http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0310/Palin_as_a_child_went_to_Canada_for_care.html?showall
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 11:48 AM
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Palin endorses socialized medicine
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How is is she endorsing socialized medicine?
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 01:30 PM # -
One would assume that Canada's socialized medicine was better than what they had access to, otherwise, why travel to Canada?
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 01:32 PM # -
"One would assume that Canada's socialized medicine was better than what they had access to, otherwise, why travel to Canada?
One could surmise that. I have no idea what was available in rural Alaska in that era. Could be her family was poor and they took advantage of the free health care.
None of this indicated Palin supports socialized medicine as you erroneous headline indicates.
Review tax returns must be a bit boring today, eh?
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 01:47 PM # -
Anytime someone uses a product, they are by default endorsing it.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 01:55 PM # -
"Anytime someone uses a product, they are by default endorsing it."
You're getting silly.
She was a child. She didn't make her decisions, her parents did.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 02:02 PM # -
Yeah, kinda like my friend who's family was on food stamps several times when he was a kid, railing on govt handouts.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 02:17 PM # -
So just because you benefited from something as a child you must now fully embrace it?
What about my friend who was sexually abused as a child and now rails agianst it? What is she to do?
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 02:58 PM # -
"So just because you benefited from something as a child you must now fully embrace it?"
I'd prefer to see an explanation of why it was okay for your family to benefit from it but not others today?
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 03:04 PM # -
Im going to take a guess that Vitalogy left tags in his own topic.
Atleast you could do is come up with some new ones.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 03:53 PM # -
To use your logic, since there is no big line at the border crossing for Americans to go to Canadian doctors then there appears to be no nationwide endorsement for socialized medicine.
Someone let Obama know that please
It would seem apparent that the Palins went for a reason other than to gleefully participate in Socialism.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 04:00 PM # -
"To use your logic, since there is no big line at the border crossing for Americans to go to Canadian doctors then there appears to be no nationwide endorsement for socialized medicine."
Allow Americans to buy Canadian drugs and see what happens. Oh wait, that's already happening.
"It would seem apparent that the Palins went for a reason other than to gleefully participate in Socialism."
Correct! It was either cheaper or better than what they had here in the US.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 04:13 PM # -
Correct! It was either cheaper or better than what they had here in the US.
Or Closer.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 04:16 PM # -
Canada doesn't have socialized medicine, all the medicine is provided by by private entities - not the government What they have is publicly funded health care, that is hardly socialized. An example of socialized medicine is our own veterans administration when the government owns the the facilities, employees the doctors and nurses, etc.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 04:17 PM # -
What was Canadian policy in the late 1960s, which is the period that Palin was talking about? In other words, could non-citizens have gotten medical attention free or at greatly reduced prices back then? I think that it was stupid of Palin to use this anecdote precisely because it tends to make people infer some things that might or might not be accurate.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 04:45 PM # -
"Allow Americans to buy Canadian drugs and see what happens. Oh wait, that's already happening."
Those are mostly not Canadian drugs. They are mostly American drugs at cheaper prices.
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 07:00 PM # -
""Allow Americans to buy Canadian drugs and see what happens. Oh wait, that's already happening."
Those are mostly not Canadian drugs. They are mostly American drugs at cheaper prices."
So, what's the deal with that, and why should the American people stand for it?
Posted on March 8, 2010 - 07:10 PM # -
Meanwhile, Rush says if HCR passes, he's leaving the U.S. ... for Costa Rica.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/09/limbaugh-exile-health-care/
Posted on March 9, 2010 - 06:27 PM # -
Another cut and run conservative.
Posted on March 9, 2010 - 07:41 PM # -
Life expectancy in Costa Rica is about the same as that in the US, according to some statistics I saw within the last year. However, if I were physically disabled, I certainly wouldn't want to live there. Sidewalks and buildings are generally not handicapped-accessible. As I walked the streets of San Jose last summer, I thought, this is what cities in the USA might still look like if we had never had the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Posted on March 9, 2010 - 07:47 PM # -
"Meanwhile, Rush says if HCR passes, he's leaving the U.S. ... for Costa Rica.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/09/limbaugh-exile-health-care/"
All the more reason for it to pass!
Posted on March 10, 2010 - 07:19 AM # -
I think he said he's move to Costa Rica right after Alec Baldwin moves to Canada because Bush was reelected.
Posted on March 10, 2010 - 07:24 AM # -
Hah I have a high school friend that DID move to Canada after Bush was re-elected. And he grew up idolizing Reagan, had a picture of him above his bed.
Posted on March 10, 2010 - 07:32 AM # -
OK, I'll warn you, it's a long blog here, so if you want to get the latest dirt on Canadian health care, read on...
Listener_Pete is correct:
"Canada doesn't have socialized medicine, all the medicine is provided by by private entities - not the government What they have is publicly funded health care, that is hardly socialized."
So those who don't understand the current Canadian system do, it's public funded in this way.
