Oh, Canada!

[3113]

Seems Canadians are healther than those in the States. In fact, those in England are healther than those in the U.S.

Candian Health vs. U.S.

Gosh, ya think it has anything to do with health care....? Stress? Unregulated junk food?

ATLANTA - You can add Canadians to the list of foreigners who are healthier than Americans. Americans are 42 percent more likely than Canadians to have diabetes, 32 percent more likely to have high blood pressure, and 12 percent more likely to have arthritis, Harvard Medical School researchers found. That is according to a survey in which American and Canadian adults were asked over the telephone about their health.

The study comes less than a month after other researchers reported that middle-aged, white Americans are much sicker than their counterparts in England.

"We're really falling behind other nations," said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a co-author of the Canadian study.

Canada's national health insurance program is at least part of the reason for the differences found in the study, Woolhandler said. Universal coverage makes it easier for more Canadians to get disease-preventing health services, she said.

James Smith, a RAND Corp. researcher who co-authored the American-English study, disagreed. His research found that England's national health insurance program did not explain the difference in disease rates, because even Americans with insurance were in worse health.

"To me, that's unlikely," he said of the idea that universal coverage explains international differences.

Woolhandler said her findings were different in at least one important respect: In the Canadian study, insured Americans and Canadians had about the same rates of disease. It was the uninsured Americans who made the overall U.S. figures worse, she said.

The study, released Tuesday, is being published in the American Journal of Public Health. It is based on a telephone survey of about 3,500 Canadians and 5,200 U.S. residents in 2002-03. Those surveyed were 18 or older.

The results are based on what those surveyed said about their health. In contrast, the researchers in the American-English study surveyed participants and also examined people and conducted laboratory tests on them.

The new study found that 6.7 percent of Americans and 4.7 percent of Canadians reported having diabetes; 18.3 percent and 13.9 percent, respectively, reported having high blood pressure; and 17.9 percent and 16.0 percent said they had arthritis. The Americans also reported more heart disease and major depression, but those difference were too small to be statistically significant.

About 21 percent of Americans said they were obese, compared with 15 percent of Canadians. And about 13.5 percent of the Americans admitted to a sedentary lifestyle, versus 6.5 percent of Canadians. However, more Canadians were smokers — 19 percent, compared with about 17 percent of Americans.

About 42 percent of the Americans rated their quality of health care as excellent, while 39 percent of Canadians did.

Also, 92 percent of American women said they had a Pap test within the last five years, while 83 percent of Canadian women had. But Canadians have lower death rates from cervical cancer. "It's a little hard to interpret," Woolhandler said.

One more plus for the Americans: Fewer than 1 percent said they were unable to get needed care because of long waits, compared with 3.5 percent of Canadians.

However, about 80 percent of Americans had a regular doctor, while 85 percent of Canadians did. And nearly twice as many Americans said there were medicines they needed but couldn't afford (9.9 percent versus 5.1 percent).

Ask me if I'm shocked ("I'm shocked!").

 

[Aurora Black]

Big surprise.

 

[rgraham666]

Not to worry. Our current Prime Minister has made it very clear throughout his career that public health care has to go.

So we Canadians will be in just as bad health soon.

 

[Guest]

Not to worry. Our current Prime Minister has made it very clear throughout his career that public health care has to go.

So we Canadians will be in just as bad health soon.

He's just trying to keep all the icky liberal Americans from moving up there, that's all.

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[CopyCarver]

Not to worry. Our current Prime Minister has made it very clear throughout his career that public health care has to go.

So we Canadians will be in just as bad health soon.

Quite a few of my Canadian friends are making it very clear they believe your current Prime Minister has to go. Since Canada doesn't institutionalize its mistakes for four year terms...

 

[Aurora Black]

Quite a few of my Canadian friends are making it very clear they believe your current Prime Minister has to go. Since Canada doesn't institutionalize its mistakes for four year terms...

Unlike us, since we've been grinning and bearing it for eight years...

 

[3113]

Ya know, if America such a an evil fucked up cesspool of a country, why the fuck do we have so goddamn many people lined up to get in? And why are they sneaking in by the hundreds every day?

Because there are deeper cesspools and we're the nearest shallow cesspool. If you're up to your eyebrows in shit, being only up to your waist in shit is suddenly appealing.

But don't you worry, we're sinking fast.

 

[fallenupright]

Canada.

Not so much our PM atm... I voted NDP...

 

[Mr. Show]

Canada.

Not so much our PM atm... I voted NDP...

A girl who votes NDP... if I'm dreaming, don't wake me up.

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[R. Richard]

I know people in Canada. They, in general like the Canadian National Healthplan. However, there are those that don't.

One woman is on some kind of life-necessary drug, she has no choice. Unfortunately, the single brand that Canada offers does not work with her system. So she comes over the border and buys her drug in the US.

The other problem is that the government squeezes the health care providers so hard that major hospitals can't buy the latest in health care equipment. If you need a CAT scan or an MRI, I understand the wait is six months to a year. If you have the money, you can schedule same at a US hospital within a week.

 

[Liar]

So, esplain to me, why none of them are going to Canadia. In fact there seems to be a steady flow of Canadians coming here too.

Simple. Because you have a well known policy of welcoming (in spite of recent debate) as well as the capacity to accomodate them. Same reason that many immigrants come to Sweden instead of to our Nordic neighbours. Here, they're not kicked out.

 

[rgraham666]

I know people in Canada. They, in general like the Canadian National Healthplan. However, there are those that don't.

