Maine, do you want to be part of Canada? (Bangor: buy, go bankrupt)

[TerryDactyls]

In 1965, the Minnesota legislature decided (in their infinite wisdom) to allow each county to decide whether or not to follow Daylight Savings Time. When summer rolled around, half the counties around the Twin Cities were on Daylight Savings and the other half were not. What a nightmare! I was dating a girl at the time that lived in a different time zone and whenever we went out we had to spend a lot of time on logistics. For example, to go to a 7:30 movie, we first had to determine what time zone the theater was in. If it was near my house, I would have to pick her up around 5:45 to drive 20 minutes to the theater for a 7:30 movie. And I would have to get her home by midnight (her time) which was 1:00 AM my time and after my curfew. Fortunately my parents were very understanding and allowed me a lot of leeway. Thank goodness that experiment by the legislature only lasted one year.

[tatans]

Being from Canadaland (that's the one to the North) and not aware of the healthcare system of the U S of A, has anyone actually seen a medical patient brought to a hospital and rejected because they had no health plan and thrown out of the hospital and died on the steps? this seems to be the notion that most Canadians have of the US health system, I had a pacemaker installed 6 hours after diagnosis, and 2 years ago a new hip replaced, our medical care is great, even had a doctor come to my house 3 times on his way home (small town) If there are any faults to our system it is the costs, we have in most cases 3 times the amount of personnel as administrators as actual medical staff, some small Provinces have 35 administrative jurisdictions when 3 would do, the maritimes are the worst as most people here work for some form of the Government, University students can't wait to graduate from university so they can work for the civil service, Nova Scotia has 13 accredited universities, don't think that isn't a drag on taxpayers, socialism is alive and well in Canada, by the way, national healthcare was first started in the Province of Saskatchewan by the then socialistic government CCF.
No metric system? no national health care? now they want to take away all your guns?, c'mon up here, you won't get shot but you may get stabbed. Hey, now North Korea is mad at you eh?
Really, has anyone on this forum been rejected health care for not belonging to a health plan, or is this a myth?

[wordsmith680]

The issue isn't strictly denial of care. The issue for us is not being able to afford the monthly payment for a legitimate major medical plan. When you are treated w/o insurance you pay MORE because the "list" price is much higher than negotiated by insurance or especially Medicare. No, people are not refused treatment, but we pay more because of a short sighted system.

If the UP of Michigan would have been able to become their own state of Superior, I think it would have been more progressive than the current administration. Because of economic realities this is, and always was a pipe dream.. The corporate owned media has made Socialism more scary than most boogie men. Isn't Canada moving much further right wing politically? I would trade healthcare systems in a heart beat. 51st state? Yoopers are talking up secession from Michigan again | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by tatans

Being from Canadaland (that's the one to the North) and not aware of the healthcare system of the U S of A, has anyone actually seen a medical patient brought to a hospital and rejected because they had no health plan and thrown out of the hospital and died on the steps? this seems to be the notion that most Canadians have of the US health system, I had a pacemaker installed 6 hours after diagnosis, and 2 years ago a new hip replaced, our medical care is great, even had a doctor come to my house 3 times on his way home (small town) If there are any faults to our system it is the costs, we have in most cases 3 times the amount of personnel as administrators as actual medical staff, some small Provinces have 35 administrative jurisdictions when 3 would do, the maritimes are the worst as most people here work for some form of the Government, University students can't wait to graduate from university so they can work for the civil service, Nova Scotia has 13 accredited universities, don't think that isn't a drag on taxpayers, socialism is alive and well in Canada, by the way, national healthcare was first started in the Province of Saskatchewan by the then socialistic government CCF.
No metric system? no national health care? now they want to take away all your guns?, c'mon up here, you won't get shot but you may get stabbed. Hey, now North Korea is mad at you eh?
Really, has anyone on this forum been rejected health care for not belonging to a health plan, or is this a myth?

No person will be rejected from being seen in an Emergency Room under any circumstance for being unable to pay. EMTALA EMTALA.COM - Resources and information laws prevent this from happening.

It's unfortunate that a LAW had to be passed largely because larger institutions were 'dumping' indigent patients on smaller facilities which then went broke and closed.

The barrier to health care for a lot of people is the lack of adequate, affordable (or any at all) insurance. They can't afford massive health care bills, and a person with one preexisting chronic condition can rack up a bill like nobody's business.

As far as joining Canada, eh, probably not - we're an entirely different breed (although in full disclosure, part of my grandmother's family hailed from O'Canada originally).

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by wordsmith680

The issue isn't strictly denial of care. The issue for us is not being able to afford the monthly payment for a legitimate major medical plan. When you are treated w/o insurance you pay MORE because the "list" price is much higher than negotiated by insurance or especially Medicare. No, people are not refused treatment, but we pay more because of a short sighted system.

If the UP of Michigan would have been able to become their own state of Superior, I think it would have been more progressive than the current administration. Because of economic realities this is, and always was a pipe dream.. The corporate owned media has made Socialism more scary than most boogie men. Isn't Canada moving much further right wing politically? I would trade healthcare systems in a heart beat. 51st state? Yoopers are talking up secession from Michigan again | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

That's not necessarily true. I saved a crap load of money on a stress test, by paying cash.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by AustinB

That's not necessarily true. I saved a crap load of money on a stress test, by paying cash.

Absolutely true. I don't know a hospital in this state that wouldn't give a discount for cash payment now.

Hospitals reward prompt payment | Sun Journal

[Kracer]

Canada doesn't share our gun laws and that would be a rate limiting step to join that kingdom.

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by Kracer

Canada doesn't share our gun laws and that would be a rate limiting step to join that kingdom.

Yet you can still own a gun up there , half of Canada does....the laws vary province to province.....same with the Healthcare and Univ costs....no different then from here. Although it seems to function better up there then down here...less federal fighting....better economy...

[wordsmith680]

Originally Posted by reloop

Absolutely true. I don't know a hospital in this state that wouldn't give a discount for cash payment now.

Hospitals reward prompt payment | Sun Journal

My personal experience was with hospitals in Texas and here in Michigan regarding the rate for a procedure charge not a cash discount after the fact. Additionally, most of those w/o insurance do not have the thousands of dollars to pay in cash.
If you are thinking of negotiating with an individual provider, they will have less ability to do that as they are selling their practices to the hospital corps.
We are getting a little off topic, sorry. I looked at this thread because the geography and population issues are similar here in the UP. We also have the time zones to deal with. North, West, and East of here is Eastern. Here it is Central time.

[Kracer]

Canadian border crossing requirements/weapons allowed/not allowed......

Importing a Firearm or Weapon Into Canada

Canadian firearms info
Canadian Firearms Program - Royal Canadian Mounted Police

2012;
"Until further notice, due to a Court Order issued by the Quebec Superior Court, residents of Quebec are still required to register non-restricted firearms with the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program."

Plenty of Maine residents would cite these and many other reasons to be independent at least, as demonstrated by the resistence to surrender ownership of a massive portion of the state of Maine to the US federal government for a north woods park. So what chance does Canada have in exchange for the surrender of more state's rights?