Cystic fibrosis patients living 10 years longer in Canada than U.S.
Source: CBC News
Posted: Mar 13, 2017 5:00 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 13, 2017 10:57 PM ET
Over the last two decades there's been a big improvement in survival rates for people with cystic fibrosis, with patients in Canada living 10 years longer than those in the U.S.
People with cystic fibrosis are living to a median age of 50.9 years in Canada, compared with 40.6 years in the U.S., according to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
And that's years longer than the life expectancy 25 years ago, when Erick Bauer was first diagnosed with the disease.
"I was diagnosed when I was five years old," Bauer told CBC News, as he awaited treatment at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, which has the largest adult cystic fibrosis clinic in Canada.
"At the time, the life expectancy for people with cystic fibrosis was about 17 years of age, so certainly now, being 31 years old, I've come a long way, but still see many good years left in my future hopefully."
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cystic-fibrosis-survival-rates-1.4022970
Ultimately, screw all "-----care."
We need Single! Fucking! Payer!
caroldansen
(725 posts)dalton99a
(81,065 posts)Verbose Matthias
(68 posts)Orrex
(63,084 posts)Virtual Burlesque
(132 posts)Canada has single payer (provincial bureaucracies) healthcare which must cover everyone, and so it has become financially advantageous to become heavily involved in preventative health measures.
It is nearly always cheaper to prevent a disease than it is to cure one after it's onset.
Vinca
(50,170 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,787 posts)FakeNoose
(32,343 posts)BadgerMom
(2,766 posts)is 14. He has CF. His parents pay over $1000 per month out of pocket. Nevertheless, the ACA has been a tremendous boon, especially the no denial of insurance and no lifetime cap features.
My grandson has a disease that will last his entire life. Insurers will run from him because he's unprofitable for them. Republicans want to protect the insurers instead of my grandson. I detest them.
FakeNoose
(32,343 posts)I'm so sorry for your grandson.
I hate to say this, and I don't mean to sound insensitive, but your family should consider a move to Canada.
Even healthy people are getting screwed here.
I hate to think what will happen to someone with an incurable condition.
BadgerMom
(2,766 posts)My husband is retiring. Retirees immigrating to Canada need a health check by Canadian doctors which I don't think would be a huge problem. And they need $80000 to demonstrate they plan to be investors. We could do that. Our son-in-law is an MD, a pathologist. He might have to qualify in Canada which would be a no-brainer for him. The kids are 18, 15 and 14. If we began the process now, we might be approved by the time the 15-year-old is entering college. Our other daughter has a PhD in satellite imaging and a job in her field in New Mexico. Her fiancé is a climate science PhD. Clearly they'd be welcome in Canada and better off. We'll see.
Worried senior
(1,328 posts)wake up before it harms more people.
Good luck to your grandson and his parents, terrible position to be in.
Kimchijeon
(1,606 posts)and having single payer is certainly key.
pat_k
(9,313 posts)Last edited Tue Mar 14, 2017, 08:28 PM - Edit history (1)
Dems in the House need to start working on generating the political will NOW by introducing a competing ACA "fix" that adds the public option. And they need to launch a coordinated effort to "sell" it to the public. Call on people to contact Reps to tell them the Dem bill is what they want. And if/when it is blocked this session, call on people to elect Dems in 2018 so we CAN get it done.
Right now we are engaged in a losing "ACA sucks" v. No it doesn't" argument. We need to move the fight to "our turf." They claim "their" bill will reduce premiums. It's a lie, but people will be/are being duped by it. Without a competing bill, all we can say is "their bill won't lower premiums." And that's a classic "Don't think of an elephant" loser. With a competing bill that has the public option -- which actually WILL cut costs through polling and negotiation -- we've got something positive to advocate. We need to do more than fight for the status quo if we want to move our healthcare system in the right direction (or stop reversal).
ACA is in fact not great. It needs fixing. The right kind of fixing. Let's accept the reality that "they" have successfully demonized it and we are not going to be able to undo that damage. The only way to really protect what we've got is to change the game.