The Blood is The Life 12-01-2013

[miss_s_b]

• Five Myths About Health Care outside the US
  Interesting link illustrates both what Americans believe about their healthcare system and things we can learn in other countries too.
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• If you want to get in shape, ditch the lady weights and hit the iron - Telegraph
  The one thing that bothers me about this is "I promise it won't make you butch and bulky" - erm. I love doing weights. But they DO make me look like Sylvester Stallone. It's just that I quite like that.
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• Manchester honours the woman behind the pioneering music of Doctor Who | UK news | guardian.co.uk
  If you're stuck for something to do today and are anywhere near Manchester you could do worse than go for this.
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• I wish Suzanne Moore would stop digging
  "Moore fucked up. It was a minor fuck-up at first, but with her reaction, it escalated into something far uglier and far harder to heal."
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Comments

[haggis]

While Suzanne Moore's original throwaway leverything workine was stupid and insensitive and her later comments were horrifically transphobic, I can no longer believe the repeated claim that if she'd just apologised quickly for the original comment, people would have accepted that. The proof of that is the references to Caitlin Moran, who *has* apologise for must of the things people quote to claim she's racist/albeit/transphobic but that doesn't stop people labeling her those things.

[miss_s_b]

I don't think it would have stopped all of it, but I think it would have stopped reasonable people from attacking her.

[haggis]

Yes, I think my example cuts both ways - I respect Caitlin Moran and will defend her because she apologised rather than inflamed the situation, whereas anything else Suzanne Moore says will be filed under 'use with care, may contain hateful stuff along with the good stuff'

[miss_s_b]

That's because you're a reasonable person.

[jo]

That healthcare article seems horribly wrong about Canada. First of all there's not really a "Canadian" model because health care is a provincial responsibility and each province does things differently. And I don't understand the writer's harping on Canadians depending on private hospitals and insurance and such - that's not the case at all. Some services are contracted out to private labs/clinics, but we don't pay extra for that - it's still covered by the provincial health plan (at least in Ontario). Some provinces do allow totally private clinics where people have to pay for everything up front - mostly just really rich business types use those, but that's still a grey area here. Some things covered in the UK aren't covered by most provincial plans, or only partially, eg covered for kids and seniors only, things like dental, eye care (unless we're talking major treatments like glaucoma and such, but you have to pay to go see an optometrist for a regular checkup), prescription meds, etc. But again, that will vary by province, so it's really difficult to say "This is the Canadian model" - but I will say that I really didn't recognize the "Canadian" model described in that article. Not my experience at all and I've lived in 2 different provinces.

[miss_s_b]

Thank you for informed and informative comment. Possibly the article is wrong about other stuff too...

[jo]

I think it's just really simplified, since healthcare in any country is a rather complex thing - he couldn't possibly begin to describe in detail how things work in each country.

Even the wait-times issue here in Canada - it really varies depending on where you live (even within a province) and what the procedure is. And all the provinces have made reducing wait times a major priority. For example, because of a family history, I have to get a colonoscopy done every 3 years or so - totally non-emergency since I don't have any symptoms, it's purely precautionary. When I was last due for one, back in 2010, after I'd seen the specialist, I went to book an appointment for the actual procedure with his receptionist and I could have had one the very next day (due to a cancellation - but still!). As it was, I opted to wait a few months because I wanted to get it done during the summer when it would be easier for me to take a couple of days off from work. I've mostly lived in big cities (Montreal, Toronto), and never really had to wait for anything (not that I've had a lot of medical issues either, luckily). My parents live in a rural northern mining town, so it's a bit different there - for some procedures and tests, they have to go to a larger centre about 300km away (not that far by Canadian standards) because the local hospital doesn't have the equipment/specialists. But that's most likely the case in the US too (and the UK?).

[miss_s_b]

Yes, waiting lists vary down to where you are, where the hospital with the right specialists is, and what procedure you're having done. I would see that as normal and inevitable, but certain sections of the press decry it as a "postcode lottery" on a regular basis.

[jo]

I was thinking about that article whilst out doing groceries and I think what the author was probably referring to re: Canadians and private insurance is the benefits most employers offer which do cover things like dental and eye care (not 100%, but at least partially). But if that's what he's referring to, it's not well-written because it's certainly nowhere like the situation in the US where you need insurance for any type of medical care. What private insurance covers here would be just that - dental, eye care, certain things like massage therapy, acupuncture, physiotherapy (which might not always be covered by the province), psychological services, etc.

[davegodfrey]

That sounds rather like the UK too- we have prescription charges (although its a standard rate), and you have to pay for eye tests and dental appointments, although if its an NHS dentist its relatively low, and if your eyes are bad enough (like mine) you get free eye tests, and a few quid off the new glasses (although at £60+ a lens it doesn't make that much difference).

In the defence of the author, while the Canadian model may vary from province to province, it seems to be consistent within a province, whereas in the US it isn't, for the reasons given.

[ginasketch]

What is it with the Guardian and its transphobic feminist writers? Julie Birchill, Julie Bindel, Suzanne Moore. If they were given a platform to spout racist or homophobic bigotry there would be an outcry, but instead everyone talks about transwomen's genitalia and "whether they are men or not" like they are discussing the weather over a cup of tea.

It's sickening.