Canadian Premier comes to America for medical care

[calfoxwc]

'My heart, my choice,' Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgeryBy Tara Brautigam (CP) – 16 hours ago

 

An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.

 

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have a "minimally invasive" surgery for an ailment first detected nearly a year ago, based on the advice of his doctors.

 

"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.

 

"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."

 

The 60-year-old Williams said doctors detected a heart murmur last spring and told him that one of his heart valves wasn't closing properly, creating a leakage.

 

He said he was told at the time that the problem was "moderate" and that he should come back for a checkup in six months.

 

Eight months later, in December, his doctors told him the problem had become severe and urged him to get his valve repaired immediately or risk heart failure, he said.

 

His doctors in Canada presented him with two options - a full or partial sternotomy, both of which would've required breaking bones, he said.

 

He said he spoke with and provided his medical information to a leading cardiac surgeon in New Jersey who is also from Newfoundland and Labrador. He advised him to seek treatment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.

 

That's where he was treated by Dr. Joseph Lamelas, a cardiac surgeon who has performed more than 8,000 open-heart surgeries.

 

Williams said Lamelas made an incision under his arm that didn't require any bone breakage.

 

"I wanted to get in, get out fast, get back to work in a short period of time," the premier said.

 

Williams said he didn't announce his departure south of the border because he didn't want to create "a media gong show," but added that criticism would've followed him had he chose to have surgery in Canada.

 

"I would've been criticized if I had stayed in Canada and had been perceived as jumping a line or a wait list. ... I accept that. That's public life," he said.

 

"(But) this is not a unique phenomenon to me. This is something that happens with lots of families throughout this country, so I make no apologies for that."

 

Williams said his decision to go to the U.S. did not reflect any lack of faith in his own province's health care system.

 

"I have the utmost confidence in our own health care system in Newfoundland and Labrador, but we are just over half a million people," he said.

 

"We do whatever we can to provide the best possible health care that we can in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian health care system has a great reputation, but this is a very specialized piece of surgery that had to be done and I went to somebody who's doing this three or four times a day, five, six days a week."

 

He quipped that he had "a heart of a 40-year-old, so that gives me 20 years new life," and said he intends to run in the next provincial election in 2011.

 

"I'm probably going to be around for a long time, hopefully, if God willing," he said.

 

"God forbid for the Canadian public I won't be around longer than ever."

 

Williams also said he paid for the treatment, but added he would seek any refunds he would be eligible for in Canada.

 

"If I'm entitled to any reimbursement from any Canadian health care system or any provincial health care system, then obviously I will apply for that as anybody else would," he said.

 

"But I wrote out the cheque myself and paid for it myself and to this point, I haven't even looked into the possibility of any reimbursement. I don't know what I'm entitled to, if anything, and if it's nothing, then so be it."

 

He is expected back at work in early March.

 

 

[osusev]

NO ONE is disputing IF you have enough money we have the best care in the world....

 

This is just another example of switching the focus to another topic to confuse the intent of reform.......

 

IF you DONT have that much money....... well totally different story........ I am sure a family making 40k a year can afford 8k-12k in premiums a year, I bet that heart specialist was on their list to fly to florida....

 

sheep think more objectively.

[Westside Steve]

NO ONE is disputing IF you have enough money we have the best care in the world....

 

This is just another example of switching the focus to another topic to confuse the intent of reform.......

 

IF you DONT have that much money....... well totally different story........ I am sure a family making 40k a year can afford 8k-12k in premiums a year, I bet that heart specialist was on their list to fly to florida....

 

sheep think more objectively.

 

That's what I pay Sev.

And I get great care.

 

Yeah I wish it was free.

I wish I could f*ck Paula Abdul too.

 

WSS

[calfoxwc]

He said he was told at the time that the problem was "moderate" and that he should come back for a checkup in six months.

 

Eight months later, in December, his doctors told him the problem had become severe and urged him to get his valve repaired immediately or risk heart failure, he said.

 

His doctors in Canada presented him with two options - a full or partial sternotomy, both of which would've required breaking bones, he said.

\

This is the point. that gov health care wouldn't give him the expert, big time serious surgery he needed.

 

So, he had to come here to get it. That is the point. Gov health care is run like any other red tape sombeech gov office trying to make

 

a real solution to nothing, because they don't have money for it, and they have to cut somewhere, and bureaucrats decide based on funding, or lack there of, FOR you, instead of with you based on your health and well being.

[osusev]

cal you cant make absolute comparisons on a idea like "government" run health care. Their are literally dozens of different hybrids and solutions... Germany is vastly different than say Britain which is sort of similar to Taiwan but again is vastly different to South Korea's....... which again is different than Canada's..........

 

I dont want a pure Goverment run health care system...... I would like a OPTION of one as a check against private...... but there is literally dozens of ways to make this correct...... IF you were such a conservative Debt hound......... Health care reform should be NUMBER ONE on your priority list because of the rising percentage it is costing tax payers..... it is unchecked currently.......

 

Steve I dont know your health care plan.... and yes there do exist some very good comprehensive plans..... however we are not debating that. We are debating effective measures to contain and control costs along with increasing health care efficiency and delivery to anyone.....

