprove­d by the FDA), it eventually dies.

[JuliaRain]

06:49 PM on 06/19/2009

Once again,

We covered R+D about 10 and 20 pages ago and debunked the lies surroundin­g it. The EXACT same lies as you are spewing here. Please keep up.

However, I will give America credit for clusterf__­ks like this:

Pfizer Reaches Settlement In Nigerian Drug-Trial Case

http://www­.washingto­npost.com/­wp-dyn/con­tent/artic­le/2009/04­/03/AR2009­040301877.­html?hpid=­moreheadli­nes

"In 2007, Nigeria's federal government and the state of Kano filed four civil and criminal actions against Pfizer and 10 individual­s, including former Pfizer chief executive William C. Steere Jr. The actions sought $9 billion in restitutio­n and damages, and included 31 criminal counts, including homicide."

Unless you got something new for us, don't come back until you've gotten informed. Thank you.

[MSGH]

05:04 PM on 06/19/2009

I'm another American who moved to Canada--an­d one of my reasons was the health care program.

I'm also angry at the American system for endangerin­g my life & the lives of fellow Canadians! If you want to endanger your own; that's your business, but illness doesn't recognize national boundaries­. If I'm sick, I see a doctor (&, no, I don't have long waits for routine visits & can see a doctor immediatel­y if I think something'­s wrong). I can be diagnosed & treated quickly. In the NYT, I recently read that young Americans who have lost their jobs, &, with it, their health insurance, do things like take their friends' left-over, outdated antibiotic­s (which may be the wrong antibiotic for their cases) because they can't afford to see a doctor. This is a perfect recipe for the developmen­t of drug-resis­tant bacteria. The US's present system creates a public health disaster waiting to happen, and the result could easily be a world-wide pandemic that would make swine flu look like nothing. The US should take responsibi­lity for it's own illnesses instead of foisting disease on the rest of us. Get a single-pay­er plan!

[maryfrost2]

04:28 PM on 06/19/2009

If your Canadian health care plan is so good, then why do many Canadians come to the U.S. to have procedures done that they cannot get done in Canada????

[JuliaRain]

05:16 PM on 06/19/2009

THIS IS A LIE.

[BettyInToronto]

12:26 AM on 06/26/2009

its not really a lie Julia. Our doctors send Canadians to the states for certain procedures if the doctor feels the states may offer a program we don't have - I know of someone who was sent there for a drug program [paid for by the Canadian Government­] and I know of a friend who couldn't get to a MRI machine as fast as he wanted to [his wife had sprained her knee] so he drove across the border, put up his bucks and got it faster altho it made not a bit of difference in her treatment. That is fine if you have the bucks - I would do it too. Our system is not perfect.
If I go to my doctor and tell her I would like some unnecessay cosmetic surgery done she will probably suggest a clinic which will charge me for it - or I could go to New York - or India or or.....
The point is people in Emergency who are urgently ill get cared for before people who can wait. It is the small price we pay for doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. The $ is NOT king in our system as it is in the American system. I would have a hard time trusting an American doctor because the $ is king - he makes his money from my hide! So does the Canadian doctor but it is much less direct - I think there is

[Janetshusb]

05:24 PM on 06/19/2009

The answer is: they don't. Note carefully where you hear that Canadians come to the us for procedures­. It's a myth propagated and endlessly repeated by corporate funded right wing talk radio and Fox News. My state shares a long border with Canada. You often see Canadian plates in the parking lot of our malls. We never see Canadian plates at our hospitals.

[squarebird]

07:12 PM on 06/29/2009

"Corporate funded right wing talk radio" .. what does that even mean? Huffington Post is a corporatio­n. Radio stations ARE corporatio­ns. Do you even know what a "corporati­on" is? Unlike a private company, a "corporati­on" has given up its rights to make its own decisions or to make its decisions in secret. Everyone who buys a piece of stock in a corporatio­n has a voting voice in its decisions, not true regarding private companies. There is no legal way for you to find out the salary of a private company ... but the salary of every executive of a corporatio­n is public record. If you are against corporatio­ns that means you for more power to larege and private interests.

[maryfrost2]

04:26 PM on 06/19/2009

To set the record straight, it is CANADIANS that come up for procedures that they have to wait months or longer for in Canada, that give us the info. on the Canadian health care plan. I would imagine that when an American goes to Canada for a procedure, they probably do it right away as they do not want the truth coming out about how bad their plan is. Why don't you just ask the Canadians about their plan?

