What Entertainment- U.S.A. Democrats vs Republicans- Health care

AGEsAces wrote:And yet our doctor told us 103F is not that big a deal (yet 104F is).

At 101F, we were told we should give her some children's tylenol, and give her lots of fluid.

I think she got a bug in her stomach from something she ate, gave her the diarrhea, and the vomiting, and the fever came as her body fought it off.

The sad thing is, the nurse wasn't allowed to treat it, and a doctor could've determined what it was in about 5 minutes and issued a prescription or something to help make her feel better.

When my daughter was sick it was during the H1N1 scare so I think they were telling everyone to take little ones to the ER if fever rose. Right now my daughter has a nasty cough, no other symptoms just a cough. I kept her home from preschool today cause she sounded so awful this morning.

GC...has she been tested for asthma?

Personally, I don't believe in "treating" asthma, as I've seen people who have been cured of it through training and developing lung strength/size etc.

But for one that small, it may be something to consider.

A bad cough could be simply triggered by a shortness of breath...which she wouldn't know to communicate at that age.

AGEsAces wrote:GC...has she been tested for asthma?

Personally, I don't believe in "treating" asthma, as I've seen people who have been cured of it through training and developing lung strength/size etc.

But for one that small, it may be something to consider.

A bad cough could be simply triggered by a shortness of breath...which she wouldn't know to communicate at that age.

Nope she has not been tested for Asthma, this is the first time she has ever had a bad cough. My son has an inhaler which he has only used once.

IMO Canadian taxpayers are PAYING for first class health care.
Its just that we are not always GETTING it.
I would be willing to bet some of you could go down to the Mayo clinic to be checked out for what you have already paid in taxes.
To me it speaks volumes when the Premier of NFLD goes down to the states for medical help.

Funny you never hear much of the problems down there though. Guess they keep them covered up or silenced , as a American Doctor told me they are there.

AGEsAces wrote:And yet our doctor told us 103F is not that big a deal (yet 104F is).

At 101F, we were told we should give her some children's tylenol, and give her lots of fluid.

I think she got a bug in her stomach from something she ate, gave her the diarrhea, and the vomiting, and the fever came as her body fought it off.

The sad thing is, the nurse wasn't allowed to treat it, and a doctor could've determined what it was in about 5 minutes and issued a prescription or something to help make her feel better.

I've been there as a parent myself, with 2 girls that are 9 years apart. What your describing sounds like classic symptoms of a Norwalk type virus. I know from past experience with our pediatrician that there is nothing they can really do in these cases. Our pediatrician has pretty much told us that given those symptoms (vomitting,diarrhea, fever) that the only thing you can do is keep them as hydrated as possible and give them tepid baths to help the fever along with Tylenol (if they can hod it down).

It may seem like emergency was being less than helpfull, but unless your child was showing clear signs of dehydration (sunken eyes, dry mouth) and since her fever was <40 degrees C then it wasn't really an emergency (by their criteria).

Unless the symptoms had gone on for more than 48 hours I doubt they'd even attempt to treat unless their was some other symptom that indicated something worse. After seeing it myself more than a half dozen times with both girls, we don't even bother with the drive to the clinic UNLESS some other more serious symptoms were to present themselves.

I agree though that a quick look over to ease your fears would have been better than letting you sit for 7 hours wondering.

Americans are completely neurotic about "increases in taxes". Apparently they are around 22% as opposed to Canadians at 34% ?, and yet they are the only Democratic country that has a for profit plan, and end up paying the highest amount for services, as is their right!
I was watching the stand up comedian Glenn Beck on Fox news ,channel 145, just now, and he has Obama on Becks blackboard as a socialist and a marxist. Next thing he will be calling Obama, jewish! lol
Last night there was talk that now 32 million of the 47 million were now covered , and guess who those other 15 million are? Probably illegals from Mexico. What a country. A trillion dollars per year for their wars, but no money for Marxist, Leninist, health care!
$18 for a hospital room for 1 day in japan, and $11,000 in USA.

http://costofwar.com/
Total Cost of Wars Since 2001
$974,631,391,050

Cost of War in Iraq
$713,519,682,433

Cost of War in Afghanistan
$261,111,708,617

Obama isn't Jewish he's a Muslim.

