Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Danny Williams’ (non) confidence in CanuckCare

Newfoundland Premier Danny (Big Mouth) Williams decided to go to the USA for his heart surgery. This recent story out of Victoria documents an example that illustrates the likely reason he did so:

... Jo Danielson is living on the edge with an abdominal aneurysm, a dangerous bulge in her aorta ...

... doctors have recommended ... endovascular aneurysm repair, in which a device called a "stent" is inserted into the diseased aorta...

... But she will have to wait until April ... The health authority has placed a cost-saving, yearly cap on the stent procedure because of the extra cost ...

... "We've literally had the rug pulled out from under our patients," said Dr. Jim Dooner, head of vascular surgery for VIHA.

... It's a form of accounting that Dooner says is "absolute lunacy and it is wrong."

In other words CanuckCare involves bureaucratic rationing based on the calculations of government bean-counters. [Note also how government health agencies like to call themselves "Authorities" rather than, say, "Services". They want to make sure the peons clearly understand where they fit in the pecking order.]

In the USA there is no government forced waiting (at least until ObamaCare comes along). So Williams’ decision to go to the USA was the wisest move he could make from a personal medical standpoint. However, Lorne Gunter makes an excellent point. Professional politicians like Danny Williams and his ilk are responsible for shoving a government health monopoly down Canadians’ throats and denying ordinary folks the level of care they insist on for themselves.

From the comments in Gunter's piece:


As Kate McMillan often says - "Tommy Douglas: Not Dead Enough".

Updates:
Here's Ezra Levant, and;
Rex Murphy goes easy on his fellow Newf. Murphy makes the point that we're operating in a "vacuum of fact". There's some truth to that, and I can believe that Newfoundland may not have the treatment he needs. However, it's unlikely, whatever Williams' precise problem, that treatment is unavailable anywhere in Canada. If it is available here, then he's hypocritically jumped the entire Canadian queue by going south.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

One issue that is going to come out more and more on the health front is immigration and its effects on the system. Infrastructure is not being increased fast enough to keep up with excessive immigration rates and these people landing here have often high needs to be met while paying little or nothing into the system. (real conservative)

ridenrain said...

Good thing he didn't have breast cancer or he might have never even found out.
Big lying hypocrite.

ck said...

ridenrain: sadly predictable.

Why should anyone care where Danny Williams goes to get heart surgery? Such a non-issue; no doubt for right wing media like NP to tell Canadians to beg for U.S. Health care.

Funny, if this happened before the Liberals in the 90s cut transfer payments, thus cutting health care budgets without thinkin of the agin baby boomers (Yes, Anonymous; baby boomers moreso than immigrants)creating thes waiting lists and such, this would barely be on the radar.

I find it funny that Robert Bourassa's experimental cancer treatments way back when is suddenly more interesting now to NP than when it actually happened.

My father taught for the Montreal public school system for over 20 years and he loved the last public school he taught at, he advocated for better services, but he sent my brother to a private school anyway. Are we going to lambaste him? NO, because it was his decision as a parent where to send my brother.

What about Politicians of the separatist Parti-Quebecois and Bloc Quebecois politicians who promote the French language & limit access to English schools in Quebec? Jacques Parizeau, who blamed anglophones and immigrants & money for the loss of the 95 referendum on separation: he studied at Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship, no less. Another former PQ Premier and founder of the Bloc Quebecois, Lucien Bouchard sent his kids to American private boarding schools. I never noticed any media outfit of any political stripe making such a big deal about it; certainly not as big a deal as when Williams or other politicians go State side or to Europe or anywhere else in the world to access health care.

Let's fix our existing medicare system; not bring the American health care system and stop using these politicians or anyone else as poster children.

JR said...

Don't be obtuse CK. It's quite clear what the issue is.

As for your father loving his public school and sending his son to private school. Did he publicly campaign objecting to private schools, to shut them down and deny others access to them? I didn't thinks so. See the difference?