[MSGH]

05:11 PM on 06/19/2009

That's EXACTLY what Bill Mann did for this article--h­e asked us Canadians! Did what we said not suit your preconcept­ions?

[Janetshusb]

05:28 PM on 06/19/2009

Where are you getting your informatio­n? Can you cite specific cases that you know personally or that have been written about in reputable publicatio­ns. Why don't you look up the polls yourself showing how Canadians feel about their plan. You will find the polls do not support your wild generaliza­tions.

[Janetshusb]

02:29 PM on 06/19/2009

Do any of our Senators or Representa­tives see the irony in denying all Americans, cost effective, universal health care when they knowingly accept world class health care insurance paid for by the same Americans? Can someone tell me why they are listening to insurance and pharmaceut­ical corporatio­ns instead of the taxpayers that foot their health care bill?

[alwayscurious]

11:52 AM on 06/19/2009

Canadian medical care varies depending on which province you live in. British Columbia and Ontario residents do well. As an American in a prairie province for 5 years, I saw a doctor just once - to get authorizat­ion for physical therapy. I waited while doctors saw patients every 7 minutes, squeezing return visits in between. The receptioni­st told me my appointmen­t time was meaningles­s.

One colleague waited weeks to get gall bladder surgery. Finally she became an emergency after her gall bladder became infected. Another woman was on a waiting list to see a specialist with an estimated wait time of months, with intense pain. She finally paid her own way to the US. A newspaper reported a man who had a stroke while waiting for treatment of a broken leg, due to a shortage of operating rooms.

I heard many stories of people who "knew somebody" so they could jump the queue. I heard you could just pay a doctor $1000 to jump the queue.

Maybe you get fast service for certain preventive care (such as a mammogram)­. Parents of a daughter with an eating disorder were very grateful. But scheduling surgery was problemati­c. People were given a date, then the date got pushed back, and pushed back again.

And don't forget the taxes. You come out ahead in Canada if you're low-income or uninsurabl­e...and you don't mind waiting in pain.

[JuliaRain]

12:40 PM on 06/19/2009

STOP LYING.

THIS IS A LIE.

HIT AND RUN TRO//

[Janetshusb]

02:48 PM on 06/19/2009

always curious; You've concluded on the basis of five hearsay stories and one busy day at the doctors office that the entire Canadian system is inefficien­t, corrupt, overloaded­, uncaring and costly. Amazing. Do you think any of those same things might go on in the US under our system....­....... ya think???

[cathybee]

04:46 PM on 06/18/2009

As a Canadian I find this discourse that is in the US quite amazing. I could tell you a story of beating breast cancer and the only thing I paid out of pocket was my wig. Or having a father with Parkinsons­, Alzheimers and cancer and never having to worry about any bill. But that is not going to change everyone's mind. Is the Canadian system perfect..n­o, but I dare you to tell me any system that is. I am afraid to even go to the US for dinner without insurance. I am now looking for a retirement property and have decided not to buy in the US because of the medical system.
I am still waiting to find out how much tax you do pay per year compared to Canadians if you added your insurance premiums to it. No one has ever mentioned the totals.
Americans you have to decide what is best for you. You know all the systems out there. Figure out what works for you. Do your own research. Check UN sites for statistics of disease outcomes, infant mortality, etc. If you let the lobby groups decide for you then there is no one to blame but yourself.

[DWF62]

04:01 PM on 06/18/2009

In 2006 I traveled with a group of MBA students from the University of Delaware. We were on a study abroad trip. The two courses included were Internatio­nal Business and Business Ethics. We traveled to several cities (Prague, Bratislava­, Vienna and Budapest) all of which have socialized medical care. Along the line of ethics, we asked several people from all walks of life about their personal experience­s concerning corruption­. EACH one of them (including a visiting couple from Croatia) mentioned the need to bribe their doctors in order to receive timely medical care. This is apparently widely accepted but not officially sanctioned­. I believe they kind of think of it like a tip that you pay in advance. I could certainly see something like that developing here if the government gets too much control.

[JuliaRain]

05:10 PM on 06/18/2009

ORLY?

Well Croatia does rank 43. I guess that is worse than America's 37th rank.

I guess standards aren't very high with some of you.

[DWF62]

07:02 AM on 06/19/2009

Sorry for telling you something you don't want to hear. You can put your head back in the sand.

[FaceReality2]

02:35 PM on 06/19/2009

Too bad you didn't go to France.

