Dead Skier's Fans Donate $300K to Cover Bill

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@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } I have lived in the U.S. and Canada.  I’m a U.S. citizen married to a Canadian.  I have experienced both sides of this issue and can tell you there is NO comparison.  People complain that we have to pay for insurance/health care here in the U.S.  No one points out that you have to pay for your health care in Canada as well.  We paid 54% income tax and a $900 a year health care premium to Ontario.  I pay much less than that here in the U.S. and receive a whole lot more for the money.  I never waited fewer than 5 hours to see a doctor in Canada regardless of the severity of the illness or injury.  AFTER a 5 hour wait to get stitches in my husbands hand, we were told to go to the emergency room because they wouldn’t get to us before they closed…..so we went to the suggested ER………except there was one problem.  The ER was closed and would be for the next 6 months or so (which does not happen as infrequently as you would think!)  So we went home and I super glued my husbands hand, hoping that it would work and he wouldn’t get an infection.  I was in a serious car accident and needed to be extricated from the car and taped to a backboard.  I was taken to the hospital and placed in a dark room, alone, still taped to the backboard  for two hours before someone found me there.  They said they didn’t have anyone in x-ray at the time so decided by looking at me that I had some muscle tears and other soft tissue injuries as well as a severe concussion, gave me a shot of codeine (which both myself and my husband had told them I am allergic to it)…had to flush it out of my system, and then sent me on my way in a taxi  (with a NEW prescription for….you guessed it, Codeine!…..case closed.  I could go on for hours with stories like these (days to get x-rays on a broken elbow, a week to get a strep test result back etc.) and that is just for my family.  I got to the point of where I told my husband if I was choking on a piece of meat, to drive me to Buffalo, I’d have a better chance of surviving!  Between this and the education system there (I’m a teacher and have taught in both countries too…..don’t get me started on that!) I asked that we moved back to the states.  Once back in the U.S. my husband got a taste of the health care here.  I had a severe sore throat and we drove me to the doctor.  He brought the thick Sunday paper with him thinking that would help him waste at least some of the expected waiting room time.  They called me back, completed the strep test (as well as blood tests to rule out mono) and I was back in the waiting room in 20 minutes ready to go.  He thought I had just done the paper work and was shocked when I said I was done!   My husbands father lives in Canada and spent 9 months being bounced around and waiting months in between appointment after his cancer diagnosis (he was told he had cancer, then told he didn’t and then told he did but a different type than first thought!)  He was getting sicker and getting NO treatment at all as there were still trying to figure out what he had.  We ended up flying him here, taking him to the Mayo clinic.  He had appointments everyday for a week.  At the end they had the proper diagnosis and a treatment plan.  They wrote a letter to the Canadian hospital saying he needed surgery in 4 weeks or less or would be treated at Mayo at Canada’s expense.   HMMMMMMM……lo and behold they found the time for him in Canada all of a sudden (after calling the Mayo and assembly line money maker….odd considering it’s a not for profit, well respected hospital!)  I’m convinced he would not be alive if we had not done this.  Did we have to pay for the week of tests…..yep…..was it worth it…..ABSOLUTELY!  PEOPLE, TEST DRIVE BOTH CARS BEFORE MAKING YOUR UNEDUCATED OPINION KNOWN!!!!

@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } I have lived in the U.S. and Canada.  I’m a U.S. citizen married to a Canadian.  I have experienced both sides of this issue and can tell you there is NO comparison.  People complain that we have to pay for insurance/health care here in the U.S.  No one points out that you have to pay for your health care in Canada as well.  We paid 54% income tax and a $900 a year health care premium to Ontario.  I pay much less than that here in the U.S. and receive a whole lot more for the money.  I never waited fewer than 5 hours to see a doctor in Canada regardless of the severity of the illness or injury.  AFTER a 5 hour wait to get stitches in my husbands hand, we were told to go to the emergency room because they wouldn’t get to us before they closed…..so we went to the suggested ER………except there was one problem.  The ER was closed and would be for the next 6 months or so (which does not happen as infrequently as you would think!)  So we went home and I super glued my husbands hand, hoping that it would work and he wouldn’t get an infection.  I was in a serious car accident and needed to be extricated from the car and taped to a backboard.  I was taken to the hospital and placed in a dark room, alone, still taped to the backboard  for two hours before someone found me there.  They said they didn’t have anyone in x-ray at the time so decided by looking at me that I had some muscle tears and other soft tissue injuries as well as a severe concussion, gave me a shot of codeine (which both myself and my husband had told them I am allergic to it)…had to flush it out of my system, and then sent me on my way in a taxi  (with a NEW prescription for….you guessed it, Codeine!…..case closed.  I could go on for hours with stories like these (days to get x-rays on a broken elbow, a week to get a strep test result back etc.) and that is just for my family.  I got to the point of where I told my husband if I was choking on a piece of meat, to drive me to Buffalo, I’d have a better chance of surviving!  Between this and the education system there (I’m a teacher and have taught in both countries too…..don’t get me started on that!) I asked that we moved back to the states.  Once back in the U.S. my husband got a taste of the health care here.  I had a severe sore throat and we drove me to the doctor.  He brought the thick Sunday paper with him thinking that would help him waste at least some of the expected waiting room time.  They called me back, completed the strep test (as well as blood tests to rule out mono) and I was back in the waiting room in 20 minutes ready to go.  He thought I had just done the paper work and was shocked when I said I was done!   My husbands father lives in Canada and spent 9 months being bounced around and waiting months in between appointment after his cancer diagnosis (he was told he had cancer, then told he didn’t and then told he did but a different type than first thought!)  He was getting sicker and getting NO treatment at all as there were still trying to figure out what he had.  We ended up flying him here, taking him to the Mayo clinic.  He had appointments everyday for a week.  At the end they had the proper diagnosis and a treatment plan.  They wrote a letter to the Canadian hospital saying he needed surgery in 4 weeks or less or would be treated at Mayo at Canada’s expense.   HMMMMMMM……lo and behold they found the time for him in Canada all of a sudden (after calling the Mayo and assembly line money maker….odd considering it’s a not for profit, well respected hospital!)  I’m convinced he would not be alive if we had not done this.  Did we have to pay for the week of tests…..yep…..was it worth it…..ABSOLUTELY!  PEOPLE, TEST DRIVE BOTH CARS BEFORE MAKING YOUR UNEDUCATED OPINION KNOWN!!!!

"If the accident had happened in Canada, 'her care would have been covered because, unlike the US, Canada has a system of universal coverage.' wrote insurance-exec-turned-whistleblower Wendell Potter at iWatch." Really? Did it not say just a little earlier in the article that "The Canadian star's insurance did not cover the event where she was fatally injured." Why was that? Was it because it was in the US or was it because her sport was deemed too high risk? Either way, the US system that everyone is so eager to pounce upon is infinitely better than any universal coverage plan in the world. For proof, all you need do is look at all the people covered by those plans who still flock to this country for medical care because they couldn't get it at home. Also, look at all the rationing that is prevalent in all the universal coverage plans, where they have a fixed amount of money for the year.  If that money is spent in 9 - 10 months, then patients have to wait until next year. Speaking of waiting, explain how the indefensible waiting times for routine (and life saving) procedures that are rampant in even the Canadian system would be a good thing here? Better yet, justify the story just last year where women were denied a cancer drug in Britain because it was "too expensive". Are you all willing to let people die just to push the US further along the road of socialism? For once, it would be nice if all the naysayers and US haters would be honest in their arguments and do a head to head comparison of our system and the best universal coverage plan out there. If that happened, there would be no further discussion about destroying the best medical system in the world.