Healthcare in the U.S. and Canada

[Guest guest]

Hugo Ramiro wrote:

" if you're going to learn TCM deep, you better start with TCM " .

Where we put our roots greatly defines who we will be.

 

Hi Hugo,

 

My roots are in nature and meditation. Thus, CM is easier for me to embrace

than Western science, though my credentials are from Western science. I suppose

that I'm adding some diversity when I'm teaching anatomy and physiology and when

I manage my company.

 

I wish to ask your observation of how things are where you are practicing. I

grew up in Western NY not far from where you practice in Burlington Ontario. I

still have some family and friends residing in that area.

 

I'm interested to know if you find patients crossing from NY in to Ontario for

treatments. Also if you are inclined to discuss it, I'm interested to know how

you and people in your region view healthcare in general as it is practiced in

your region. It's so vastly different from how things are experienced in the

U.S. In addition I'm interested to know if those differences have an affect on

how Chinese medcine is fairing in Ontario. Any comments that you might have to

make regarding this would be of interest to me.

 

Respectfully,

Emmanuel Segmen

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Emmanuel...

 

" suppose that I'm adding some diversity when I'm teaching anatomy and physiology

and when I manage my company. "

 

I continue to consider pursuing deeper western training. I refrain in small

part because of an ongoing squabble with western habits of nomenclature that I

carry on within the confines of my mind, and in large part because of the point

I you are responding to. What we study greatly changes the terrain of our mind,

potentially creating and destroying avenues of exploration. I have a very strong

bent to be analytical as it is, and I don't feel I need further training in that

area (i.e. " I don't feel I need further damage in that area " ;} ).

 

" I'm interested to know if you find patients crossing from NY in to

Ontario for treatments. "

 

I have had a number of calls from across the border, most of them bordering on

full consults (w/o diagnosis). I have had a handful of people actually visit,

most of them relatives of current patients. I only remember one gentleman being

a cold call. People do travel long distances to visit, but they tend to be from

within the province.

 

" Also if you are inclined to discuss it, I'm

interested to know how you and people in your region view healthcare in

general as it is practiced in your region. "

 

There's a lot of argument and debate currently on implementing a two-tiered

system - one being public (as it stands currently), and the second being

private. There is also a serious MD shortage in Ontario, in part due to the

" brain drain " as MDs move away from the high-work + (relatively) low pay

available in Ontario.

 

On the public's side, dissatisfaction with the current system rests on poor /

slow access to high-technology imaging with some sources complaining of poor

access to many types of medical services. The second tier is proposed primarily

to help alleviate this problem. In theory, wealthy people would pay for the

services at private clinics freeing up the public hospitals and so on.

 

In my opinion, the system is quite good, but unrealistic in the way that most

of modern medicine is unrealistic. To approach primary healthcare with

high-technology solutions is a recipe for disaster, as has become evident in

every part of the world that this system has been implemented. High-technology

solutions are like cars: convenient utilities that are in no way an investment.

The broad-spectrum application of high-technology is destroying the healthcare

system. It is simply not affordable.

 

" It's so vastly different

from how things are experienced in the U.S. In addition I'm interested

to know if those differences have an affect on how Chinese medcine is

fairing in Ontario. Any comments that you might have to make regarding

this would be of interest to me. "

 

I have trouble wrapping my mind around the idea of having to pay for certain

procedures out of pocket, or paying huge insurance fees for same. Part of the

fury around a second, private tier in Ontario revolves around the idea of

families potentially bankrupting via unplanned medical procedures. There is a

very strong sense that the state is responsible for healthcare (via taxes of

course, which at least are not in a free-market state and are theoretically

accountable to the public).

 

Apart from the usual problems facing CM in this scenario, most of which get

touched upon here regularly, all I can say is that CM is finally getting the

go-ahead to self-regulate here in Ontario. This means we will have

....legitimacy? in the legal sense. Unfortunately we lost a battle in terms of

retaining the name " acupuncture " , which will be regulated as a separate

technique by each professional college, i.e. the college of physicians and

surgeons will have the ability to create a " legitimate " 100 hour acupuncture

course (or 20 hours, if they wanted), the college of physiotherapists will

create their own variant and regulate themselves and so on and so forth for any

of the 27 established health profession colleges.

 

We will see how this will affect us in the long-run, since the conventional

colleges will receive state coverage for their acupuncture practices, but we

won't (becoming regulated is not in any way an entry into the government

insurance plan).

 

My practice is very successful, I'm not entirely sure why. People are willing

to pay quite a lot, provided it is reasonable vis-a-vis their own income. CM is

highly respected so far as I can tell, and people seem to be savvy about its

basic concepts, and are generally quite co-operative. Many young people seem

very determined to avoid disease later in life, and I am surprised by the

interest in the younger half of my patient population.

 

I hope that was informative, if you have any more questions please feel free to

ask. I hope I haven't been too inaccurate.

Hugo

 

 

 

 

Emmanuel Segmen <susegmen

 

 

 

I wish to ask your observation of how things are where you are practicing. I

grew up in Western NY not far from where you practice in Burlington Ontario. I

still have some family and friends residing in that area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Respectfully,

 

Emmanuel Segmen

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks Hugo,

 

I enjoyed your insights and am grateful for your answers.

 

I left the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio in my 3rd year

(with good grades and high debt) for the reasons you have suggested. I wanted

to switch away from analysis and avoid working for the healthcare industry which

I could see in the 1980s was already going in a direction I did not want to

follow. I also agree that WM doctors are damaged or " wounded " by their

experience. I left the MD track before my own wounds became too serious, and my

recovery still took a couple of years. It's ironic that CM had gotten me

through pre-med. and the three years of med. school in reasonably good shape.

It's done wonders as well since then. In the U.S. WM doctors are as much the

victims of the healthcare industry as are the patients, IMHO. There are a very

few truly great spirits among my WM MD friends. They are such truly rare

individuals that they would have shined admirable in any field that they had

chosen. They use their intelligence and integrity to stand above the industrial

fray that we call healthcare and truly help people in their midst. I still have

great hopes for Dr. Tice.

 

Thanks, Hugo, for your thoughtful responses. I think Canada is generally ahead

of the U.S. in its social contract with its citizens. I'm glad that you are

thriving in your location. I'll tell my family members about you as they don't

seem to be able to find satisfactory practitioners in the Buffalo area.

 

Respectfully and gratefully,

Emmanuel Segmen