Health Care Reform – How Will It Affect Chronic Pain Patients?

I was born in a country with universal healthcare (Denmark) and am now a proud Canadian and I feel I must address a few of your points. 

Yes, there are waits to get e.g., MRIs, but the wait is prioritized.  If I need an MRI for a knee problem and someone else needs one for a brain tumour, I get bumped and you know? I'm OK with that. Because should I some day need an MRI for a brain tumour, I will bump someone else who has a less urgent problem.  Sharing of resources does mean wait times not just for tests but to see specialists, but again, the more serious cases jump to the front of the line.  And everyone gets seen.  For free.  As many times as they need it.  And there are government programs to help people with lower incomes get meds. If you don't have a family doctor, there are walk-in clinics in most areas and they will refer you to tests and specialists.  I just read a statistic that says up to 54% of people with chronic illnesses in the US report not filling a prescription because they couldn't afford it and that 60% of all bankruptcies in the US that are due to medical costs.

I'll give you an example. Someone I know had a horrific accident two years ago that has required her to have many surgeries (after the initial surgery, wait times for the follow-ups have been about a month), stay in a convalescent area of a nursing home for two periods of three months while bones knitted up, has to use a walker and gets 4 hours a week of homecare. In the last two years, she has paid $350 of the expenses incurred and her private insurance paid only for the semi-private room, a walking cast boot thingy and the walker. The rest was covered by the universal health care that so many seem to view with suspicion.

Private insurance does a booming business up here - most people I know have some form of private insurance, often through their workplace and I've purchased my own, as well. It helps pay for dental care, prescriptions that are not for my "pre-existing conditions," upgrades me to a semi-private room instead of the ward room if I need to go into the hospital, helps pay for some equipment, massage, naturopathy, etc.

Is the system perfect? Nope, far from it.  But no system is. There are doctor shortages, especially in rural areas, there are stories of people going to the US for treatment due to scarce resources, but overall health outcomes are better than in the US and Canada spends less money on health care than the US. 73% of Canadians report having confidence in their healthcare system.  There is absolutely room for improvement in the system, but most Canadians resist privatization of healthcare, usually with a shuddering look at what has happened in the States.  Unfortunately, fixing the healthcare system a large part depends on the federal government and we currently have a federal government that does not see this as a high priority.  Hopefully, after the next election, this will change.

And I think I've outstayed my welcome now.

i have chronic pancreatitis, small bowell obstruction & bleeding ulcer -  so my state health insurance wont contuine to treat me with the same meds' doctor's & surgical centers for pain control. what about hospital er's? wont they still treat you & give you the same med's?

There is so much fear mongering misinformation, that I wonder if this isn't directly from the Republican playbook! Let me just reply to a few. You say, with what seems to be regret, that what is described in the bill (which you admit you have not read) seems to be universal healthcare, but which the administration says is not. What's wrong with universal healthcare? Is there something wrong with making healthcare accessible to all? Even to people like you with severe health problems? Don't you want to be able to see a doctor? And let me point out that, in spite of your horror stories about "rationing" health care in foreign countries, we absolutely ration healthcare here. The people who can afford it, they get it. People who can't pay, don't get it. Isn't that rationing? And why do you demonize Medicare and Medicaid? I won't claim either of these systems is perfect (nor is the one we have now), but they create a strong, comprehensive safety net. And we all need that. This kind of reactionary, irrational argument has been tossed around so often, and refuted so often, I'm disappointed this "article" was afforded space. We have a system that doesn't work. It takes more and more in premiums for less and less care, and leaves too many with no healthcare at all. There are drawbacks to single payer systems, too. But let's look at what other countries have done with an eye toward seeing what they do RIGHT and how we can avoid some of their errors. We'll no doubt make some of our own. But let's not use that as an excuse to do NOTHING! If we hold off on doing anything until we find what's perfect, we'll be even worse off that we are now.