"EelkemaCare"

Getting rid of parasites lowers the cost of living? What a novel concept!

Pitchforks anyone?

I love the bit at the end of the article, with the doc and patient haggling over the price!

Classic.

Captain:
I'll tell you the story of my friend Peter, who lived in Florida, and passed away last month.

Five years ago, Peter, then in his late 50s, had a massive heart attack that needed surgery and 5 weeks in a hospital. He had insurance at the time, and they assured him that all was good. However, when the time to settle thing came, the insurance company refused to pay part of the costs because of some technicality. Peter was stuck with a 210,000$ bill.

His net worth at the time was about half that amount. His children offered to help, but Peter would have none of it. They were all struggling with student loans and mortgages of their own. He declared bankruptcy.

After auctioning off his home, car and few other things the bill still had 120,000$ outstanding, which was picked, in all probability, by the taxpayers.

And yet, the insurance company bottom line was improved by 210K. I'd wager a big sum that the employee who found the booby-trap in the policy got a nice bonus for his/her efforts.

Peter was left a destitute, broken and morose man, living on a meager disability pension. His wife told me he kept saying all would have been better if she didn't call 911 the night of his attack and just let nature take her course.

This is not an isolated case. In 75% of all bankruptcies triggered by large medical bills (the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US), people had insurance.

There is only so much Dr. Eelkema can do.

How would you address situations like these, Captain?

The fight against any erosion of socialized, universal, government funded health care must never stop and we must be vigilant at all times of any watering down of universal health care. It should be strengthened and broadened rather than weakened.

There american system sucks for some and is great for others. The Canadian system is mediocre for most and the rich can escape it.

GreenNeck, there are examples of Canadians going bankrupt escaping our Canadian system to get the treatment they need south of the boarder. And countless others die waiting in line. Plus Bankruptcy rates are slightly higher in Canada vs. the US, I would argue the tax burden we suffer from here is worse for bankruptcies then their health-care system. (doubly so when you consider the tighter lending practices here)

My uncle needs his knees replaced but the BC healthcare wont do it becuase he's too young as they would end up having to do it again. So he can pay $20k to a clinic in Montreal, or 18k to a clinic in Seattle.

My dad's doctor was leaning towards having my dad hobble along for a couple more years before doing his hip for the same reason (not being over 60) only when it got to the point my dad couldn't work did they schedule his surgery (another 4 month wait).

In both systems the middle class gets the shaft. In Canada the middle class pays the taxes, in the US they pay the insurance bill (or their employers), difference is in the US the middle class gets better health care for their $.

T - Nothing better to do than shout platitudes at unsympathetic audiences today?

I paid a portion of my insurance last night and got a box of beer as a receipt. You folks anxious to pay a private insurer who have investors to please, move south.

Cre"T"in is best ignored. His pontifications are absolute nonsense and, unless he is stupider than he appears to be, he doesn't believe what he writes anyway.

Yup, we hear all the time about people who have problems with Canadian health care system. I'm wondering why we only hear the horror stories. Maybe they're more juicy.

Well, about 4 years ago I developed acute pancreatitis - I thought I was having a heart attack. My wife called the ambulance. I ended up at the hospital just before midnight. I had emergency blood work, x-rays, and a CT scan around 1am. I spent one week in intensive care and one week in observed care - private room. I had numerous CT scans, Ultrasounds, x-rays, blood work every and sometimes twice a day. I had three surgeries over six months. Over the period, I saw 7 doctors - three of them surgeons. And I didn't count the aneasthesiologist for three surgeries.

Hey, know what? I am not bankrupt. The longest wait I had for the three surgeries was two weeks. the ambulance cost me $200 - which I got back from Blue Cross.

The real problem with the Canadian health care system is that it is a ponzi scheme. The cost keep growing faster than the GDP of the provinces. The provinces are going into debt and thus passing the cost on to future generations. At some point in the not too distant future the costs will become unsustainable and some very unpleasant decisions will need to be made. The politicians all know this but will only put bandades on it until it blows up.

Good article in today's Regina Leader Post of what is in store for the health care in Canada if things are not changed. Our country spends 40% on health care currently, heading to 50% as early as this year. Article says if nothing is changed in 25 years the health care spending will consume 100% of provincial budgets. Is that what everyone wants? Guess we will soon be back to gravel roads - check out the roads in Regina, Sk and you will see what we mean.