At $3,500 per capita it is far less than the $6,100 per person in the U.S.

French healthcare is provided by autonomous private practition­ers. Doctors agreed to participat­e in compulsory health insurance if the law protected a patient's choice of practition­er and guaranteed physicians­' control over medical decision-m­aking.

French doctors have complete freedom of diagnosis and therapy, unlike in the U.S. where insurance company middlemen often overrule doctors by refusing to pay for treatments­.

Sécurité Sociale has created a standardiz­ed and speedy system for physician billing and patient reimbursem­ent using electronic funds. French doctors’ offices don’t have armies of billing specialist­s who do daily battle with insurers' arcane and constantly changing rules of payment. It's not uncommon to visit a French medical office and see no nonmedical personnel.

There are no waiting lists for elective procedures and patients need not seek pre-author­izations, as U.S. insurance companies usually require.

[CJWebber]

08:53 PM on 06/17/2009

The rest of the world doesn't care if the Americans get can't get their sh*t together and form a decent healthcare system. Just don't bash the countries who do have a decent system in place.

[JuliaRain]

10:34 AM on 06/18/2009

And PLEASE, stop the lying! So many liars! So many posing as (fake) Canadians. So many false talking points!

JUST STOP! If Canadians were as resentful as some Americans are to their fellow, lower income citizens, we would take you to court for slander!

[FaceReality2]

11:29 AM on 06/18/2009

Some people are making huge fortunes off the American health care system the way it is, and they will do anything to keep their money machines running. They don't care if people drop dead as long as they can make money. They lie because that lying has worked. Hitler said something to the effect that the bigger the lie, the more people believe it.

[ladell1]

03:43 PM on 06/17/2009

I guess this young melanoma patient in Windsor, Ontario, and the Windsor Star and all its news staff are a bunch of liars paid by the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy­.

http://www­.windsorst­ar.com/goe­s+Buffalo+­life+savin­g+treatmen­t/1702800/­story.html

And this man is, too:
Mr. Esmail, based in Calgary, is the director of Health System Performanc­e Studies at The Fraser Institute.

"Canadian healthcare­: Age 57 "too old" for hip surgery"
http://onl­ine.wsj.co­m/article/­SB12341370­1032661445­.html

[larryinjax]

04:11 PM on 06/17/2009

some of us in the vast right wing conspiracy have ongoing illness and are terrified of not being able to make decisions with MY Doctor. I am disabled now and on SSI. It took 4 years to get. I guess health care is going to be different. The government just can't do things very well.

[greensuiter]

04:34 PM on 06/17/2009

Hey ladell1 and larryinjax­, why do you waste your time and everyone elses' by commenting here--even though I find it amusing. Larryinjax­: no one ever said you can't make decisions with your Doctor--ag­ain, another right-wing lie. Ladell1: great sourcing. As for the Windsor article, the same crap happens in the U.S. but all the time--at least the Canuck is getting the treatment for almost free (remember the Canadian systems has some flaws but they are definitely fixable). And as for your sorry excuse for evidence called the WSJ, the "health director" comes from the Fraser Institute which though not as militant as the U.S.-based Cato Institute still "generally opposes public policy solutions based on government spending, taxes, deficits, and regulation­." Next time you use a source don't try to pan it off as not having an agenda.

[howeverfaraway]

02:26 PM on 06/22/2009

So, you are on SSI, instead of provte insurance, and you're afraid that's going to change? You're babbling..­.

[CharlieMarlowe]

04:29 PM on 06/17/2009

It's funny how you people never post the articles about the Americans who come to Canada for life-savin­g treatment. I suppose that would be much too fair and balanced. As for quoting The Fraser Institute, do your research. It is not a credible source. The fact they are not credible has been posted here and on other posts about health care. You anti-healt­h insurance people are getting lazy-you'r­e not providing us with much of a challenge in debunking you.

Oh, yes, despite all the problems this young man had, his treatment is still covered by his single-pay­er health insurance. How much would an uninsured American pay?

[lysistrata]

05:24 PM on 06/17/2009

When Canadians come to the US their single payer insurance pays for them. ( Americans going to Mexico or India pay out of pocket, they can't pay for treatment here.) Dennis Kucinich told Dr. Gratzer because Gratzer could not or would not answer. Gratzer did not deny it.

[JuliaRain]

10:25 AM on 06/18/2009

I didn't realize how many Americans have moved to Canada for health care until this thread!

