HCV, B.C. and Socialized Medicine

Q-What Is Socialized Medicine?.

A - The term is used to describe a system put in place by the government to publicly administered national health care. In England this system was first initiated in 1948; at that time the government was to provide free physician and hospital services. However, now they pay a small fee for doctors services but the concept is still in place.

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In Canada socialized medicine appears to exhibit a few drawbacks according to the report published online today entitled "Wait times for Canadians seeking medical treatment increases"

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Revealed in the report is the current wait time for Medical oncology and radiation oncology; The average is approximately 4.9 to 5.5 weeks.

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Also covered in the published report is the wait time to be seen by a specialist ; "Last year, from the time their GP referred them to a specialist to the time their treatment was actually started, Canadians had to wait approximately 16.1 weeks. That period has risen dramatically in just one year up to 18.2 weeks. The nationwide trend toward increased wait times is repeated through all 10 Canadian provinces".

The video link posted here today on the blog is a B.C. news report dated March 3, 2010 covering HCV and drug coverage. The CBC news reported on binge drinking by Hepatitis C Patients in order to raise enzyme levels and receive treatment.

According to CBC news ; "The provincial drug plans in B.C. and Ontario only pay for antiviral treatments if hepatitis C patients submit documented evidence of significant liver damage" .

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B.C./ Ontartio won't pay for antiviral drugs for those without liver damage, so some hepatitis C patients binge drink, Kathy Tomlinson reports.Hepatitis C patient Richard Levesque said he went on a three-day drinking binge to try to damage his liver enough to qualify for treatment in B.C. (CBC).

View Video

The same dire attempts are prevalent in Ontario, which have similar guidelines for drug coverage as those in B.C. The online news article accompanying the video mentioned Hepatitis C suffers in Ontario are also trying to inflame their livers in order to get the province to pay for HCV drugs. For anyone infected with HCV in B.C or Canada its apparent that "socialized medicine" is not working. Note* The 120 or so replies to the March online article were astounding..

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Private Reform In Canada?.

In July of 2010 written by DAVID GRATZER was the article Rethinking Socialized Medicine In Canada.

Mr Gratzer writes "Regina's health board (charged with providing health service to the city's population) recently started entertaining the idea of contracting out CT scans to the private sector. And with good reason: Regina has just three CT scanners, and they are running at full capacity, seven days a week. The reach-out to the private sector, then, is about practicality, not ideology — patients are simply waiting too long. Regina isn't the only place in Canada where health care officials are contemplating private reforms. In British Columbia, the government is moving hospitals to a pay-for-service model that would lead providers to compete with one another directly. In Quebec, the premier has openly endorsed the idea of co-pays for basic services, which no politician previously supported. And governments across the country are hiring private clinics to provide basic surgeries".

Socialized medicine can put patients at risk the author spoke of a woman who died in a Montreal ER ; "Why the appetite for change in a country that has long been held as a model of health care efficiency and equity? The system is beset by problems. According to the Canadian Medical Association, roughly 4 million to 5 million people don't have a family physician. Patients wait for practically any problem, sometimes with disastrous results. A Montreal woman died recently after waiting four days in a hospital ER, the last of a string of Quebec deaths that led the head of that province's College of Physicians to hope openly for a "miracle."

This my friends is socialized medicine.

In the United States socialized medicine is more of a term coined to provoke negative overtone for debate around the government involvement in our U.S. health care. According to wikipedia it may be defined as any system of medical care that is publicly financed, government administered, or both. In other words in the United States we will not be using the "term" socialized medicine , for socialized medicine.

I had an in depth conversation with my physician about the government involvement in our health care. His biggest concern as a patient is the new guidelines involving standard of care. Will there be limitations ? He wonders if a 75 year old needs a bypass will "Standard of Care" consider it feasible ? Maybe not. Why ? Well, because of life expectancy.

We discussed facing health care without specialized medicine. He elaborated starting with the doctor who now specializes in treating cancer, diabetes, children, pregnancy, arthritis, heart, they will no longer be in practice. He said highly advanced surgical procedures could also be a thing of the past.

The bottom Line

We may have one doctor to visit for all our medical needs. The horrifying reality is he will prescribe the same treatment as every other doctor based on the services for which the government has agreed to pay. We will no longer be treated as an individual patient/case, instead everyone will be treated the same.

Under the nationalized health-care program the goal is to standardize services and not to specialize them.

That is standardized care, this is "socialized medicine".