Note, having lived part time here for years, I didn't have access to any of it, until now since I'm a full time Canadian resident. I first had to go through the legal stuff, meet with the Canadian government, then after arriving here, it took a bit to get my resident ID card (like our green card), then the SIN card (our SS card), picking up new British Columbia license today (Oregon and Washington records both acknowledged for my driving years, so that will be easy) and just received my health card.
The last one, it's "NOT" FREE. It's a public funded health care system that each resident over the age of 18 pays a minimum of $45 per month. In think it just went up. Usually, it's taken out of your paycheck, unless you are totally on the skids, but even when my wife was unemployed for a short time, she still got the monthly bill. "If you don't pay, you don't play!"
That's the first thing they ask for at the hospital or clinic, your BC health card. Each province has their own amount they charge you monthly. Also note, this is a basic service, we have a lot more taken out for extended service, like prescriptions, eye and yes, DENTAL. Many think dental is covered up here, NOPE!
Side step for a moment... remember on another topic here, I mentioned my wife took a while to see a doctor and get tests done, that was December when this all started. It's now March 11th, and her liver is still flaring up, a bit painful, but we had to go get ANOTHER bloodtest and she FINALLY gets to see a liver specialist next week. We hope it's true, and not another referral to ANOTHER specialist.
Back to the card and clinic. You can go to the emergency at the hospital, wait, let me re-phrase that Canadian 'eh. "You can go to the emergency room at hospital" (Notice difference?) But if you go to the emergency, you could be waiting quite a while, as it's only for life threatening emergencies. Otherwise hit one of the many clinics.
Now let me easily describe going to the clinic for you. It's like going to the Oregon or Washington DMV. Yes, walk in, take a number and wait for the automated voice system, JUST LIKE the Washington DMV voice. My wife and I hit one of them closest to our house two months ago on a Saturday, as a few are open for a few hours on Saturday, NONE on Sunday, and we arrived only seven minutes after the doors opened at 10am and only had to wait one hour and 26 minutes. We loved waiting to get help from the ONLY DOCTOR there who tries to see eight patients at a time averaging a six minute rotation. I'll give him credit trying to remember our name after he realized we were the same couple in the week before.
Now note, the other day when we went to see what we hoped was the specialist, we had to wait about 30 minutes in a smaller office.
Back to the "care" clinics as most are called. We're done with the doctor and find like many, she needs a blood test. So we need to now go to one of the 30 Vancouver Area BC Laboratories for a blood test. Luckily, we were able to get into the test clinic next door, as it closed at Noon SHARP! (They all want to go home and don't open the door for anyone.)
We then grabbed a number (yeah DMV again) and waited 25 minutes for a blood test. My wife pissed off half the room by walking to the counter to check on something first. There's a B I G S I G N that states "You will be helped in numeric order only, please TAKE A NUMBER!"
By the way, all the BC Laboratories hours vary. You look on the back of your appointment sheet and hope to find one still open late on a weekday afternoon. On Tuesday, we finished with the doctor and needed another blood test. The BC one downstairs from the doctor closed at 4pm, it was 4:02pm, so we were screwed. Drove nine miles during rush hour and arrived at another one that closed at 4:30pm. Then tried another, that closed at 5pm. Finally made it back towards downtown Vancouver and at 5:45pm got it done. They closed at 6pm. Of course we waited 10 minutes in an empty lobby.
So for those that think Canadian health care is so wonderful, I say "SCREW THIS!" Sure, I didn't enjoy the monthly I paid in Oregon for mine, but I sure like the one on one with my doctor and the prompt service.
Oh, and we just got the five hour bill for our Skylakes Medical Center Emergency visit in December. $4,587 for just the room they put her in for four hours. Didn't have an IV or anything, just sat in the empty room, hospital was very slow that day. The US doctors fees were not included, that was another $758 for his quick look at first. Prescriptions were over $500 at Fred Meyer. Luckily, because we pay for extended coverage, that was all covered. We were a bit pissed that the insurance company didn't fight the charges as they learned we were covered from THE MINUTE WE ADMITTED HER. They were hesitant to help us when we mentioned we were from Canada.
OK, gotta go get my BC driving license now. Which by the way, I've already been there three times before making sure I had the correct paperwork and get this, my longest wait was... (drum roll)...
four minutes!Cheers!
Posted on March 11, 2010 - 08:48 AM # -
Never let the facts get in the way of an inane Republican talking point.
Posted on March 11, 2010 - 03:21 PM # -
I don't know if anyone's heard about this down there, but here's the latest story on trying to get American's to come north and use a new hospital.
http://www.globaltvbc.com/video/index.html?releasePID=uZw0DDsWlTFOeiP3R9Ca87X59I68lPqk
Posted on March 11, 2010 - 10:14 PM # -
Review tax returns must be a bit boring today, eh?
Compared to the crap you post and threads you start this is ground breaking news of epic proportion!
Posted on March 12, 2010 - 12:04 PM #
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