 

The sole fact they have a monopoly exception is Retarded....... I have ZERO problem with shopping pools.... IF the options are not all colluding with each other because their are only 12 major groups........ anti trust worked for the phone companies it will work for the health care industry.

[calfoxwc]

i honestly don't know anyone who isn't for health care reform.

 

BUT:

 

Any bill I've seen from the Obamao Dems, has levers in it to pry people away from their

private insurance, by hook or crook. I reject that.

 

And, not one of those Obamao Dems versions contains anything about Tort reform. Why not?

That sounds like there's a hidden message there from those who won't put it in the bill.

 

There are several videos of people, some officials, saying that gov health care is, at worst in their opinion,

a start to it being the only option.

 

Some of the people who say capitalism must go.... are some of the most ardent advocates of gov health care.

 

It is suspicious that Obamao won't let Republicans in on health care reform from the beginning, and only now

he is pretending to reverse course and all of a sudden be "bipartisan".

Like he didn't have much to do with ACORN preelection, but a video of him talking to ACORN, says he has always

been working with ACORN ever since he started being an organizer. There are Dems in Congress who don't trust Obamao

now, and they are really getting sick over Pelosi and Reid's act, too.

 

Taking 500 billion away from Medicare/Medicaid is so stupid an idea, you have to figure that whoever it is that

wants to do it... has a very serious underlying motivation.

 

I thought everybody on welfare already had free medical insurance. Am I wrong? So, just develop the program

that ONLY OFFERS an ability to obtain hc insurance from a private provider. Let buying hc insurance be deductable.

 

If the poorer folks who do work, but can't afford it, or can't get it because of pre-existing conditions, fix that.

 

Crashing down private enterprise and letting gov take over is no freakin solution to anything.

 

If Congress really wanted to effect health care reform, they would have used the stimulus packages toward that end.

Those packages did no good, created no jobs, and put us so far in debt that health care reform will break the already broken bank into more pieces.

 

throw the health care bills out the window, and all of Congress sit down and do legit reform. And if tort reform isn't part of it,

throw it all out, and start over again.

 

Either solve the problem, or don't. But creating a whole new gigantic set of problems doesn't do anything good for anyone.

[Westside Steve]

cal you cant make absolute comparisons on a idea like "government" run health care. Their are literally dozens of different hybrids and solutions... Germany is vastly different than say Britain which is sort of similar to Taiwan but again is vastly different to South Korea's....... which again is different than Canada's..........

 

I dont want a pure Goverment run health care system...... I would like a OPTION of one as a check against private...... but there is literally dozens of ways to make this correct...... IF you were such a conservative Debt hound......... Health care reform should be NUMBER ONE on your priority list because of the rising percentage it is costing tax payers..... it is unchecked currently.......

 

Steve I dont know your health care plan.... and yes there do exist some very good comprehensive plans..... however we are not debating that. We are debating effective measures to contain and control costs along with increasing health care efficiency and delivery to anyone.....

 

The sole fact they have a monopoly exception is Retarded....... I have ZERO problem with shopping pools.... IF the options are not all colluding with each other because their are only 12 major groups........ anti trust worked for the phone companies it will work for the health care industry.

 

 

Speaking of false impressions, Sev, do you believe the "public option" would be free or substantially less expensive than another plan?

 

WSS

[heckofajobbrownie]

Why would any of this change under the proposed plans? This is such a waste of time. It's not even an argument.

 

How does putting 30 million more Americans in private insurance plans make it less likely that we're going to have great heart surgeons and medical technology that (wealthy) people from other countries will want to take advantage of?

 

Anyone want to try and explain that?

 

This isn't about what the Premier of Newfoundland can afford to do. This is about what Steve can afford, and my friend who is unemployed despite being highly educated and qualified, and the sick, and the underinsured, and the people who get screwed by the insurance industry every day.

 

 

 

 

[heckofajobbrownie]

Speaking of false impressions, Sev, do you believe the "public option" would be free or substantially less expensive than another plan?

 

WSS

 

First of all, there is no public option on the table. It's gone and not coming back.

 

But it was never going to be "free." We went over that long ago.

[calfoxwc]

You can't say it isn't coming back, Heck. Obamao and leftist Congress will do it some other way, by some other name,

 

in any left handed manner they can effect it. Obamao has lied repeatedly before the election, and afterwards.

 

Without true Republican representation in the creation of a bill that WILL amount to legimate reform, it is

 

garbage.

[heckofajobbrownie]

It's gone, Cal. The votes aren't there. You can rest easy.

 

Now all that's left is a system to subsidize the purchase of private insurance. But don't let that stop you from screaming "government takeover."

 

Romney even did that at CPAC the other day. Because he's the most shameless politician I've ever seen. (And out of all the Republicans in the kitty, the one I hope wins the nomination, because at least he's not an idiot who doesn't know anything.)

[calfoxwc]

That would be nice if it were true, Heck.

 

But all that's left is about 2,000 pages, and Obama's,

 

is even more costly and includes higher taxes, etc.

 

None of us have, or can read the freakin gigantic bill.