He's Arab, ain't he?

I'm actually a bit surprised that people still complain about how long things take in our system. It's extremely easy to fix but no one wants to pay for it. If we were willing to pay what it actually costs to give immediate treatment to everyone, there would be zero wait-time. But we aren't so this is what we get. Need more MRI machines, buy 10, or 100, or 1000. Simple. Don't have the staff, poach them from other regions. There are many times more staff in North America than are needed to give Manitoba immediate care on everything. Again, simple. Need more beds, built 10 more buildings to house them. Very easy. But when you give everything to everyone, it costs money. That's how it is.

Or if the argument is that it's only expensive because it's publicly run, open it up to competing for-profit companies and have the government pay the tab. They could even set pricing so there's no gouging. Then you have private efficiency (which actually doesn't exist as anyone who's worked in a large private sector company knows) and everything for everyone. Again, not rocket science here. This would also cost as an obscene amount of money because we'd still be paying for every procedure that's needed for everyone, there would be large organization inefficiencies similar to the current ones, and profit.

But instead of actually doing something to work towards the solutions, we nickel and dime everything, do insane things like put wage freezes on nurses when they are completely understaffed and have huge problems with recruiting and retention, and try to cut costs when there are neither the staff for facilities or equipment to deal with the needs of the public. But if you tell someone they need to pay an extra $10/month in taxes over a year to actually work towards something they cry like a baby, then go on to complain about how they had to wait all day in an emergency room. I often don't get the emergency room complaint because it seems like many issues that people have when they go to emergency rooms could be solved at walk-in clinics, which normally seem to have a wait time of around 10-20 minutes. Obviously there are a lot of things you need to go to a hospital for and the hours are better than most walk-ins, but much of the time people spend waiting in emergency rooms is likely because some other people are there who really don't need to be so that part of the system is overloaded.

grumpyrom
Yes...I realize it was most likely nothing more than a virus, which is what I thought it was before we went...but the vomiting had me concerned, because it would cause serious dehydration if it persisted.

And don't forget the "mom-factor", where unless the diagnosis comes from someone who stayed in school a few years longer says it's "just a virus", then it can't be a real diagnosis.


umcrou
You're part right, and part wrong.
Part right, in that it CAN be fixed, and quite simply...but you're wrong in how much money it would take to do so.

It would be very INEXPENSIVE to fix the problems I've seen in the health care system in Manitoba.

#1 - Get rid of overhead.
There does not need to be a manager of every department in the system. Assign a "head nurse" or "chief doctor" who reports to a senior manager. That eliminates a couple hundred useless positions right there.
Cut the salary of the head of medical of Manitoba in HALF!!! I read somewhere he makes over $200k/year? really? for WHAT? he obviously doesn't know what he's doing.
I personally will guarantee that I could do a better job than him, in less time, for half the pay.

#2 - Change the policies (or enforce them).
In that 7-hour stint of waiting, I took the time to head to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat for my wife and I (and my daughter if she could/would eat it). On the way, I counted no less than 25 people SITTING around in scrubs. 25 people "off-duty" at one time? I realize it may be their break...but why are they ALL off at the same time? I don't care if they were nurses, doctors, or janitors!!! There is no reason more than about 3-4 people should be on "break" at any given time...even at 11pm.

#3 - Find alternate income.
The cafeteria (as it turns out) was CLOSED. The only thing open was Tim Hortons, which only took cash, and had only 1/2 its menu running that night. YET, there were signs all over saying "Night Service - menu - Lasagna...", from where? NOTHING WAS OPEN!!!

#4 - Focus on Customer Service AND education.
Get people in, get them DIAGNOSED, and get them out...but take a minute to educate them so they don't have to come back.
Parents should not be flocking to the ER because their kid has a slight fever.
I looked around the waiting room watching all the kids running around and playing...what was wrong with them?
A quick once-over from a doctor would have had the kids out of there in 5 minutes...and another 2 minute talk to the mom for being stupid to keep her from dragging the kids back with the same symptoms the next day.