Duffman; http://www.indian-medical-tourism.com/orthopedic-surgery-india.html
Seriously! Pass it on to your Uncle. I've only heard good things about their medical standards.

http://www.medical-tourism-india.com/orthopaedic_surgery_india.htm

Well, I am glad that mwalimu is alive and well today but his story does show how the system works... If you need critical care then you are more than likely to get it. If your malady is less than life threatening then you queue up and wait. The knee/hip joint scam is a common classic. They would rather keep someone incapacitated than spend the money and get a taxpayer back paying taxes. Normal tests or appointments with specialists are like a lottery. Waiting 4 months for a mammogram is disgraceful but routine.

Canadian health system has to start seeing their patients as an asset rather than a cost. They routinely budget for x procedures per year but if you are Mr x+1 then you have to wait until next year and a new budget. That's provided you live that long, of course.

GreenNeck, I am sorry about your friend but that is where insurance reform would step in, not "universal" health-care. Ask the average Canadian about it and you would be regaled with a story about him or a relative who has been short-changed by a system they pay for. Who does one appeal to when the government can rip you off?

"Hey, know what? I am not bankrupt."

And under the Captain's idea, you wouldn't be bankrupt either. He proposed insurance for catastrophes such as pancreatitis, not regular maintenance.

Why is it that people assume that if it weren't for the system we have, not one single person would call up Acme Insurance and buy a policy? Most of us manage to do it for cars, houses, death, disability, extended warranties on the big screen so why not health?

One of the arguments in favour of government-funded
(tax-funded) medicare is that only through government funding can good care
be provided for rural communities - such as rural Saskatchewan and
rural Newfoundland. It seems to me that Kate had a few remarks
about health care, or rather the lack thereof, in rural Saskatchewan ...

The latest down here on the Rock is that one or more of
"Eastern Health"'s nice new shiny machines
wasn't calibrated properly. Only one
of the victims was severely damaged ...

"Eastern Health" by the way is the popular name for
"Health and Community Services Eastern Region"
(of Newfoundland).

The supposition that ObamaCare has something to do with providing death defying super costly medical miracles to one and all of the needy general population if it ever sees the light of day is a false hope. The gatekeepers will see that fable off immediately in real world practice if not in smoke and mirrors propaganda.

Let us see now,

Captain writes ……..You pay OUT OF POCKET expenses for……..(check ups, visits, tests, etc). However, you only have insurance should a catastrophe occur……….

A rather sensible setup. Right now the health care works for some.
Right here in BC, you can’t go to a doctor because he wont take you. In another town the doctor will take you tough a checkup is no more a checkup, it is more of a chat and that is that. Wander how much does medicare pay for that.

The proposal by the Captain would do wanders for the Canadian medicare. It would eliminate hypochondriacs. Those that go to see a doctor to socialize will at least have to pay for the visit, maybe go to a coffee shop instead.

And to top it off the two totalitarians that post here, will have to pay, that in itself has got to be of some value.

Salve

What I found interesting were the comments after the newspaper article wondering how Dr. Eelkema can make a living charging such low rates. He actually charges more than doctors make in Canada and we can't charge by the problem (if we could I'd be retired now). The remuneration for an office visit in BC is $28.50 (it varies depending on age of the patient). Lets assume it's $30 which is what I use to calculate my billings.

On a good day in the walkin section of my practice I'll see nothing but people with upper respiratory infections and I have seen 8 people/hour at times like these (I have this strange idea that one actually needs to perform a regional exam on a patient before writing a prescription). More often, though, I'll have a patient walk in who has no GP and has been getting his prescriptions filled at walkin clinics throughout the province with a bp of 200/120, uncontrolled diabetes with all the sequelae that go with it and a cellulitis on his leg that he wants antibiotics for. Yes, that's the most immediate problem and I give him the antibiotics but I don't feel right sending him out of the exam room just with some antibiotics because he might end up in hospital when I'm doctor of the day and then his problems will all need to be addressed. It's discouraging to see how often doctors will just refill previous prescriptions and not do routine tests (including not doing a bp on patients on multiple antihypertensives) as it does take a while to fill out that lab requisition form and one also has to deal with the abnormal lab tests when they come back. Thats socialized medicine for you and I don't think Americans would take to it very well at all. With no incentive to practice higher quality medicine, any physician who is concerned with the financial aspects of medical practice will do the absolute minimum required in the smallest amount of time possible to maximize hourly revenue. That's the natural response to a system that pays every doctor the same fee for seeing a patient.

