[QUOTE="sutherland19"][QUOTE="drj077"][QUOTE="oscar530"]why is it scary we have it in Canada and we love itdrj077
Some of you do. However, the Canadians and Canadian doctors that come to the U.S. and stay here tend to disagree with you.
America has this advanced equipment and such because of the ridiculous amounts they charge patients etc.. I won't deny America is definitely the most advanced country in medicine, technology wise. But the problem is the system, not the technology. The system treats wealthy Americans nicely, while poverish Americans who don't have insurance get screwed over time and time again. Shouldn't everyone have the right to getting treated for injuries and disease without having to be in debt the rest of their lives? And Canadian doctors that come to the U.S. stay there because they get higher salaries in the States.You'd be wrong on that one. America has the technology and research capabilities that it has because of government funded grants and government run programs such as medicare. The NIH funds the development of new drugs, technology, and procedures while companies pick up where the research starts to create a product that is relatively cheap and safe for patients.
The American people pay millions and even billions of dollars every year out of pocket to keep medicare and medicaid going. Because of this fact, pretty much any given town in America has a CT scanner, a surgeon, a general practice doctor, and the American people are allowed to continue in their ignorance, gluttony, diabetes, alcoholism, and the like.
Of course, if you feel differently, perhaps you could convince the American public to force medical schools to lower the cost of tuition for medical school under $150,000 so that your common doctor could function appropriately in a small town instead of having to rely on medicare and people unwilling to pay their medical bills, so that they could pay back their school loans before they die of old age.
Also, I don't think that you have any idea how much it costs to run MRI, CT, XRay, and PET scanners. There is no way around it either. Giant rotating magnets tend to be sort of on the expensive side in case you didn't know.
Man, I'll definitely agree with you about the med school bills. Not that I attend, but yeah. I can't possibly imagine taking out a mortgage on my future like that, and then having to decide how it's going to be paid off.
The gluttony and diabetes problems though, that's where your argument gets me. When people don't have health insurance here, they just don't go to a doctor. And when they don't go to a doctor, they don't get warned about diabetes or the lifestyle they're leading that could lead to a heart attack or cancer. So a few years go by and they end up in an ER where doctors due triage with the help of the really expensive equipment you described and give them bills they'll never be able to pay which end up costing taxpayers money anyway, and then prescribe medicine that they can't afford (because the drug companies have got to pay for all of those ads on TV, right) for problems that could have been staved off with some simple advice earlier in the whole process. Meanwhile, the smartest kids from the top medical schools are working private practices in Beverly Hills and doing outpatient plastic surgery or making better boner pills at Pfizer to pay their outrageous med school bills.
Now tell me what isn't screwed up about that system. I just don't think capitalism works when it's people's lives and health and well being that are involved.
Log in to comment