 

I tried, but started getting heartburn after a good while.... @@

[heckofajobbrownie]

You're not going to get taxed a dime, Cal. Not in this plan. It probably won't affect you at all, except to make the coverage you have more secure, and perhaps slightly more affordable. I know, it's horrible.

 

And why are you complaining that the program is paid for with taxes? How else would you like them to pay for it, with pixie dust?

 

If you want the benefits of 30 million more insured Americans and greater health care security, guess what? You have to pay for it.

 

I suppose you could do what Bush and the Republicans did with Medicare Part D, which is to create a new entitlement worth billions and billions and then not pay for it at all. Just give it to people, and don't create any mechanism to fund the damn program. Just put it on the tab! Then no one bitches about new taxes to pay for it! See how easy governing is when you're willing to be completely irresponsible?

 

Yes, Cal, paying for the program with new taxes is the responsible thing to do. You don't get something for nothing.

[calfoxwc]

We're already taxed out the wazoo, and Obamao has put us profoundly in unmanageable debt, it's a very serious crisis.

 

He already blew the money that could have been used to initiate hc reform, and he alienated and ignored Republicans in the process,

 

in contrast to his "bipartisan" lies before.

 

And he said we would NOT pay one more dime in taxes.

 

So, libs bashed Bush 1 for saying "no new taxes", and they will be quiet while

Obamao does the exact same thing.

 

Lie/change his mind ever so conveniently/suck.

 

Except, Obamao has no idea about the military, doesn't like our Constitution, doesn't like capitalism,

 

and I sneeze in his direction.

[heckofajobbrownie]

I tried.

[Mr. T]

Less than 25% of Americans want Obama's HC reform, so why the hell are we having a summit?

[calfoxwc]

I'm still trying, Heck. wait, that didn't come out right.... GGG

 

anyways, here is one example of why I said what I said, Heck.

 

Seems whatever Obamao says, he does the opposite. Here:

 

*****************************************

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/peter-roff/200...-and-trade.html

 

Obama Considers Middle Class Tax Hikes for Healthcare, "Cap and Trade"

June 29, 2009 05:09 PM ET | Peter Roff | Permanent Link | Print

By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

 

As his opponents predicted during the 2008 election, President Barack Obama's plans for America will be paid for by higher taxes on the American middle class.

 

Candidate Obama promised those in the middle class that they wouldn't see an increase in the taxes they pay to the federal government. "I pledge to you that under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not income tax, not capital gains taxes, not any kind of tax," the Manchester, N.H., Union Leader reported him saying in September 2008. Well, as Mona Lisa Vito said in My Cousin Vinny , "that plan's moot."

 

In point of fact, Obama has already broken that pledge. His increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes took care of that. But it isn't stopping there. If anything, the White House, having already inhaled, now appears somewhat feverish on the subject of higher taxes.

 

The cap and trade legislation he backed that passed the U.S. House Friday will hit the wallets of most every American hard with what many folks would call higher taxes on energy. And now from inside the West Wing comes the word that Obama's much vaunted, much criticized public option healthcare reform will be paid for, at least in part, by higher taxes on the middle class.

 

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said the president won't rule out a health reform bill that includes a middle-class tax hike.

 

"The president had said in the past that he doesn't believe taxing healthcare benefits at any level is necessarily the best way to go here. He still believes that," Axelrod told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week. "But there are a number of formulations and we'll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to the keep the discussions going. We've gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey." By refusing to rule out higher taxes on the middle class as a way to pay for "punishing healthcare costs," Axelrod telegraphed that idea is very much a live option.

 

Having tested the waters and finding them warm and inviting, it looks like the administration is about to jump into tax revenue pool with both feet. What remains to be seen is if the voters will make them take a bath for it in November 2010

 

 

 

[Westside Steve]

Less than 25% of Americans want Obama's HC reform, so why the hell are we having a summit?

 

 

It's not really a summit.

 

It's a sales pitch.

 

WSS

[calfoxwc]

It's a try to limit any more stupid American public from disagreeing with them about gov

 

takeover of health care.

 

They couldn't care less about doing the right thing, listening to us, listening to Republicans.

 

This bill doesn't reform our health care system any more than the so called stimulus bills righted our economy and

 

created jobs.

 

It's a power grab by progressives/socailists/communists inspired leftists in Congress.

 

Disagree with that, and I'll post some of Obamao's people praising Chavez and Mao again.

 

Obamao is now public enemy # 1, with his sickening arrogant gloating and dismissing of McCain

 

when McCain was very correct for once.

 

They are about them, and they will try to make sure it's always about them. Obamao is now the most dishonest,

 

two faced some beech president by far, in our entire American history. And this Dem leftist controlled Congress approval

 

rating is only 20 %, an American all time lowest approval rating for a Congress, ever, in our entire history.

 

20% means a heyl of a lot of Democrats are very angry, as are Independents and Republicans.

 

On a lighter note - the upside of this attempted dog and poney show by Obamao failed, and he didn't have his mafia

 

SEIU and ACORN thugs outside the room to beat the hell out of McCain and other Republicans after the meeting was over.