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That Wonderful “Free” Canadian Health Care. (Again.)

(Via Zendo Deb.)

Stronach travels to U.S. for cancer treatment

Belinda Stronach, the MP for Newmarket-Aurora and former cabinet minister, travelled outside Canada’s health-care system to California for some of her breast cancer treatment earlier this year.

Really! You don’t say!

Stronach, diagnosed in the spring with a type of breast cancer that required a mastectomy and breast reconstruction, went to California in June at her Toronto doctor’s suggestion, a spokesperson confirmed.

THAT referral I find fascinating.

“Belinda had one of her later-stage operations in California, after referral from her personal physicians in Toronto. Prior to this, Belinda had surgery and treatment in Toronto, and continues to receive follow-up treatment there,” said Greg MacEachern, Stronach’s assistant and spokesperson.

Speed was not the issue, MacEachern said – it was more to do with the type of surgery she and her doctor agreed was best for her, and where it was best performed. The type of cancer Stronach had is called DCIS, ductal carcinoma in situ, one of the more treatable forms.

Why would the story even suggest that speed might be “the issue”? Could it be that there are waiting time issues for cancer surgery in Canada? And you mean she couldn’t get superior treatment in CUBA??

Stronach, who has announced she is leaving politics to return to executive duties at her father’s Magna empire, paid for the procedure.

An option not open, I would imagine, to a lot of Canadians.

So what happens to them?

“As we said back in June when we confirmed the surgery, this is a personal and private matter between Belinda, her family and her physicians. I think you’ll understand that because of respect for Belinda’s privacy, we refrained from offering specific details around her medical treatment,” MacEachern said.

It is unusual for a federal politician to travel outside Canada for private medical treatment, especially given the hallowed status of the Canadian, publicly financed health-care system in the realm of political debate.

Is it actually rare to do it, or is it just rare to admit it?

MacEachern stressed that Stronach’s decision had nothing to do with her confidence – or lack of it – in Canada’s cancer-treatment facilities or public health care.

Which makes me wonder why she didn’t utilize them.

He pointed out that there is a cancer-care facility in Newmarket named after the Stronach family, after Frank Stronach donated $8 million toward its construction in 2004.

Which makes me really wonder why she didn’t utilize them.

“In fact, Belinda thinks very highly of the Canadian health-care system, and uses it when needed for herself and her children, as do all Canadians. As well, her family has clearly demonstrated that support,” MacEachern said.

Well of course! It’s there and it’s “free.” Who wouldn’t use it for sniffles, scrapes and minor emergencies?

“This was about a specific health-care procedure, unrelated to any views about the quality of Canadian health care, a decision based on medical advice and a referral from her Toronto physicians, and just one part of several areas of treatment. Belinda has nothing but praise for the community of health-care professionals in Toronto who supported and treated her throughout the last six months.”

Here I call “bullshit!” It was absolutely related to “views about the quality of Canadian health-care.” It was about the ability to get superior quality care in America since she could afford it, because the American medical system allows for innovation, experimentation, and advancements that government-run heathcare systems do not.

MacEachern did not want to answer questions in detail about the type of surgery, what she paid for it or where exactly it was performed in California.

He did say, however, that Stronach underwent the operation in June, roughly around the time she would have had the procedure had she remained in Canada.

How “roughly”? I really want to know. And would it have been the same procedure, or something different?

The Canadian Cancer Society also says it is impossible to determine how many citizens of this country travel each year to the United States for private cancer treatment, since records are only kept if they apply in some way for compensation.

There’s a fascinating tidbit of information I was not aware of.

Similarly, the U.S. Cancer Society says it is impossible to calculate, even roughly, how much Stronach paid for her treatment in California, since costs vary so much from state to state and even within cities.

The costs vary here because of the law of supply and demand. Those with far better procedures and reputations have far higher demands, and can (and do) charge more. Those who can afford it, pay it. Those who cannot must choose other options. This is “unfair.” But it beats, IMHO being told you will go to this doctor, you will have this procedure, your appointment is six months in the future, and you have no other option available to you – which is what most socialized medicine systems eventually devolve into once they discover that attempting to centrally control health care (or pretty much anything) is a failing game.

Health care is not a “right.” If you doubt that, then explain why Britain’s Tory party wants to deny health care to people who live “unhealthy lifestyles”? It would appear that their recommendations are already being implemented.

