health discrimination by countries..

 now ive heard everything!  last week a overweight lady was refused permanent living status in New Zealand to join her husband, they claim she will be a burden to the national healthcare.. now this past few days, a young boy with downs syndrome was refused the same in austrailia! even though his dad is a dr serving in the outback somehwere. now i can see refusing entry to people with infectious diseases , like TB, AIDS, Leprosy, Plague, etc... most countries do that, but to limit people for being fat or having an extra chromosome, i mean really, maybe we ugly americans aint so bad after all!    ok i edited myself...

Thank you, Ides. As an Australian, I was quite offended by the editorialising in Randy's post and feel unable to respond, for fear of starting controversy.

Randy, as a forum member (not a moderator), I would ask you to either rephrase your post, or delete it. This is an international forum: if you are curious about other countries' health policies, I think it would be kinder to *ask* about those policies, rather than to condemn them outright.

I would also ask that you remember that the purpose of this forum is to provide support. We do allow a certain amount of freedom in debating controversial topics here, but you must remember that, by forum rules, the moderators are allowed to abort controversial discussions, in order to preserve peace on the forums.

Ivy.

I for one am restraining myself from responding in full to this topic, however, I believe it is a vital issue to address especially now.  Thank you mods for having faith in us and not editing this post.

Randy is stressed as most of us are regarding the upcoming choices this country is about to make and the anxiety in all of us crohnies needs to be expressed and shared in a meaningful format so the entire country can hopefully heal.  Our priorities as a country are whacked out, our financial resources are depleted.  Yes, each of us, americans, are responsible for the shape this country is in today so the question must be asked, What course of action will you choose to change the course we are on"?  Get out, participate and vote....your healthcare and familie's wellbeing depends on it!

i assume the lady wanting to come to new zealand wa able to work? our taxes pay for hospitals...thou i am surprised she wasnt allowed in i always thort NZ was a easy country to migrate to

Well to throw this in here as it has been crossing my mind. I was a bit put out by the fact that they are saying that Crohn's people have type A personalities. Is that going to cause problems getting medical care ? I call it a bit discrimatory because anyone that has and is sick for a long time has to find copping mechanisms. Are our coping mechanisms forseen as a problem to medical care givers? I feel that we are seen as a problem rather then having understanding in seeing that we are sick people at times. Not all medical care is the best we all I am sure have had problems getting care at some time doesn't that put a person on the defensive after all it sometimes comes down to survival. Randy I know you are not pointing to a country but looking at a problem of health concerns here. lol gail

Well, I won't wax political here, but economic: nations with national health care systems (that is, those financed by government, which means taxes) all, to some degree, must ration delivery of said health care. In Canada and Britain, rationing is usually done by waiting lists and limited access to some high-cost procedures. It appears that the down-under countries are applying some immigration limits as well, to prevent some people who may want to come in from doing so if they are seen as being high-level consumers of health care services. Simple economics shows us why rationing of health care services will always be a feature of nationalized systems, since in those countries they are funded by a finite tax base that also has other competitors for available dollars (education, defense, social welfare, etc.) If you doubt this, ask yourself, all things being equal, where would I rather have surgery, my local community hospital or the VA or one of those large inner city public hospitals? (yes I know you can get quality care at those places too, but be honest -- most folks rightly see government-run hospitals as second rate, for good reason . . . )

I will refrain from commenting on the topic but I must say I am proud of how this is being discussed civilly. I think we share a bond here that should allow us to agree or disagree with respect for each other. I'm glad to see that happening here.

Hi Roni I guess that is why it is important to maintain a eye open to such things life is a more complex thing then it was years ago. As medicine finds new things hard to say where it will all end up. Just know it is not easy to live with something such as crohn's any way you look there are things to be dealt with. lol gail

There is something about the child with Down's Syndrome on CNN.com

ok i found it easier to google the ladys name Rowan Trezise and a whole slew of stuff come up.. i found the downs syndrome story at the telegraph.co.uk. lodon newspaper site.

no eva there is not... cuba claims to have care for everyone, but hardly worth staying alive if you cant have a microwave now is it? ;0). yes the story is true you can now enter alottery in cuba to get a microwave. and the wait list for aphone is down to 2 years after your investigated and found to have no contacts outside of cuba ..