Dodd should put his money where his mouth is and go to Canada for treatment. But no–nothing but the best for the lefty elite. Euthanasia for rest of us.

lexi on July 31, 2009 at 1:23 pm

Let’s use the numbers that each individual would get per year under the Health Care bill in Clowngress that I posted in Debbie’s column under “If You Like the “Cash for Clunkers” Failure”. Each individual in the U.S. will only get about $300.00 per year. Senator Dodd has used up his allotment this year just on diagnostics and other procedures just to find out he has this condition. Dodd would then have to take the Obama-messiah’s advice and just take a pain pill and not get it treated.

Jarhead on July 31, 2009 at 2:05 pm

Debbie

I wouldn’t even give him a pill, that is to good for him

Richard Perry on July 31, 2009 at 2:30 pm

Just like ted kennedy would use the public system. If Obama had his way and these two were just ordinary citizens the government would have them consulting with morticans.

johnny on July 31, 2009 at 3:12 pm

For what this lying asshole, Barney Frank, and Maxine Waters have done to our economy, they ALL deserve a 24/7 screwing and water-boarding in hell.

Jackson Pearson on July 31, 2009 at 3:47 pm

The quoted figure for English survival rates is patently false.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=861

During 2001-2007, prostate cancer survival five years after diagnosis was 77.0 per cent.

Since this figure is much lower than the 99+% 5 year survival rate of the US, there’s no need to fudge figures to make your point.

Argue that England is far behind the US in PSA screening. That’s certainly fair. Argue that the survival rate is considerably higher. That’s fair. At least use accurate figures when doing so. No need to damage your argument by quoting unofficial and completely wrong figures.

tele on July 31, 2009 at 3:57 pm

Please could you check the quoted figures on Prostate cancer survival rates in Britain.

The figures for 2002 show that in cases where the cancer is confined to the prostate, England had survival rates of 90 per cent or higher. I doubt very much that the rates will have dropped between then and now.

You know, our NHS can be something of a sick puppy at times, and it is, but I’m damn glad we have it. It’s saved the lives of more than a couple of my family members when we wouldn’t have been able to afford private care.

While I read your column often, I’d appreciate you using accurate figures and facts, and not using such blatant scaremongering tactics.

A: How many cases are still confined to the prostate when the English finally treat it? DS

Alison on July 31, 2009 at 4:01 pm

What Alison writes is quite true.

What the NHS needs to do is finally recognize that the difference in *total* survival rates in the US vs. England after 5 years (the 77% figure that I quoted includes all incidences of prostate cancer, including those that have metastasized in other areas of the body) is probably due to aggressive PSA screening here in the US. The figure rises in England to 90% when it’s caught early (still a bit shy of the US, but fairly close). PSA testing seems to still be a little controversial in England. There might be other factors that need to be studied, but it seems pretty clear that the fact that PSA screeening is far more aggressive here in the States is the main factor in the difference between the two nations.

tele on July 31, 2009 at 4:17 pm

Debbie, having been forced to live in CT-Stan all my life, let me tell you about bad politicians. Dodd and Lieberman make the list, as does former Governor John Rowland who resigned in shame after corruption.

Former Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim dealt with kickbacks to city gubmint and Waterbury Mayor Phil Giordano was convicted of sexual assault with two Asian women.

But to me the worst of them was Lowell Weicker–the former Republican turned Indie who ran under the A Connecticut Party line and introduced the INCOME TAX to CT. He called himself Maverick before John McShame!!!!!!!

Bob Porrazzo on July 31, 2009 at 6:54 pm

I’d buy what Chris Dodd and his fellow Democrats are selling, if they agreed to be covered by it. Since they think its not good enough for them, how is it better for the rest of America?

NormanF on July 31, 2009 at 7:10 pm

Will Senator Dodd volunteer to become “Soylent Green” when his treatment bill exceeds $25,000?

Sorrow01 on July 31, 2009 at 8:30 pm

This might clarify things some:

The first link deal with the United States.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_2_6x_Prostate_Cancer_Survival_Rates.asp?sitearea=

Sorrow01 on August 1, 2009 at 1:12 am

Rot in hell.

Joe on August 1, 2009 at 1:49 am

I made a mistake and did not check figures before I sent them to Debbie. I quoted the survival rate from a TV show. Since then, I did research and found the 5 year survival rate in the UK was about 75% and in the US near 100%.

10 years ago, the 5 year survival rate in the UK was about 50%.

The difference is that in the U.S. we test for prostate cancer and in the UK they do not.

There was no intention to mislead anyone.