#5 - Assignment of duties.
There's not really a shortage of equipment or staff out there.
There's a shortage of education and dedication maybe.
it was mentioned a shortage of MRI machines? No, there's not. There are more than a dozen machines sitting at Seven Oaks not being used...because they don't have anyone who knows how to use them.
There are more nurses at home collecting WCB for "work-related injuries" than there are working in the hospitals right now. The nurses association will tell you, there are enough people sitting at home on WCB to cover over 800 nursing positions.

#6 - lose the unions!!!
nurses, doctors, mri technicians, etc. should be deemed "essential services" and therefore should not be allowed to unionize. i'm not trying to suggest paying them less, or taking away benefits, but when a nurse can suddenly get 3% of their pay back that they don't HAVE to pay off to a useless union...they would probably be better off.

#6 - lose the unions!!!
nurses, doctors, mri technicians, etc. should be deemed "essential services" and therefore should not be allowed to unionize. i'm not trying to suggest paying them less, or taking away benefits, but when a nurse can suddenly get 3% of their pay back that they don't HAVE to pay off to a useless union...they would probably be better off.

That would go along way to address the pay differences with the US , where many still do go .

It is sad the storm this has developed into down south , as to the bill and the passions . Funny from a nation that tells me it is the only place to be , just don't suggest all be healthy .

Pavolo wrote:#6 - lose the unions!!!
nurses, doctors, mri technicians, etc. should be deemed "essential services" and therefore should not be allowed to unionize. i'm not trying to suggest paying them less, or taking away benefits, but when a nurse can suddenly get 3% of their pay back that they don't HAVE to pay off to a useless union...they would probably be better off.

That would go along way to address the pay differences with the US , where many still do go .

3% will adress the pay gap between Canada and the US? Not likely...more like 30% and up for nurses and doctors.

Good posting AA....I have to say I agree with all of it except for one point. I think you can all figure out which one I'd take issue with, but other than that great post.

Doesn't the costs for insurance in the States negate the difference? I think it does.

I don't know enough about the costs, but I'd assume the costs of insurance would have to be < $7.5K annually to negate a 30% wage increase at $50k annually.

Is anyone more familiar with what the average middle income earner who has some from of insurance provided by their employer pays in the US?

Are you kidding? Insurance for a doctor is outrageously expensive in the States. I know of a friend that is paying just under $300,000 a year. (Of course I don't want to tell ya of the millions that he makes )

Sooooo.....David Frum was fired eh...for calling it like it is about health care...

http://www.winnipegsun.com/comment/editorial/2010/03/26/13370496.html

....the Republicans did screw-up an opportunity imo.

JTF wrote:Are you kidding? Insurance for a doctor is outrageously expensive in the States. I know of a friend that is paying just under $300,000 a year. (Of course I don't want to tell ya of the millions that he makes )

According to Wikipedia " Average premiums, including both the employer and employee portions, were $4,704 for single coverage and $12,680 for family coverage in 2008" and "Typically, employers pay about 85% of the insurance premium for their employees, and about 75% of the premium for their employees' dependents"

So assuming those facts are reasonably accurate, you'd be looking at around $4-5k annully out of pocket for family coverage. Assuming a nurse can go to the US and earn $15k or more annually than in Canada, then the increase in wages still more than makes up for the healthcare premium increase.

So again does anybody have more first hand knowledge of what a typical US middle class earner pays in an employer sponsored plan?

Registered Nurse Salaries

Staff RNs working in the United States average a median base salary of $41,642. Half of all US RN's are expected to earn between $38,792 and $44,869. Nearly 67% of nurses are employed in hospital inpatient and outpatient settings. 32% of all nurses are employed in medical offices and clinics, home healthcare agencies, nursing homes, temporary help agencies, academia, and government agencies.

Nurse 3+ Years Starting Base

RN $47,110 $39,000

Staff RN $44,200 $37,000

Master Level $59,600 $49,700

http://www.allied-physicians.com/salary-surveys/nursing/

Compare the above US wages to what a Winnipeg RN might earn: $54k -$63k+. Seems pretty comparable to me.

http://www.registered-nurse-canada.com/nurse_salary.html

From my own selfish perspective, this is just one more positive step to give me the confidence I need to eventually immigrate to the US. I welcome the news whole heartedly!