"KMAN" wrote in message
...
in article
, BCITORGB
at
wrote on 3/1/05 5:31 PM:

Tink, I'm fairly sure you didn't read this one:
http://www.utoronto.ca/hpme/dhr/pdf/Barer-Lewis.pdf

I quote: "In short, patients get on wait lists in Canada
through a
poorly understood, haphazard, unaudited, entirely private
process
largely controlled by individual physicians."

The authors tell us that the notion of a waiting list and the
notions
of waiting and waiting times are hard to define. For example,
when
"exactly" does a patient (and, in this case, I don't care if
it's in
Canada, the USA, the UK, or whereever) get "on" a waiting
list? Tink,
when you call your family doctor, and the receptionist informs
you that
you can come in on Thursday, you're on a waiting list (if this
is a day
other than Thursday).

But what is particularly interesting in the statement in
question is
the part about it being an "entirely private process largely
controlled by individual physicians." So, no big bad
government
determining who gets to wait. It is the physician, using
his/her best
knowledge, who determines the nature of our wait. I think this
is
exactly what KMAN, Michael, and I have been trying to say.
Doctors in
Canada operate privately.

Tink, your source goes on to say: "Wait times tend to be, in
statistical jargon, highly skewed. This means that very long
waits are
the exception. A few long waits can have the same misleading
effect on
wait time statistics as a few palatial mansions on average
housing
prices." NOTE: "very long waits are the exception"

To complete that thought, the authors say: "But in the world
of selling
papers and tv advertising spots, the exception often makes the
story.
This gets an unassuming public understandably concerned,
playing nicely
into the hands of those seeking to get more money into the
system."

Is that not EXACTLY what KMAN has been saying? This is hype!

NOW READ THIS CAREFULLY (IT TAKES THE CANADIAN PULSE): "Some
recent
Canadian research has found that not all patients are unhappy
about
waiting. Very
few patients who felt waits were "too long" wanted to see
additional public funds used to reduce wait times (although
this may be
related to the procedures they were waiting for and may also
now be
changing, as Canadians seem increasingly concerned about
access to
care). Fewer still seemed interested in shelling out extra
money
personally to reduce their wait time."

NOTE CAREFULLY: "Fewer still seemed interested in shelling out
extra
money personally to reduce their wait time." That's us, cheap
Canadians
(just ask the folks in Florida)!

Anyway, Tink, thanks for the link. It goes on, and on, and on,
supporting KMAN's points.

frtzw906

Dang. I owe Tinkerntom and apology. I never should have assumed
he
understood the information he was posting. Sorry Tinkerntom!
======================
You should know about not understanding the paper, liarman.
Because it is all about wait lists for treatment in Canada.
Something you have claimed that Canadians don't do. Again, you
are proven to be the liar you are.

Nice that you like American cites now, eh liar?