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Quote of the Day.

If you think of the “ideal” system- the one that produced life on earth, in all its diversity and richness- as guided by a top-down process that has a goal set for everything (or maybe just humans), then that sounds a lot more like a version of socialism that somehow produced wild success than anything.

ACTUAL evolution is a lot more like the world’s most cutthroat capitalist proposition. No rules except “succeed or go extinct”. – LabRat from this comment thread.

Quote of the Day

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From an excellent post by Joe Huffman. Joe’s formerly hoplophobic friend explains why he felt it necessary to demonize gun owners in his own mind:

Back in the days when I was very anti-gun, I tended to think of “gun nuts” as drooling, knuckle-dragging morons. Cavemen. Uneducated. Beer-drinking slobs who could barely read and who probably beat up their wives a lot. Maybe they were even all closet Nazis, eh? Etc., etc., etc. It was an image that came instantly to mind. I would talk about “gun nuts” that same way with friends of like mind. It all made such perfect sense to us.

But if ever I came across a “gun nut” in person I would be silent — especially if it was someone dressed in, say, hunting cammos. Or I might see “gun nuts” on TV and make a snide comment about them, but seeing them made me feel a bit afraid (something I didn’t reveal to other people). It wasn’t rational, but it wasn’t surprising considering how I’d been raised. It wasn’t until a long time later that I realized what I’d been doing: trying to make the “gun nuts” almost into sub-humans in my mind, and paint them as ridiculous and stupid so that they shrank in stature and were less scary to me. (But as I said, this doesn’t work. No amount of sneering made me feel less afraid.)

Read Joe’s whole post. There’s a good comment by Clayton Cramer at the bottom, too.

KevinLeave a comment

On the Differences Between “Liberals” and “Conservatives.” Again.

A reader sent me an email on this LATimes piece (use BugMeNot to bypass the registration requirement). It seems that some New York University and UCLA researchers devised an experiment to test to see if liberals and conservatives used their brains differently. You read the piece and consider it for yourself. I’ve already been there and done that.

Back when I was writing for Themestream.com (long defunct) I “fisked” a piece written by another contributor (long before “fisk” was even a verb!) That contributor was Marriah Star, though when I first posted a copy of my piece on this blog I made him just an anonymous self-confessed liberal.

If you’re interested in what I wrote back then, it’s still available: Liberal v. Conservative: Both are Necessary

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“Islam has never learned how to be a religion.

“It’s a tyranny by its very nature. Until it learns to let the door swing both ways, and permit Muslims to decide not to be Muslims without penalty, then the world has no choice but to fight against it in order to be free.” – Orson Scott Card, Shadow of the Giant

I liked that quote when I first read it late last year. I think it’s accurate, and it is well supported by this story out of the Netherlands:

Young Muslims begin dangerous fight for the right to abandon faith

A group of young Muslim apostates launches a campaign today, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America, to make it easier to renounce Islam.

The provocative move reflects a growing rift between traditionalists and a younger generation raised on a diet of Dutch tolerance.

The Committee for Ex-Muslims promises to campaign for freedom of religion but has already upset the Islamic and political Establishments for stirring tensions among the million-strong Muslim community in the Netherlands.

Ehsan Jami, the committee’s founder, who rejected Islam after the attack on the twin towers in 2001, has become the most talked-about public figure in the Netherlands. He has been forced into hiding after a series of death threats and a recent attack.

The threats are taken seriously after the murder in 2002 of Pim Fortuyn, an antiimmigration politician, and in 2004 of Theo Van Gogh, an antiIslam film-maker.

Speaking to The Times at a secret location before the committee’s launch today, the Labour Party councillor said that the movement would declare war on radical Islam. Similar organisations campaigning for reform of the religion have sprung up across Europe and representatives from Britain and Germany will join the launch in The Hague today.

RTWT. At the bottom of the story is an excerpt translated from the Koran:

According to Baidhawi’s commentary, Sura 4: 88-89 reads: “Whosoever turns back from his belief, openly or secretly, take him and kill him wheresoever ye find him, like any other infidel. Separate yourself from him altogether. Do not accept intercession in his regard.”

