Re: Trump's latest lunacy

On Sun, 20 Apr 2025 08:34:59 -0700, Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com>
wrote:

On 4/17/25 3:40 PM, john larkin wrote:

On Thu, 17 Apr 2025 15:12:47 -0700, Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com>
wrote:
 

On 4/15/25 9:01 AM, Phil Hobbs wrote:
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[...]
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What you said, except that I've been here for 42 years.  I'm super
grateful not to be under Canada's socialized medicine anymore.  My
wife's favorite cousin in Vanouver had to wait SIX MONTHS for thyroid
cancer surgery.  Fortunately she survived, little thanks to the Canadian
health system.
>

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Yep, similar in the UK and other places :-(
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I worked at a med devices company for a few years and when I was at the
Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN I heard a lot of Canadian accents. Hoose,
aboot, and so on :-)
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Chats in the evenings revealed the usual. Wealthier Canadians carried a
Mayo Care Card. The wife of one guy put it bluntly: "My hubby here would
likely be dead without it". Almost made me choke up. He and I clinked a
pint of IPA to that.
>
A judge on the Canadian Supreme Court famously wrote "Access to a
waiting list is not access to health care".
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For dental, you can get a very low cost plan from Aetna that doesn't pay
for anything, but entitles you to the insurance rate from your
dentist--about a 50% discount.  It's $60 per year iirc.
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The reason is that the insurance companies demand a big discount from
what the dentist's 'rates' are, so dentists don't dare charge you what
they charge the companies. ...

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Yet they do :-(
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I just needed two crowns. They cost $1100 each. Should have been $300
per insurance list but the dentist tacks on a lot of stuff such as lab
fees, prep, cor fee, and yada yada yada. They all do so yuo can't really
do anything about it.
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Still, like you said it reduces the cost a little. A friend without
dental "insurance" paif $1500 per crown.
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                      ... Fortunately, the free market being what it
is, there's an app for that. ;)
>

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Surprisingly, even the government health plan for older people here in
the US (Medicare) is better than in other countries. I am very involved
in that with a relative and I am amazed what they cover.
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Most media constantly razz the US for bad healthcare. IMO that's largely
baloney.
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Same for social security. Having lived in several countries I can
compare and the US system wins, big time.

 
I have Kaiser, and now Kaiser+Medicaire. K is great, a true HMO, with
a flat fee per month to keep you healthy. My company pays for
employees.
 
If you don't like your primary MD, you tell them so and they send
resumes to let you pick another one. My current MD wears miniskirts
and calls me John and I call her Sam.
 

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Hey, you're married :-)

Mo came with me a couple of times when I saw Sam. No problem.

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I just refilled some prescriptions online. They will be mailed to me.
Total cost = zero.
 

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Yep. One downside with Kaiser is that it can take a while until they
take some ailment seriously enough. You have to be the squeaky wheel or
it has had to become really bad, like not able to walk anymore. OTOH
they insist on preventative care which is good. Cancer screening and stuff.

I visited my former MD, Pansy, and asked her about a dry spot on my
face. I have the flimsy Irish skin that burns and never tans. She said
it was an actinic thing, pre-cancerous. She made a call and 5 minutes
later a "roaming dermatologist" showed up with a liquid nitrogen
sprayer and cured it in 30 seconds.

If Sam wants me to give a blood sample or have an x-ray, I walk to
another floor and they do it right then.

My retina detatched after cataract surgery, mostly peeled off the back
of my eyeball. Dr B saw me imediately, served us tea in his office,
and came in and fixed it at 10 PM. He used me as a demo for a student.
Vitrectomy, draining the vitreus and replacing it with Freon, is
weird. It's nearly the last legal use of Freon.

Dr B estimates that he has saved 2500 to 4000 eyes, including two of
mine.

The true flat-fee HMO has an incentive to keep its patients healthy.

Kaiser is doctor-owned, which Omamacare banned.