Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Despicable US Healthcare Commercial - Not Right!

I just saw the most despicable commercial on CNN. It shows a Canadian woman (although we don’t know for sure she is Canadian, and I have my doubts) talking about how she had brain cancer and it would have taken her six months to see a specialist under the Canadian health care system, but since she only had six months to live, she went to the US and got treatment right away. Had she stayed in Canada she would be dead now.

I know our system here in Canada is not perfect. No system is. But I seriously don’t think that she would have died under our health care system as she describes in the commercial.

She also doesn’t explain the massive amounts of money she would have had to shell out for treatment in the US. Enough to bankrupt most middle to upper class citizens of both countries.

About 1/5th of Americans right now (roughly 50 million (almost twice the population of Canada)) don’t have health care right now. How does the current American system help those people with brain cancer or any other life threatening diseases?

Do CNN and the producers of this commercial realize that we get CNN in Canada?

My US friends; don’t believe this commercial. There are always exceptions to any rule and yes, rarely some people may slip through the cracks. But I don’t know any Canadian that would trade our system for the one in the currently in the US.

Healthcare is one reason I could never seriously consider moving to the US. A higher tax rate is a small price to pay for uniform access to a reasonably cost effective healthcare system.

CNN....pphhhhht!! remember SARS? if you watched CNN's coverage of it you would have thought the entire population of Toronto was wearing masks and scared to cross the street. I never saw anyone in Southern Ontario wearing a mask but somehow CNN made a story from the couple that they found. Everyone took precautions, for sure, but CNN was let's say, a "trifle" sensationalistic.

I'm not usually much for political threads, but...

I share your disgust. Who sponsored the commercial?

There's a difference between "not having health CARE" and not having "health INSURANCE". Lies, damn lies and statistics.

I don't know that a majority of Americans are behind our current President's fixation on blowing up our current system.

Thanks for bringing this up.

There was an excellent article in a recent Economist on this issue. To me, its sad to think that healthcare is such a political issue.

Any idea where the lady resided? I recall a story similar to this a couple years ago, and I believe it was a woman out west.

CNN et al. are a joke, stick to grassroots organizations i.e. Democracy Now!

Its just CNN's propaganda. I take anything that comes from the CNN media oultet with a grain of salt anyways especially anything that deals with the "political" realm. Its disinformation in its finest.

This woman is a fraud. She has already been debunked - what she is calling a brain tumor was actually a cyst (very different than a tumor). This particular type of cyst generally takes years to develop any noticeable symptoms, and she caught it very early. It would be like me saying my ingrown toe-nail is a broken toe.

Anyhow, here is a link detailing everything. Granted the Kos is not always the best source, but they have their facts straight it would appear.

More likely it's the advertisers who paid money to CNN's propaganda. I doubt the CNN newsroom had a great deal to do with an ad.

I think Wolf Blitzer is behind it!