The haditha – oral tradition upon which Sharia law is based – reinforces this. A link in the story goes to this page where the following is stated:

THE Koran is contradictory on the fate of those who deny the truth of Islam.

Fourteen passages refer to apostasy and, of these, seven refer to punishment, generally to be given in the next life.

Sura 40 says that those who reject the scriptures will have iron collars and chains placed around their necks, be dragged into scalding water and burnt in the fire. Elsewhere the Koran seems to indicate a degree of tolerance. Verse 2.256 states: “There is no compulsion in religion.” Two further suras, 10 and 18, include passages indicating that people who do not wish to believe should not be forced to.

That’s pretty inconsistent for the immutable Word of God, it seems to me. Read that whole piece, too.

I don’t agree with Orson Scott Card on the topic of gun control, but he seems to have his head on straight where radical Islam is concerned. And I wish good luck to Ehsan Jami and his compatriots in their efforts.

And knife-proof vests.

KevinLeave a comment

Quote of the Day.

Bill Ardolino is an independent journalist in Iraq. He normally posts his stories at his blog, INDCJournal, but Long War Journal sometimes carries his pieces. They posted one yesterday, an interview a local translator, a Fallujan, on several topics, but especially the invasion and occupation, with special emphasis on Fallujah. I recommend you read the whole thing. There’s a lot of good information there. (You’ll like it, Markadelphia, I promise! Much grist for both sides.) But this passage I found particularly quotable:

INDC: But what motivated al Qaeda to do that though? Why would they start killing those innocent people?

Leo: I think the major goal was chaos … to make big chaos. And everyone knows [that the radical mujahadeen] were pushed [into Iraq] from beyond the borders: Iran particularly, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. Nobody wants Iraq to stabilize, to be a good country and a democratic country, because democracy will affect them, and they are dictatorships. There is a prince in Kuwait, there is a King in Arabia, there is what everyone calls a republic, but it’s not a republic, it’s a kingdom in Jordan. And Iran, Iran wants to take over the whole area, if possible. So they see an opportunity to take over Iraq, and they take it. That’s what everyone thinks, just like what I’ve said.

Gee, it sound’s like he’s reading from Karl Rove’s Bush Doctrine Manual.

This second quote is a close runner-up:

INDC: One thing I’m curious about is, what do the Fallujans think of the Marines as fighters? Do they respect them, hate them, fear them? I know that your culture is very proud and tough. You fight. What do they think of the Marines?

Leo: You know, al Qaeda and other mujahadeen say that the Americans are not tough, they are just cartoon soldiers, just like characters in cartoon films, but most of the people see the fact that they are tough people. And they are so patient. And they can fight outside of their country overseas, and I don’t think al Qaeda or someone else can fight like Marines, overseas and so distant from home.

But if we pull out because of the defeatist Democrats, then al Qaeda and the other mujahadeen will know that they can defeat us politically – and our defeat is all that matters. They learned that lesson from Vietnam.

It’s a Good Thing He Didn’t Have a Gun!

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(I need to make a category out of this one.)

Gun control organizations try their best to link “gun availability” to America’s suicide rate. After all, over half the annual death toll attributed to firearms is suicide. The claim is that guns make suicide easy, and that people will grab an available gun at a moment of despair and end their lives when, if the gun were not there, they wouldn’t attempt or more likely would survive the attempt (guns being so lethal and all.) I’ve covered this before. The US suicide rate is about middle-of-the pack for industrialized nations. Nations with high gun possession rates and suicide rates higher than ours have suicide methods other than guns. Nations with low gun possession rates and suicide rates higher than ours also have suicide methods other than guns.

From the evidence available, gun availability here affects the method, but not the rate. If someone really wants to end their life, they choose an effective method – whether it’s a gun, jumping off a building, leaping in front of a train, poison, hanging oneself or…

This guy:

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) – The body of a 41-year-old man was found in a wooded area next to a guillotine he built and used to kill himself, police said. The man, from the Detroit suburb of Melvindale, was discovered Monday by workers from a shopping center near his home.

Allen Park Deputy Police Chief Dale Covert said the roughly six-foot tall guillotine was bolted to a tree and included a swing arm. Covert said police also found several store receipts detailing the materials used to assemble the device.

“I can’t even tell you how long it must have taken him to construct,” he said. “This man obviously was very determined to end his life.”

You don’t say!