Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Tuesday May 07 2019, @06:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the caravans-gonna-caravan dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

A "caravan" of Americans living with Type 1 diabetes made its way across the U.S. border into Canada over the weekend in search of affordable medical care in a country where they can get the "exact same" life-saving drugs for a dramatically lower price.

"We're on a #CaravanToCanada because the USA charges astronomical prices for insulin that most people can't afford," tweeted caravan member Quinn Nystrom as she shared updates on the journey.

Nystrom was among a group of Minnesotans who piled into cars on Friday to make the 600-mile journey from the Twin Cities to Fort Frances, Ontario, where she said insulin, the hormone patients with Type 1 Diabetes rely on to regulate their blood glucose levels, can be bought for a tenth of what it costs in the U.S.

The caravan was organized as part of a campaign launched under the banner "#insulinforall" to call on the U.S. government to regulate the cost of life-saving drugs, including insulin, and make medication affordable for anyone who needs it.

[...]

President Donald Trump's administration has vowed to address calls for greater drug pricing regulation. But, Democrats, including Cummings, have criticized the U.S. leader for being all talk and no action on that promise.

"Tweets are not enough," Cummings said in a statement, after Trump lamented high drug costs on Twitter. "We need real action and meaningful reform," Cummings said.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/caravan-americans-crossing-canadian-border-get-affordable-medical-care-1417582


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:31PM (20 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:31PM (#840373) Homepage Journal

    It’s good if you don’t mind waiting like five weeks to see a doctor. Catastrophic! Frankly, they come from Canada because they want to use our doctors. documentcloud.org/documents/1687672-leaving-canada-for-medical-care-2015.html [documentcloud.org]

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Offtopic=1, Insightful=1, Interesting=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by sshelton76 on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:37PM (18 children)

    by sshelton76 (7978) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:37PM (#840379)

    Umm I just scheduled an appointment for my kids to get shots and what not. It's 6 weeks out.
    This is the USA. Waiting for an appointment is a thing you do in all forms of healthcare everywhere. The doctor will see you ... When he damned well pleases.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by krishnoid on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:42PM (10 children)

      by krishnoid (1156) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:42PM (#840381)

      I wonder why nobody's done a study about how much time and money socialized medical practices save when they don't have to manage insurance paperwork and handle payment processing, maybe allowing them to hire more support/triage staff or even doctors.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:46PM (3 children)

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:46PM (#840382) Homepage Journal

        They did that one. Here is Link!!!! fraserinstitute.org/article/canadas-health-care-gift-horse-hardly-free [fraserinstitute.org]

        • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:50PM

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:50PM (#840384) Homepage Journal

          (cont) So many Studies prooving Socialized Medicine is VERY EXPENSIVE!! Other Link. mercatus.org/publications/federal-fiscal-policy/costs-national-single-payer-healthcare-system [mercatus.org]

        • (Score: 2, Informative) by Goghit on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:05PM (1 child)

          by Goghit (6530) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:05PM (#840883)

          Ah yes, the Fraser Institute. Nice little business that takes Koch Bros money and turns it into reports that appear to have been written by high school students.

          • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:14PM

            by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:14PM (#841008) Homepage Journal

            People don't know this, reports cost money. Even our wonderful High School Students don't work for free -- look at what you're paying Justin. And that money can come from a Company. From a Person. Or, from the government -- Taxpayers. And the Koch Brothers, very generously, funded that one. So nice of them and that one "appeared," very proudly, in the Ottawa Sun. One of the most respected Newspapers in, or of Canada. But you wanted, I guess, something that looks nicer. With Power Point or, possibly more pictures. You have, I assume, you're own money, you can pay for that one. I don't mind. Fraser Institute doesn't mind. And Koch Brothers don't mind. It's known as Freedom of Speech. And possibly your Report Writers will put some Alternative Facts in that one. That are different from what Fraser Institute folks had to say. That's fine. Show us your Report, we are waiting!!!!

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:54PM (2 children)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:54PM (#840389) Journal

        I recall hearing about that topic back when the Clinton* was trying to fix health care. We spend a huge amount of money on administrivia and paperwork. They compared to a socialized system (sorry forgot which one) and the stack of total paperwork was far less.

        * not Hillary

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday May 07 2019, @08:56PM (1 child)

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @08:56PM (#840422) Homepage Journal

          You say, "oh, not Hillary." WRONG -- DEAD WRONG. It was Bill. But, Crooked H was in charge of the Task Force on that one. Known as Task Force on National Health Care Reform. You didn't know. And, a lot of folks didn't know. Because they tried to keep it a secret. That Bill put his wife as head of the Task Force. The secret got out and there was a big lawsuit. Can we call it Nepotism? Why not, right? And fortunately, the Plan got out too. Horrible plan where EVERY EMPLOYER would have had to pay the Medical for EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE. And, for the married. Tremendous protests and the Secret Service guys must have talked to Crooked. And told her, "ma'am, if this goes through you may not live to see 1995." It's known as assassination, folks. And fortunately we had, at that time, a lot of smart Dems in Congress. Who realized, if that one went through, so many businesses would go under. Or have to fire most of their workers. Millions of folks would be out of work. And the Dems would lose Congress for generations. So, very wisely, they torpedoed it. But, the American "people" remembered that fiasco. They remembered very well. Big reason why Crooked H lost OVERWHELMINGLY in 2016!!!!

