Akin breakin’ hip
U.S. Rep. Todd Akin
What is it about Canadian hips that so fascinates Missouri Republican Congressmen?
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Town and Country, took to the House floor to repeat a claim we first debunked more than two months ago about the availability of hit replacement surgery in Canada.
“I just turned 62,” Mr. Akin said, “and I was just reading that in Canada, (if) I got a bad hip I wouldn’t be able to get that hip replacement that (U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren) got, because I’m too old. “
We don’t know what Mr. Akin was reading, but it’s a safe bet it wasn’t the Post-Dispatch. If he had, he’d have known better than to use that line.
As we pointed out when U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Springfield, made the same claim (but with a different age - 59) in a meeting with Post-Dispatch editors and reporters on Aug. 12, that’s not even close to the truth.
In fact, two-thirds of the hip replacements performed in Canada last year were done on people over the age of 65. Nearly 1,600 were done on people over the age of 85.
Don’t believe us? Read what the nonpartisan fact-checking web site PolitiFact had to say.
Here’s something else Mr. Akin might have learned from reading the Post-Dispatch: None of the proposed health reforms in Congress involve creation of a Canadian-style single payer health system. That makes his claim not only inaccurate, but also irrelevant.
As Mr. Akin’s long-discredited claim echoed through the blogosphere Thursday, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman added a final ironic observation.
Not only does government-run health care pay for the majority of hip replacements in Canada, it also pays for the majority here. Some 70 percent of U.S. hip replacements are paid for by Medicare and Medicaid. And that doesn’t even count the ones done on members of Congress.
That’s some argument against government-run health care, Mr. Akin.
John G. Carlton is an editorial writer who covers health care, science, the environment and public utilities. Before joining the editorial page, "Doc" was the newspaper's medical writer for four years. He has also worked at newspapers in Connecticut and New York. He's fond of heavy sarcasm and light anti-tank weapons. He lives in west St. Louis County with his wife, Martha Madigan, their daughter Ana and an overly enthusiastic Australian Shepherd dog, Savannah. 
Typical misrepresentation. The republican party reminds me of a saying my grandfather would use that goes something like this. If you throw a bucket of pooh and against a wall, some is bound to stick.
Mr Akin is a fool. What he has to say on many issues speaks volumes for those folks in his district that vote for him time and time again.
The Wall Street Journal in June of 2008 says 2 - 3 years wait. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010266
So I guess Todd Akin technically can get one. He’ll just have to wait a while.
The non-partisan PolitiFact is the St.Pete Tribune which endorsed Obama. You might someday want to report on some of the broken promises it says Obama hasn’t kept. Are there really no truly independent sources out there?
the more I read the platform the more I’m convinced
John G. Carlton is the Bryan Burwell of the Editorial
page… if you know what I mean.
SoCoBoy,
Not that waiting times in Canada are in any way related to health reform in the U.S. But here’s a list of current waiting times for hip replacement surgery in the Central Toronto region: http://www.waittimes.net/waittimes/en/wt_Adv_Data.aspx?Mod=0&id=41
The longest wait is 147 days, which is not quite “2-3 years.”
I’m still searching for a source to quantify the waiting time for an uninsured American to get a hip replacement.
No, Don. I don’t know what you mean. Suppose you tell me.
In response to the question as to what the Congressman is reading, I would suggest that the following editorial in the Wall Street Journal may prove instructive.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123413701032661445.html
John you write… “Not that waiting times in Canada are in any way related to health reform in the U.S.” Really? You believe that? Well, it may be a “minor” issue for rich newspaper guys like yourself, but for the average Joe in Canada it became such an issue that the Canadian Supreme Court struck down prohibitions against private health insurance in Canada. As their Chief Justice, Beverly McLauchlin, wrote in the opinion: “Access to a waiting list is not access to health care.”
So yeah… I think proposal by “newspaper men” and Presidents that would lead to waiting lists in the United States are relevant.
I’m sure if Mr. Akin needed a hip replacement the “wait” would be a few days, rather than weeks and months. And that ISN’T because he happens to be a Member of Congress. Most Americans, insured or otherwise, could get that surgery in days as well.
5 months to have hip replacement. Is that considered the same as rationing? As a kid I worked at a rest. that had an ‘all you can eat’ night. The owner ordered the waitresses to make sure they took their time in going around to offer seconds. delay delay delay an some won’t need that hip replacement afetr all. But hey we all know how much better the Govt does things, don’t we?