O Canada

[Sandy]

On the topic of single payer health care.....

I will be joining the trek of Americans crossing over the northern border to Canada seeking medical care. As a diabetic, foot ulcers are a problem, and I've had one that won't heal since last May. I've been to a podiatrist on a regular basis, they spend a couple of minutes in the room and then tell me to come back in a week. After several weeks of this, he finally referred me to a wound care specialist. This doctor was amazed that the podiatrist hadn't done an apligraph, which is the prescribed, most effective treatment. Of course, the insurance company is balking at doing such a procedure, since the podiatrist ran me up to the limit of my deductible and ran up a substantial bill for the insurance to pay, wondering why we're doing this now, and why the previous treatments did not work.

I was talking about this with one of my neighbors, and he said, "Go to Canada." That's where he went for cancer treatment, and recovered. He and his wife go to specialists there all the time. It is hard to get an appointment with a doctor in Niagara Falls or St. Catharines, because they are close to the US border and are crowded with Americans seeking treatment. But they go on up to Toronto, which is about a four hour drive from here. I'll give it a try.

http://www.findprivateclinics.ca/resour ... ourism.php
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/myths- ... 2012-08-09

[Haruo]

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

Well, one myth debunked already. I called about getting an appointment, and can go any day next week. Getting a diabetic foot ulcer treatment done here requires getting an appointment with a wound care specialist, which takes either a direct referral or about six to eight weeks to get on their schedule, and then scheduling a follow up for the apligraf, which has to be ordered and then the delivery scheduled for the day of the procedure. I'm moving into a different house on Saturday, and school starts next week, and I have to fill out a lot of paperwork for the insurance company so they will pay for this. I don't think they will mind, since what Canadian medical professionals charge for services is controlled by their government health plan and is about half of what the lowest negotiated rate would be for the same procedure in this country.

[Haruo]

Don't you feel sorry for the poor Canadian doctors? Maybe they accept tips.

[Sandy]

Well, actually, most Canadian doctors make more than their American counterparts, except for those who do plastic surgery and other elective surgery here. That's another myth to debunk. And I'd certainly never tip my doctor here. They get plenty.