Posted on 10/26/2015 1:28:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
At sporting matches, it is customary for fans of the home team to chant unflattering jabs at their opponents, and the Sunday night soccer “friendly” game between Canada and the U.S., played at Toronto’s BMO Field, was no exception.
What was unusual though was one of the taunts chosen by the Canadian faithful: “Free health care, free health care.”
If there is one thing that distinguishes the two neighbouring countries, it is their health care systems.
Canada’s state-funded insurance program, informally known as medicare, ensures a measure of universality and equity in health-care delivery. It is, for better or worse, often held out as this country’s defining feature, our pride and joy. This despite the fact that medicare coverage is far less comprehensive than any other universal health system.
The U.S., as we all know, has a non-system that is far more polarized and less equitable. Those who are insured privately tend to have extensive coverage and great care, while tens of millions of citizens who are uninsured or underinsured pay heavily for their care (to the point where health expenses are a leading cause of bankruptcy) and must sometimes depend on charity.
These distinctions are well known, if frequently exaggerated for political effect.
It is not surprising, then, that the taunts of soccer fans would spark an interesting polemic on Twitter.
Are soccer fans more politically astute and clever than hockey fans, who tend to limit themselves to profundities like “Go Leafs Go” and “Crosby sucks”?
Or, more to the point, do Canadians really think health care is free?
Last year in Canada, we spent an estimated $200.5-billion on health services. About 70 per cent of the total, $141-billon, was paid from public coffers and the other $59.5-billion with private insurance and out-of-pocket.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
I think their arguments are still relevant today
Actual adults don’t need government to step in and take the place of their parents. Canada needs to grow up.
ObamaCare Yay Or Nay? The Truth About Canada!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2jijuj1ysw
DRUGS ARE AWESOME!! Socialized Healthcare Sucks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdARfegZDns
Even token deductibles would cut costs enormously, but the government will not hear of it.
That’s about $5700 per Canadian.
Yes...they figured out that “Free” didn’t work so well...and from what I understand have some kind of dual system.
If the US wasn’t paying the cost of the free world’s defense and taking care of half of Mexico and Central America it could provide “free” healthcare as well.
Thanks for the update.
The average Canadian pays about $11,000 a year in taxes towards healthcare.
It’s not that Canadian healthcare is bad, for what it covers, but much of it could be done by the person themselves with a little bit of education.
It sounds like the French system where there is a pretty large market for private supplemental health insurance to cover what the universal health insurance does not cover.
The taxes are about the same between the two countries. Canada gets healthcare, we get a Roman-style military.
RE: The average Canadian pays about $11,000 a year in taxes towards healthcare.
Where is this information coming from?
Its not really free.
Canada’s health care system is publicly funded and privately delivered.
Its different from the UK’s NHS that’s entirely managed by the state.
As long as Canadian newspapers advertisements are full of medical tourists going to India, Thailand, Germany, etc., to avoid queues waiting for immediate surgeries, no American should envy Canadians.
I’ve never seen medical tourists ads in America.
Medical tourism means you pay in full upfront.
The very rich of course can go abroad to get private treatment.
Unless its an emergency, in Canada you do have to see a doctor.
I lived for a time in Canada and partook of OHIP, the Ontario arm of the operation. Remember how when you go to the post office, wait in a long line, note that most service windows are closed, and finally get to the front of the line only to be served by a bored, surly postal worker as you look behind him/her to see idle workers standing around chit chatting while patrons continue to pile up behind you?
If you have experienced the above, there’s no need
visit Canada’s health system to experience it. You
have already done it.
It amazes me when liberals claim that ANYTHING is free...if it is free to you, I paid for it, if it is free to me, you paid for it...why don’t we just pay for our own??,p>
People stand in line at the border to come here for medical care...their waiting times are ludicrous.
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