[dbacks]

[The Canadian healthcare system, while not quite as bad as Cuba’s, is not what any American would want to experience. The basis for all socialized medicine (call it single payor or anything else) is delay and deny. It is not unusual for a Canadian, once diagnosed with cancer, to wait six months to see the oncologist.]

I have been RVing in Canada for the last 3 weeks. The TV fair in RV parks is CBC or CBC and CTV. Last night they ran a story about a person in dire need of an MRI. The waiting list placed him/her (don’t recall the sex) out 10 to 12 months. In the mean time, a veterinarian said a dog needing an MRI to diagnose a possible illness would be taken in that afternoon.

He stated that the reason for the disparity was that Canada has a single payer (government) system and the vet could take private insurance or personal funding.

This was on state TV and I have not yet seen a day that the health system of Canada was not disparaged by the people of Canada and substantiated by the media.

[Eva]

I know, we live near the Canadian border. Our hospital has a wonderful new heart care wing, thanks to all the patients that come down from Canada for by-pass treatment and other heart related issues.

There was an article on CanadaFreePress about the fact that veterinary care is better and more timely than Canada’s single payor system for people.

Howard Dean started a form of socialized medicine for Vermont, and it is just as bad, if not worse than the Canadian system. My sister-in-law waited nine months for a back operation, part of that was due to the wait for the MRI. In the mean time, they gave her morphine, and when she complained about the possiblility of addiction, they gave her oxy-contin and told her not to worry, they would take care of the addiction after she had the operation.