My primary motivation is prevention of boredom and so I don't mind the occasional shift where I see nothing but strep throat and prescribe amoxicillin by the bucketfull but I'd go crazy if I did nothing but this. I much prefer seeing complicated patients or those that are diagnostic dilemas; in a system where I could charge my own rates I could limit my practice to such patients and have all the intellectual stimulation I could stand. Under socialized medicine system, such a practice is economic suicide.

In Vancouver I could practice private medicine and there are doctors I know who are doing this but I couldn't stomach the patients who have the money to bother doctors with their non-problems. Unfortunately, the people who have the most interesting medical conditions aren't obscenely rich, but at least where I now practice they haven't gotten into the habit of spending days on the internet researching their medical problems.

It appears that the novelty of Dr. Eelkema's form of practice is that he uses clinical skills to determine whether someone has a problem that needs further investigation or not. 95% of the time a physical exam with a few blood tests is all that is needed but in US style medicine usually people get an MRI or other imaging thrown in which adds absolutely nothing in most cases. I know my old-fashioned method works well because every single patient of mine who disbelieved my diagnosis and went to the Mayo clinic for their assembly-line diagnostics came back home with exactly the same diagnosis but $20,000 or so poorer. If private medical clinics were allowed in Canada, all of this money would have stayed in the country.

Let's just say I'm from another planet. On my planet, you go on the internet and have a choice of diagnostic programs, so you don't have to even go to any friggin' DOCTOR, socialized or otherwise monopolized. Lab tests that are prompted by the program? Labs are totally unregulated, just like your quick oil change places make out to be. Free markets make them safe, of course. Treatment? Very few starving, dedicated DOCTORS (see below), of course, but plenty of successful former Army Corpsmen, ex - Nurses, and just plain healers of various sorts - again, free markets weed out the quacks and frauds. Drugs?, Therapy?, samo samo.....I hope you can grasp the concept but few can.

All of this is based on free markets, of course. And it would be a total waste of my time to try and explain. I don't know about Canadians, but Americans have fanatical, total faith in their Professionals: LAWYERS who can 'fix' anything, win the personal injury lottery, etc. DOCTORS who can cure anything that ails you and change body parts that aren't up to snuff, like boobs....provided you pay in advance at the monopoly rate. And I must not leave out TEACHERS, who make such convenient babysitters and do such a good job of creating such avid, greedy consumers and reliable voters. I think they call it socialization or something...whatever it is that makes Home Schooling so 'evil' and actually against the law today in Der Vaterland.

So DOCTOR loki, on my planet, you would probably be into Real Estate Sales or something, because there are no big bucks in 'Medicine', no pressure from Mommy and Daddy to be a Lawya or a Docta because no particular social prestige. And the morons who cannot diagnose and treat themselves and must see a (ahem) DOCTOR, usually die off sooner rather than later. Either from ignorance, as you deftly call attention to, or the 'Medical' equivalent of taking their car to the quick change oil place and having the sump plug threads stripped by some hot shot know - it - all punk on commission with dollar signs in his/her eyes.

cottus, can you tell the difference between frozen shoulder syndrome and superspinatus tendonitis? How about the difference between bad heartburn and a heart attack?

No?

Do you cut your own hair, or do you go to a "professional"?

The Phantom, Sorry you have bought the propaganda hook line and sinker - if you are a member of the CMA or the AMA, you certainly get your dues' worth! EVERYONE (see below) would consider your comment definitive and most clever.

In answer to your questions (my answers are necessarily oversimplified...this gets boring fast to those of us no - counts attuned to the incredible pomposity and condescension of elites - in - their - own - minds like yourself):

No, I can't tell the difference, but that's what the diagnostic programs are for. I'm sorry your narrow training and experience have stifled your ability to grasp the concept.

And yes, I often cut my own hair. It can be done, actually - this shocks you, I know. Probably should be a law, but sadly from your point of view, the barbers lack the clout.

A whole lot of territory can potentially be gone over in this posting about comparing quick - change oil service and medical service. The whole question of 'the individual Vs. the collective' is thorny at best, but if you truly want to improve healthcare and lower costs, deregulate the entire medical care industry. It is an archaic embarrassment.

My particular corrupt, terminally decaying government proposes a monstrous 2,000+ page legislative 'fix' for the joke that is the healthcare economic sector. While blatantly serving to make all the special constituencies who are able to afford Washington lobbyists mollified while in actual fact serving primarily to create a new taxation revenue stream, the real direction towards healthcare reform is totally ignored ...TOTALLY!!.....by the press, by the government, by EVERYONE!