Jan Mel Poller on August 1, 2009 at 7:02 am

We do test, but there is no mandatory testing, and in general, health maintenance appointments are not as popular as they should be. It’s an educational concern, not a medical one. A lot of people – men AND women – still need a kick up the backside to get them to go along and have concerns checked out.

Alison on August 1, 2009 at 8:00 am

“I made a mistake and did not check figures before I sent them to Debbie. I quoted the survival rate from a TV show. Since then, I did research and found the 5 year survival rate in the UK was about 75% and in the US near 100%.

10 years ago, the 5 year survival rate in the UK was about 50%.

The difference is that in the U.S. we test for prostate cancer and in the UK they do not.

There was no intention to mislead anyone”.

Fair enough. My beef is with DS not bothering to do any fact-checking. 50% sounds great and it makes for good copy.

And, as Alison says, they actually do PSA testing – it’s just not as widespread there, and they don’t seem convinced that it’s absolutely necessary, despite the indications that it’s making a big difference here in the US. They seem stuck on the possible “false positive” angle.

DS writes:

“Yes, but that’s the thing with Congress and healthcare. As I’ve repeatedly noted on this site, with healthcare and everything else, it’s “do as we say, not as we do.”

Which is why the system needs serious change. Even Dr. Bill Frist and Dr. Howard Dean agree on that much.

The devil is in the details. Details matter.

tele on August 1, 2009 at 11:04 am

“Senator Dodd has used up his allotment this year just on diagnostics and other procedures just to find out he has this condition”

jarhead has spoken! Too bad it’s an empty jar. Are you a child? Does your father make ” a hunert dollars a year”?

Yeah, “diagnostics and other procedures” would be just a tad higher than 300 bucks. 300 *might* get you an office visit and a chest x-ray (but not the radiologist’s interpretation) at a clinic.

DS_ROCKS! on August 1, 2009 at 5:11 pm

This socialist care has never worked in history, it’s a miserable failure in the countries that now use it. Remember, the definition for ‘insane’ is trying the same thing, over and over, yet projecting different results!

USA has lots of health programs: Medicaid for poor, Medicare for old, SCHIP (first for children and then attached to a much needed military bill and expanded to cover…adults and probably your pets), Veterans Administration, WIC for the pregnant/young children, on and on. This doesn’t include all the public generosity and give aways, or the fact that emergency rooms can’t deny treatment to those without insurance.

Don’t come in here and pretend people need to be educated, as an excuse. The educated/uneducated alike must WAIT for a diagnosis, then they wait again for treatment, yet these governments can’t afford better as it’s a costly and inefficient system and they can’t get doctors. These “other” countries can’t abundantly afford the expensive technology that the USA has in abundance. In the USA one can go practically anywhere for an MRI… Also, don’t (even) try thinking about the baby survival rate argument as that info one gets from watching too much t.v. or party line rhetoric. The USA actually counts ALL babies, regardless of length, weight, stillborn, or gestation period, because they’re following the rules.

The USA needs to be less costly but it shouldn’t be CHEAP. The USA excels in RESEARCH, doctors, specialists, even with the partially socialized system that is in place. As the GAO studies show (and have shown for years) the USA health system suffers from lack of competition… For starters see:
http://www.house.gov/ryan/GAO.pdf So, less socialism and more free market. There’s a lot of information out there. Do a bit of searching/don’t talk out yer booty.

It’s apparent that the American people are saying no to the pushy health thingy from Obama and his Congress. I know I’ve heard him say he will “listen” but people are ‘waiting’ for him to do as he promised. Waiting, that’s the kind of health ‘care’ he is trying to force on ‘his’ country. Insane!

It would be much quicker to let the people in on the FEHBP, and a ‘new’ system wouldn’t need negotiating. But they care only for themselves. That’s why the people get Social Security but the Feds get to pick and choose the package they deem best for them. That says a lot about the educational system, that people have such a hard time knowing facts and protecting themselves from being duped. They need to fix the part that needs it, bring cost down, let people pool their purchasing power and have their choices, which will help competition… Don’t fix what’s not broken or brake further!

I can’t believe people who continue to try to make their argument for them. They will even get extremely angry and spit out viciousness.

If it takes lies, cheating, having a different program for themselves/citizens, or having their aides call to express dissatisfaction with current insurance/lack of, this tells you they’re not offering a very healthy product.

All people should write/call their Congress people and tell THEM to try their health reform first. Wise up! Something as important as this shouldn’t be rushed through. Especially by those who’ve proven over and over they can’t be trusted.

Smile on August 1, 2009 at 8:01 pm

DS_ROCKS!

I was just trying to make the point that they wouldn’t be able to treat his condition once they found out what he had. And my dad makes a tousund dollers a year.