One woman is on some kind of life-necessary drug, she has no choice. Unfortunately, the single brand that Canada offers does not work with her system. So she comes over the border and buys her drug in the US.

The other problem is that the government squeezes the health care providers so hard that major hospitals can't buy the latest in health care equipment. If you need a CAT scan or an MRI, I understand the wait is six months to a year. If you have the money, you can schedule same at a US hospital within a week.

"If you have the money" being the operative phrase.

A lot of people don't have the money. And they can't get those sorts of services at all.

And the governments that have been squeezing the hospitals so hard have for the most part been conservative. Although almost every penny saved ended up going to 'studies' and 'consultancies' that just happened to be made up of friends of the Premier and his inner circle.

 

[RogueLurker]

Quite a few of my Canadian friends are making it very clear they believe your current Prime Minister has to go. Since Canada doesn't institutionalize its mistakes for four year terms...

They are looking at making it a regular term.

Actually, I think that setting a firm date ... or at least timeframe ... is a good thing. Too many games are played when they PM makes the decision. Also, the sheer logistics of setting up a national election at the drop of a writ ... it wastes money, time, energy and resources. If they know when it is coming with a bit more certainty, the proper investments of time, infrastrucure and resources can be made. A bit of stability with the election terms isn't a bad thing ... as long as they keep the rule that a minority government can still be toppled if they don't manage to get enough support from the opposition. We have to have some amusement during the National's "At Issue" Panel segment.

The current government is another matter. It's going to be a rough term and I suspect that the fallout isn't going to be fully realized until after they are out again.

 

[champagne1982]

"If you have the money" being the operative phrase.

A lot of people don't have the money. And they can't get those sorts of services at all.

And the governments that have been squeezing the hospitals so hard have for the most part been conservative. Although almost every penny saved ended up going to 'studies' and 'consultancies' that just happened to be made up of friends of the Premier and his inner circle.

At the risk of sounding right wing conservative-- all that on top of being Albertan to boot ... 12 years of federal Liberals resulted in 2 year waiting lists for essential health services being the norm rather than the exception.

You can blame the Alberta provincial Progressive Conservatives all you want, but the Ontario and Maritime Liberals haven't had a great track record in this department either. Unless you're inside the system, waiting for lifesaving and altering surgery or treatments, it's very hard to understand that most of those patients who are truly in need of these procedures do jump to the top of the list.

As for MRI's or CAT scans, these are diagnostic imaging resources, it's pretty unbelievable to say that having an expensive MRI or CAT scan will save your life if an xray will serve as well. All having this test completed, as a routine part of an examination, does, is put another weapon, in your doctor's arsenal, against any error he may make that could cost him his license in litigation. If you don't believe that, talk to an insurance broker.

 

[champagne1982]

So, esplain to me, why none of them are going to Canadia. In fact there seems to be a steady flow of Canadians coming here too.

Seems to me Canadia could use the extra population. So instead if deporting these troublesome mexicans why don't we send them to Canadia where they are wanted and they'll be healthier too.

Haven't you heard? It's fucking cold here for 9 months out of 12.

 

[3113]

So, esplain to me, why none of them are going to Canadia. In fact there seems to be a steady flow of Canadians coming here too.

What steady flow of Canadians?

Let me see, by the by, if I understand your logic here:
People come to the U.S. therefore there must be nothing wrong with it and everything right with it.

Hmm. Does that include the fact that there is no problem with illegal immigrants?

But really, what has this to do with facts?--if the facts show that U.S. citizens have shitty health mainly because of bad health care than how is does the flow of immigrants (legal or otherwise) into the U.S. refute that? All the flow of immigrants into the U.S. does is prove that illegal immigrants can make fast and easy money in the U.S. to send home.

Why don't you explain your logic to me this time around.

 

[Xelebes]

Ya know, if America such a an evil fucked up cesspool of a country, why the fuck do we have so goddamn many people lined up to get in? And why are they sneaking in by the hundreds every day?

Because United States has Mexico as a neighbour. You should see the refugee cues in Canada and other European nations.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Seems Canadians are healther than those in the States. In fact, those in England are healther than those in the U.S.

Gosh, ya think it has anything to do with health care....? Stress? Unregulated junk food?

Yep.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Aurora Black]

Because United States has Mexico as a neighbour. You should see the refugee cues in Canada and other European nations.

Indeed.

 

[Harry Leg]

So, esplain to me, why none of them are going to Canadia. In fact there seems to be a steady flow of Canadians coming here too.

Seems to me Canadia could use the extra population. So instead if deporting these troublesome mexicans why don't we send them to Canadia where they are wanted and they'll be healthier too.

ahem...its Canada, not Canadia.

 

[matriarch]

Ya know, if America such a an evil fucked up cesspool of a country, why the fuck do we have so goddamn many people lined up to get in? And why are they sneaking in by the hundreds every day?

Because those that are lined up to get in have very good reasons for wanting/needing to, despite the drawbacks, and those sneaking in by the hundreds are doing so to get away from even worse living conditions than apparently exist in USA.........for some.

 

[matriarch]

Because there are deeper cesspools and we're the nearest shallow cesspool. If you're up to your eyebrows in shit, being only up to your waist in shit is suddenly appealing.

But don't you worry, we're sinking fast.

.. ..

 

[Aurora Black]

ahem...its Canada, not Canadia.

Haven't you heard? It's a new annexed territory, sort of a mix between Canada and Arcadia.