Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

I know there are stories, but when I ruined my knee a couple years back, I had almost no wait to get it fixed. I was also immediately admitted when I got an infection too a couple weeks after the surgery.

I didn't pay a red cent. It was great.

You guys pay more in taxes for healthcare than we do. It's bonkers.
 
And yet across the board, it's been shown (by the frasier institute, the same source you linked earlier) that the Canadian wait times DO have a measurable effect on increasing mortality in Canada, no matter how they try to triage. And the only reason it isn't even worse is because when the shit REALLY hits the fan, they send people across the St. Lawrence to get treatment in America because they don't have the facilities.
Fraser Institute is deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeply right wing propaganda and always is. They'll always spin anything their way.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Fraser Institute is deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeply right wing propaganda and always is. They'll always spin anything their way.
I had that kind of feeling, but Dave brought em out, so I figured I'd go with that, as opposed to, like, more Huffpo and whatnot.

I know there are stories, but when I ruined my knee a couple years back, I had almost no wait to get it fixed. I was also immediately admitted when I got an infection too a couple weeks after the surgery.

I didn't pay a red cent. It was great.

You guys pay more in taxes for healthcare than we do. It's bonkers.
Well, I'm glad it worked out for you. I am. Not everyone has been so lucky.

And I do not have any confidence whatsoever in the US Federal Government replicating even half of Canada's level of success in the endeavor. And I say that as someone whose healthcare growing up was mostly taken care of by the Army.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
So we're comparing the best case scenarios of American medicine, to the worst case scenarios of Canadian? How the hell is that fair?
 

GasBandit

Staff member
If I can steer things back to "election day" here for a sec, I did notice a lot of college students at my polling place today. A number of them seemed to be having problems with their registration, in that they registered with their permanent address (IE their parents' address, back home) instead of an address in this county, and so it caused a lot of delays in getting them into the booth.
 
In the US no one waits, because either they have enough money to pay for immediate service, or they just don't go to the doctor until it's serious enough to qualify for the emergency room, where they have to treat you by law...

IT'S GREAT!

Especially when the hospital then jack up prices to make up the shortfalls from the aforementioned mandatory emergency treatments that the patient couldn't afford.
 
If I can steer things back to "election day" here for a sec, I did notice a lot of college students at my polling place today. A number of them seemed to be having problems with their registration, in that they registered with their permanent address (IE their parents' address, back home) instead of an address in this county, and so it caused a lot of delays in getting them into the booth.
If we taught people how to vote, more of them would do it, which doesn't fit the agenda.

Our polling place was busier than I've ever seen a midterm.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
If we taught people how to vote, more of them would do it, which doesn't fit the agenda.

Our polling place was busier than I've ever seen a midterm.
Can confirm, my polling place was the busiest I'd ever seen. First time I ever had to wait in line more than 60 seconds. Even busier than in any previous presidential election.
 
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I was three minutes late to work today because it took me almost 45min to get through the voting process (even though I brought a cheat sheet with me with all the right answers already chosen), whereas usually the clerk has to wait for me to fill out the voting application because I’m the only one there.
I also went at 11am, as is my custom.
Last time, my ballot number was like 160-something.
This time, my ballot number was just under 800.
My wife was telling me before we walked across the street to vote that some places in TX were seeing voter turnout somewhere between 700-800% higher than usual.

—Patrick
 
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I'm late but I'd like to relay some personal experiences about the health care in Newfoundland, if that's alright.

From my understanding we go by how dire the situation is. When my Dads knee began crapping out it was six months before he was seen by a specialist and a year before surgery. The reason for that wait was because that was 'normal' wear and tear for 6'2, 240 pound man in his 50's. Understandable, if not annoying.

Two or three years ago my sister woke up with severe back pain and trouble breathing. A trip to the doctor later and she was whisked to a hospital where it was found that she had blood clots in her lungs as a result of the birth control she was on. The same day she saw a specialist and she was seen weekly after that. Just last week she was feeling pain again, went in, found an infection in her heart and she was on antibiotics and seen by a cardiologist the very next day and will be seen by one weekly.

When my grandmother had breast cancer she was in for treatment two days after they found out.

I guess my point is that wait times aren't a catch all thing? It's very case by case. A cyst on your ovary that is causing little trouble will be seen to but not before the woman who has a cancerous growth in the same spot is seen, you feel?

I dunno. I guess Americans pointing to the wait times bother me because they are focusing on the wrong parts.
 
CNN is reporting that in some polling districts in Georgia, where Kemp has been waging a war on voting rights non-stop, some polling locations lacked power strips and power cords for voting machines and people were waiting for hours for IT/facilities to show up.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
In Texas, btw, I'm being accused of aiding and abetting democrats by not voting Republican. That my vote for Dikeman is a de facto vote for Beto. So maybe Blots can take some solace there, if isn't smothered by the metric ton of irony.
 
In Texas, btw, I'm being accused of aiding and abetting democrats by not voting Republican. That my vote for Dikeman is a de facto vote for Beto. So maybe Blots can take some solace there, if isn't smothered by the metric ton of irony.
Being from Wisconsin, I'm sure Blotsfan would prefer cheese sauce.
 
I think it's fair to say everyone wants cheese sauce, regardless of place of origin.
I don't doubt your desire, but I should really take pictures of our local cheese section for you. I'm not sure you understand the level of insanity that is Wisconsin cheese.
 
It’s taken me until your two posts above to hear anything resembling results. I am leaving work now, was just going to judge results based on counting how many burning cars I see on the way home.

—Patrick
 
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