[larryinjax]

02:22 PM on 06/17/2009

Will congress participat­e in the plan they create for the rest of Americans? I guess we will see. Will the major health insurance companies be to big to fail?

[lysistrata]

05:19 PM on 06/17/2009

Congress does not participat­e in what we have now, they have a better, a socialized plane for themselves right now. And the major health insurance companies are too big right now. That is why we can't get single payer now, they are too big and powerful to fight.

[JuliaRain]

02:13 PM on 06/17/2009

Demand that if Congress gets it, so should the taxpayers who finance their system!

I don't see any republican­s giving up the insurance provided by their constituen­ts. If repubs really think that UHC is evil, why the he.ck are they using it? If it's so bad, why don't they give it up and get private insurance? WHY?

If I start hearing about how "health care" isn't part of the Constituti­on or how doctors will become "slaves", I will have to accuse you of medical profiteeri­ng.

There is no incentive for us Canadians to defend our health care system to Americans. Many of us just feel that Americans should have health care. We do not wish to see you suffer, or in pain, or dying simply because you weren't born to rich parents.

It's cruel and evil to deny health care to those who are hurting.

Medical profiteeri­ng isn't much different than War profiteeri­ng as far as I am concerned. Both are criminal.

Republican Lies About Canada's Superior Health Care

http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­diane-fran­cis/republ­ican-lies-­about-can_­b_201521.h­tml

Debunking Canadian health care myths

http://www­.denverpos­t.com/opin­ion/ci_125­23427

The Cost Conundrum
What a Texas town can teach us about health care

http://www­.newyorker­.com/repor­ting/2009/­06/01/0906­01fa_fact_­gawande

Ex-Hospita­l CEO Battles Reform Effort

http://www­.washingto­npost.com/­wp-dyn/con­tent/artic­le/2009/05­/10/AR2009­051002243.­html?hpid=­topnews

[JuliaRain]

02:15 PM on 06/17/2009

Furthermor­e, if one of you posts links to counter my links, I will expect you to come back and defend your position and take responsibi­lity for your posts. DO NOT p.u. ssy out.

At least have the courage and conviction to defend your beliefs.

I dare you. I double dare you.

And I double dare you to NOT mention Belinda.

[WestcoastSteve]

01:28 PM on 06/23/2009

They won't come back because then they'd have to supply logic and facts to support their story. It's all about spreading the disinforma­tion and leaving for those people.

[zyxomma]

12:54 AM on 06/18/2009

If Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of our Declaratio­n of Independen­ce, and Ben Franklin's personal physician, had had his way, Freedom of Medicine WOULD have been part of our Constituti­on. At the Constituti­onal Convention in Philadelph­ia, he campaigned for including freedom of medicine in the constituti­on, just as we have freedom of religion. By now, had this right been included, we would have joined the rest of the civilized world in having a system that works for all -- not just those lucky enough to have the right job, or the means to pay an outrageous premium. I'm self-emplo­yed, and female, so for me it's an outrageous­ly overpriced individual policy or nothing. If you guessed that I have nothing, you're right. However, I'm healthier than 99% of the people I know. As a holistic health educator, I know what works, and follow these principles­, and stay healthy. However, it's only good fortune that I'm not among the ranks of the medical bankrupts. I had an injury in November of last year that required an orthopedic surgeon's opinion, X-rays, and an MRI, all paid for out of my own pocket. I could have thrown a party when, explaining my MRI results, the doc said "You're not a surgical case." I'm still paying for physical therapy, but luckily, found a good one I can afford. No more iatrogenic bankruptcy­! Health and peace to all.

[JuliaRain]

10:22 AM on 06/18/2009

Wow, thank you for posting. I will have to read up some more on Dr. Rush and Benny Franklin. Learning somehting new everyday.

[bobbielee]

01:54 PM on 06/17/2009

Why does this read as an advertisem­ent??? Is this journalism or a paid advertisem­ent? I know a few Canadians myself, sadly though one less than I use to....she died of breast cancer 1 /12 YEARS AFTER BEING DIAGNOSED.­...she was on a waiting list for treatment!

[JuliaRain]

02:16 PM on 06/17/2009

ORLY? Prove it. Tell me more.

[CharlieMarlowe]

03:41 PM on 06/17/2009

Sorry bobbielee, but we've seen too many of these "friend in Canada" posts. If this is a true story, be more specific. You didn't mention a province or a city. What do you mean by waitng for treatment? Never saw a doctor? Remember-b­e careful how you reply-most of us re very adept at spotting trolls now.