I've lived in Mtn Home since 1989, so that's...hold on...I'm thinking...WOW! Exactly 25 years! Boy, I think I can almost declare myself an Idahoan. But my family is British and I grew up in Louisiana around lots of other Brits so I still think I'm a little bit of a mutt. Those of you who have been around awhile may remember when I used to blog all the time. My opinions weren't very accepted and there was always an issue because I work for the county. That really wasn't fair because I NEVER blog at work! And I am still entitled to my opinions and thoughts about city and county issues, right? However, it stirred a lot of pots and those pots certainly can make a lot of noise! Since I'm a writer, I took what I wrote in my blog seriously so I spent a lot of time researching things which got exhausting to do when you're not even get a paycheck for it. So I stopped. That was a blessing to many! However, to this day, I still have people stop me and ask me why I wasn't blogging and t! hey missed it. I've missed it. Mainly because there are so many issues that come up and I have no voice except around my friends and I'm sure they are tired of it.

Top 10 Things You May Not Know

Posted Wednesday, May 20, 2009, at 8:36 AM

Top 10 Things You May Not Know About American Healthcare: by Scott Atlas

1: Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers.

2: Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality is 9 percent higher, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher and colon cancer mortality among men is about 10 percent higher than in the United States.

3: Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries. Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit are taking statins, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons and 17 percent of Italians receive them.

4: Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians.

5: Lower income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians.

6: Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the U.K. All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada. In England, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.

7: People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and British adults say their health system needs either "fundamental change" or "complete rebuilding."

8: Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians.

9: Americans have much better access to important new technologies like medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K.

10: Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations.

According to the National Center for Policy Analysis: NCPA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization, established in 1983. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba649

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Wow...imagine that! People who are less than happy when their government makes an attempt to be in the business of health when most governments cannot even run a nation/country without really messing things up. Shocking. Nice blog Kim.

-- Posted by OpinionMissy on Wed, May 20, 2009, at 9:36 AM
"The NCPA's goal is to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive, entrepreneurial private sector."

This is from the NCPA's website. They are VERY partisan. If things are so bad up there, why does the World Health Organization report that Canadians live longer than we do and have a higher quality of life. Why do we have such a high infant mortality rate? Difference in cancer mortality rates are often related to specific populations, and environmental issues, not available health care.

Our family has spent the last 20 summers in Nova Scotia. We have many friends who credit their system with saving their lives, and doing so for free. I have been treated there and had to pay for services because I'm not a citizen. Years ago I had x rays, blood work, an antibiotic injection and two office visits, all for under $250. The doc even gave me a bag full of samples so I didn't have to pay for meds.

Unlike the hack writer you quote, I have lived the reality of the Canadian health care system and I can tell you that the vast majority of Canadians are proud that their country cares for its citizens' welfare.

-- Posted by ikondave on Wed, May 20, 2009, at 3:40 PM
And I will re-state that my wife's grandmother DIED because of the healthcare system in Canada. She was denied second opinions unless it came out of her pocket and life saving procedures we take for granted here were denied because of costs. She died of cancer because she was denied care and procedures that would have been frontline actions by doctors in this country. (By the way I was talking about REAL docs not the ones in the HMO's)

-- Posted by mhbouncer on Wed, May 20, 2009, at 7:43 PM
Hello ikondave, nice to see a new person. Thanks for your comment. I am very glad that you were in an area of Canada that had a doctor like that. I'm sure that there are many. However, as mhbouncer stated, he also has a personal experience that shows there is another side. There will always be examples that are pro and con. My family is british. I remember many a night that my American Dad would defend our healthcare as my British Grandad would argue until he was blue in the face in favor of the system of healthcare in the UK. However, I didn't hear those loving positive comments in the later years as he watched my Nanny slowly fading away. And I heard no healthcare praises from anyone in my family in the UK when he suddenly took ill and passed before Nanny did. I know there are horror stories of bad healthcare here too. I just keep seeing that the negative reasons for socialized medicine far outweigh the positive.

-- Posted by kimkovac on Wed, May 20, 2009, at 11:44 PM

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