Jarhead on August 1, 2009 at 8:48 pm

@Jarhead

Just ignore certain things. Always remember: What is said tells more about the person speaking then the one spoken to 😉

BTW, your username rocks, Jarhead!

Smile on August 1, 2009 at 9:02 pm

It will not work for Dodd to go elsewhere to ‘take his own medicine’. He’d simply would get VIP treatment as he does with real estate deals et al.

Smile on August 1, 2009 at 9:05 pm

Thanks Smile.

Jarhead on August 1, 2009 at 10:19 pm

“Yeah, “diagnostics and other procedures” would be just a tad higher than 300 bucks. 300 *might* get you an office visit and a chest x-ray (but not the radiologist’s interpretation) at a clinic”.

I know it’s not prostate cancer or anything, but when I had to go to one of those urgent care places because of severe pain, the X-rays and office visit and diagnostics and X-rays cost me a total of $75 (including the office visit $35 co-pay), and that included sending the X-rays out to a radiologist. Turned out it was kidney stones (I have new respect for women who give birth), but I also found out about some calcification of the spleen and something else that I can’t remember, courtesy of said radiologist.

So I think it depends on your plan.

tele on August 2, 2009 at 12:02 am

Debbie, I know lots of people in the UK and Canada. I can assure you that their health care systems systematically fail to detect and treat cancer. By the time you’re diagnosed in those countries it’s often too late to treat it anyway. Their health care is otherwise generally not to a US standard, particularly in terms of timeliness. Basically, for those unable to buy insurance, the systems are attractive, but if you can afford private health insurance in the UK it’s much better. In Canada private care is illegal. Wealthier Canadians often have to come to the US for faster or more sophisticated treatments. There should be a rule that Candaians who say they have a better health care system should not be allowed entry to the US for medical treatment. That would shut them the **** up.

A1 on August 2, 2009 at 12:14 am

Well, once Chris has his prostate removed and he’s in Depends ™, maybe Diaper Dodd will sit still long enough to READ the bills before he PASSES them.

SLOHomemaker on August 2, 2009 at 2:25 am

Can I quote Wanda Sykes here?

“I HOPE HE FAILS. I HOPE HIS KIDNEYS FAIL”.

Patricia on August 2, 2009 at 8:34 am

“Can I quote Wanda Sykes here?

“I HOPE HE FAILS. I HOPE HIS KIDNEYS FAIL”.

Well, you could, but then you’d have people like DS telling you how horrible you are.

tele on August 2, 2009 at 10:50 am

Hmm. Sorry but can’t feel any sympathy for him. Scumbags deserve what they get. What goes around, comes around. What’s good for the goose… Well you get the picture, I could care less if he’s around tomorrow. I’m still counting the days until I can celebrate when the murderer Ted Kennedy croaks. Got a bottle of campagne in the fridge and that’s no lie. Love to Debbie.

VotersOfNY on August 2, 2009 at 9:36 pm

“Debbie, I know lots of people in the UK and Canada. I can assure you that their health care systems systematically fail to detect and treat cancer.”

This is quite simply wrong. Yes, there are horrible tales and it DOES happen, but it’s FAR from systematic. I could come back and say that I know lots of people in the US who have been badly let down by the system there – which I do. However, this is not the place to spout out the cases as some kind of obscene health services tennis match. There will ALWAYS be horror stories. No system is foolproof. I’m no blinkered advocate of the NHS, but this dismissive attitude is just so inaccurate and extremely unfair. When it works – which is FAR more than when it doesn’t – then I firmly believe it’s second to none. I’m proud of our NHS, warts and all. I’ll hold my hands up when it fouls up, but I’m more than glad we have it.

Alison on August 3, 2009 at 7:29 am

WOW!

What goes around DOES come around! Amazing!!

Patricia on August 3, 2009 at 11:12 am

I do not wish this on disease on anyone. It just happens to be what terminated my father. But at the same time I am having difficulty finding it in my Heart to pray for him. He and the other members of Congress that voted for this “Obama Care” while giving themselves an exemption from it should not be given sympathy. That is how I feel. These so called “Elites” are no better than you or I and should not give to themselves and betray the very people that elected them. This is wrong. Very wrong. For now all I can say is good luck.

poptoy1949 on May 9, 2011 at 5:27 pm

Alison—an orangutan could cure prostate cancer limited to the prostate. If you are not checking and not being aggressive when it is appropriate, it will spread. As a senior consultant in New Zealand’s NHS from 2006-2007, I can tell you that NHS treatment is terrible compared to American treatment.

Occam's Tool on July 17, 2011 at 10:29 pm