          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 07 2019, @09:11PM

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 07 2019, @09:11PM (#840430) Journal

            WRONG -- DEAD WRONG. It was Bill. But, Crooked H was in charge of the Task Force on that one.

            Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Don't say that!

            Hillary's first two terms in office could disqualify her from holding office should she get elected a 2nd time.

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by dry on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:46AM (2 children)

        by dry (223) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:46AM (#840636) Journal

        When Canada went single payer, which included price controls on Dr pay, the Doctors went ape shit, striking and such. Eventually they realized that they actually made more money as billing was so much simpler. Generally, they just bill the government from a set price list. If you show up here at a Dr office, you'll get billed the same amount that the government pays for me ($38 for a basic visit last I checked) though they will take advantage of the exchange rate if you want to pay cash with American money.

        • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:00AM (1 child)

          by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:00AM (#840638)

          Do you have some references for this, like news articles or the like? This is something I don't hear much about in the US debates on this topic.

          • (Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:55AM

            by dry (223) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:55AM (#840652) Journal

            Hmm, not off hand, but quickly DDGing gives this interesting study, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3110239/ [nih.gov] with some references. Seems the (first?) strike was in Saskatchewan and what made the doctors happy was ease of being paid, no bouncing cheques and such.
            Canada is like the States in some ways, a federation of sovereign units, Provinces in our case and single payer was introduced at the Provincial level first and even now, Provinces can opt out and it is run by the feds like your highway system as Constitutionally, the Feds can't force the Provinces to do some things including healthcare so they have to bribe. Canada actually has 14 single payer systems, 10 Provinces, 3 Territories (treated like Provinces generally, but the feds sign off laws instead of the Queen or her representative) and the Feds (veterans, natives and such).

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:55PM (5 children)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:55PM (#840391) Homepage Journal

      I said, 5 weeks. But to see a Specialist, the average( 2017 ) was 21.2 weeks!!! That's from Statistics, a type of Math. fraserinstitute.org/studies/waiting-your-turn-wait-times-for-health-care-in-canada-2017 [fraserinstitute.org]

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by sshelton76 on Tuesday May 07 2019, @08:39PM (4 children)

        by sshelton76 (7978) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @08:39PM (#840416)

        Have you tried to see a specialist in the USA?
        IF you can get approval from your insurance to see one at all I can promise you it's 6 months out before he can see you unless you have a so called "cadillac" plan like are given to government employees and of course politicians. For the rest of the plebs, seeing a specialist can and frequently does involve traveling to a different country.

        The USA has quite literally the most expensive healthcare in the world with the worst outcomes. Even third world countries have this one nailed down. We however can't seem to get our act together, instead choosing profit over lives.

        • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday May 07 2019, @09:12PM (1 child)

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @09:12PM (#840431) Homepage Journal

          Our Healthcare, at one time, was the envy of the World. The absolute envy of the entire World. And in many ways, it still is. I'm fortunate to have EXCELLENT Health -- my Doctor says I may live to the age of 200 if I give up Fast Food (a tough one). But if I want to see a Specialist, I take out my Checkbook. And there's never any problem there. I guarantee it.

          The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their Universal System is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks.

          The Insurance, we're working very hard on that one. I was never planning a vote prior to the 2020 Election on the wonderful HealthCare package that some very talented people are now developing for me & the Republican Party. It will be on full display during the Election as a much better & less expensive alternative to ObamaCare. ObamaCare is a disaster, far too expensive and deductibility ridiculously high -- virtually unusable! Moving forward in Courts and Legislatively!

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @12:28PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @12:28PM (#840734)

            No-one in Britain is marching against the NHS. They're marching against your corrupt mate Nigel Farage's pet project of Brexshit.

        • (Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Tuesday May 07 2019, @10:00PM (1 child)

          by Magic Oddball (3847) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @10:00PM (#840468) Journal

          That's the case for the fully-private specialists, yes... I don't know about other HMOs, but while mine (Kaiser) has a lot of frustrating flaws, I can say that the wait for one of its specialists is rarely more than 4 weeks.

          • (Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:03AM

            by dry (223) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:03AM (#840654) Journal

            Canada, it depends on the Province (healthcare is Provincial with the Feds using bribery to enforce standards like how your highways work) but here, it can be months for something like a hip and days for a heart. Lots of triaging based on need rather then wealth.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @10:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @10:27PM (#840477)

      Umm I just scheduled an appointment for my kids to get shots and what not

      That's what the GP is talking about. In capitalist US of A, you don't even need an appointment for your kids to get shot!

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Webweasel on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:30AM

    by Webweasel (567) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:30AM (#840710) Homepage Journal

    UK Here. Everything you get told about the NHS is bullshit.

    If I want to see a doctor, I phone the local GP's office at 8am or 12pm. I get an appointment the same day.

    Usually the appointment happens a half hour after the schedule, but that's down to old people having nothing to do expect annoy doctors all day.

    I had a skin cancer scare recently. Saw the doctor the same day, had an appointment with a skin specialist 2 weeks later. Turned out to be a nasty stubborn patch of eczema.

    I have IBS too, it got really bad for a while last year. Saw the doctor, blood taken for a test 2 days later. Blood and stool tested within a week. Had an ultrasound 3 weeks later. Had to give up coffee.

    Have had to take my son and daughter to A&E a few times. The triage is really good, if its urgent your seen straight away. I have never waited more than 2 hours in A&E (Just don't go on a Friday night when its full of drunks)

    EVERYTHING America is told about the NHS is bullshit.

    --
    Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956