Most of the Democrat candidates pushing Medicare for all cite Canada’s system as the envy of the entire world. Bernie Sanders has been touting Canada’s health care system as far superior than anything here in the United States. At the same time there have been several articles debunking that reputation by patients needing immediate care. I must disagree with all the 2020 Democrat candidates who are proposing the single payer socialist health system. I believe we have the best system in the world and my recent health care proves it. If I lived in Canada, I’d be dead.
I am not a wealthy senior citizen and I lost my Cadillac health plan when my husband retired. I only have Medicare, which covers 80% of my doctor visits. I’ve been seeing a cardiologist for past 20 years to control my blood pressure and my past test results have always been negative. A few weeks ago, my doctor at Cardiovascular Associates of Staten Island informed me that my echocardiogram showed an abnormality and expressed concern that my heart function levels had decreased. He ordered a nuclear stress test for the following week and when this showed even lower function, he suspected that I must have had a silent heart attack as I was asymptomatic. When he said that he had to perform a cardiac catherization for a closer look at my arteries, I was terrified but submitted to it a week later.
On August 8th, during the procedure the doctor discovered that I had a 100% blockage of the lad artery (known as the widowmaker) and managed to insert two stents that opened the artery. It was (I learned later) a very challenging task, but after the doctor left the surgery to inform my husband why it had taken so long, his fellow physician was so excited that the procedure was a huge success and showed me the film of what had been done. I watched in amazement and gratitude as the blood flowed through the blocked artery after the stents were inserted and thanked God and my physician for saving my life.
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