So this is what passes as serious commentary on health care reform in the United States of America?
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
UPDATE - July 18, 2009
In response to some of our commenters, surely you are not confusing this unique episode in Gander, Newfoundland with the ordinary operations, nationwide, of Canada's health care system:
In May of this year, the community of Gander, NF elected to hold a 'lottery' style selection of patients for two newly arrived Family Physicians. Although innovative, this approach is unlikely to help in solving a worsening shortage of doctors nationwide.
"Given that Medicare beneficiaries and persons with private insurance are reported to have, in general, ready access to care," it is the uninsured "who have a difficult time finding a physician," as well as Medicaid beneficiaries and the 20% of U.S. residents who live in federally designated "medically underserved" areas, Iglehart writes, adding that physician recruitment and retention "presents a challenge for community health centers, the medical operations of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, community hospitals and even group medical practices."Also see US: physician shortage growing:
In Physician Shortages and the Medically Underserved, The Council of State Governments says that the shortage of physicians in the United States is growing and will affect not only currently underserved areas, but some places where there are now sufficient doctors. States are trying to solve the shortage in a variety of ways.
This trend has fueled a growing shortage of primary care doctors in the United States. "On the eve of (health care) reform, we have a very real primary care crisis," said Dr. Ted Epperly, president of AAFP.
Epperly estimates that the health care system will be 40,000 doctors short of where it needs to be in the primary care arena by 2020 to support the demand for medical care.
"We need 150,000 family doctors in total by then," Epperly said.
Congratulations, you won the lottery — now you can have access to basic medical care!
A few thousand lucky Oregonians will will win state-subsidized health insurance coverage in a lottery this week, the Associated Press reports. About 80,000 others will lose, and remain uninsured.
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8 comments:
As one of those south of the border I find it excruciatingly embarrassing that one of our two polical parties stoops to these low levels of idiocy and moronic talking points.
Please, please, PLEASE! As an unelected spokesperson for Canada's neighbor, let me assure you that stark raving lunatics like this are only taken seriously by an extremely small, yet extremely loud and obnoxious, percentage of the US populace. The rest of us just listen to these jackasses for comic relief.
Please, please, PLEASE! As an unelected spokesperson for Canada's neighbor, let me assure you that stark raving lunatics like this are only taken seriously by an extremely small, yet extremely loud and obnoxious, percentage of the US populace. The rest of us just listen to these jackasses for comic relief.
If you search on lottery "health care" and Canada, numerous web sites come up which are all based in Canada and which say it is true. In one town in NF a whopping 50% of the residents reportedly won the medical lottery and can now go to the doctor if they get sick. The other 50% are SOL (shit out of luck).
I know nothing of Beck but suspect he promotes the "conservative" point of view, which, briefly stated, is that being rich should MEAN something. I am NOT a conservative, but my understanding is, conservatives are offended by the fact that poor people receive education, have food to eat, have housing, and receive medical care. Those things, according to this point of view, should be the exclusive prerogatives of the rich. The "C" word is just a fancy word for "mean spirited," in other words. There is no sense debating people like that because there is no intellectual content there to debate.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/257099
Here is the source
To be very, very clear:
"So this is what passes as serious commentary on health care reform in the United States of America."
This is NOT what passes as serious commentary on health care reform in my country. Glen Beck is insane, and comes from a network that is widely accepted as a producer of "news-o-tainment," rather than real, legitimate journalism. Citing Mr. Beck as a legitimate journalist would be the same as citing _The Sun_ as a legitimate newspaper; both may comment upon real issues, both may fancy the idea that they're taken seriously, but that doesn't make it true.
The only people who take Beck seriously is the small (although regrettably visible) cohort of fanatic fans.
It may be that Beck represents only the fringe. The problem, however, is that Fox has provided quite a megaphone for these distortions, and the resulting need to refute them has dominated the narrative, in both the media and Congress, on health care reform.
That is no accident - rather, that is the game plan of Beck and the "protesters" on the right.
They are a tiny minority that don't have the numbers to win a vote. So they try to make enough noise to force the issues off the table altogether.
Do not underestimate this wing of the conservative movement. They are building momentum, and will be in power again at some point in the future. If Democrats do not fight back HARD (and they never do), that will probably be sooner than we think.
If you search on Lottery "health care" and Canada, numerous web sites come up which are all based in Canada and which say it is true. In one town in NF a whopping 50% of the residents reportedly won the medical lottery and can now go to the doctor if they get sick. The other 50% are SOL (shit out of luck).
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