I don't believe that Sarah said this. I read her book, and she's never lived close enough to the Canadian border to have "snuck over".
Well it was the 1960’s
And Canada adopted single payer socilaized medicine in the 1970’s.
If this is true, I think she was most likely trying to innoculate a story the press was already sitting on.
She drew on some Canadian connections in her family history, and recalled how when she was young, those who were ill went to Whitehorse for medical treatment.......
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hvMMcuuUOV53vHs0bJD-meBNuecQ
“We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada,” she said. “And I think now, isn’t that ironic.”
The media has so beaten down Palin's image that even her SUPPORTERS fall for the hit pieces at first glance. People,PEOPLE,PEOPLE!!! Please remember the Tammy Bruce Rule re: Sarah Palin
Mis-leading headline. (never said “sneaked”)
Still a nice zinger from Sarah about the poor state of the Canadian healthcare system now as compared to then.
Zimmerman is a DNC hack.
I don't believe that Sarah said this. I read her book, and she's never lived close enough to the Canadian border to have "snuck over".
I suggest verifying the claim; if not true, get this thread pulled.
How would one get free health care if they were not a citizen....only we are stupid enough to do this. This is BS!!!
I thought that Sarah basically spent her whole life in Wasilla, which is a suburb of Anchorage and not particularly close to Canada.
There are some small Alaska towns where as a practical matter the nearest medical facilities may be across the border. (the hamlet of Hyder, AK comes to mind. Virtually all services are down the road in a much larger town in British Columbia)
David Weigel is an editor for Reason Magazine and a journalist for NPR. Nuff said.
As I understand it, Sarah’s family wasn’t very well to do in the 1960’s when she was young and Alaska had not yet become to boom it is today.
Being sparsely populated and not a popular spot, I can see how crossing the border might have been preferrable to traveling further inside Alaska to seek care.
Of course, it’s hard to determine based upon a single sentence she spoke in Calgary. But, it appears there is another attempt to twist something she said to her detractors advantage.
Well, we can verify that she did give a speech in Calgary. Now whether or not she made that specific statement:
“She drew on some Canadian connections in her family history, and recalled how when she was young, those who were ill went to Whitehorse for medical treatment.”
I’ve read most of the hysterical comments here. I think it’s stupid.
She said they “hustled” to Canada. That doesn’t mean “sneak”. It doesn’t suggest they were doing something illegal.
It was when she was a child, before Canadian public health care. There’s no indication the family didn’t pay for the care they received.
Two main complaints here do great disservice to Palin — that she was stupid for saying it, or the correlary that she must NOT have said it, since “it would be stupid” to say it.
This reminds me of the excuses for Palin supporting McCain, all aimed at suggesting Palin is lying about liking McCain, or is too stupid to know how bad it is for her to support McCain.
Palin says things that make sense, even though it sometimes pains those who have some fantasy view of her. She’s a politician, she’s a human being, she has her own opinions and beliefs. She won’t be what you want her to be, nobody is.
This is a non-story, but will probably become a bigger story because of the idiocy of her supporters.
The exact quote appears here. Doesn’t say whether or not they paid for the health care in Canada:
There seem to be several sources that she did make such a statement.
I’m doubting this story. But,if true,doesn’t it show that a country with that system(?)could be abused.
Think, “lets go to the USA and let them pay for my operation.”
If Wasilla didn’t have a large medical facility, and there was a large medical facility over the border in Canada, I can see why Palin’s family would consider Canadian care at times. I’ll bet they had to pay out of pocket though, not being Canadian citizens. And that way they may not have had to wait in line.
Might be nice if this Eric guy knew how to spell Canadian.
See: My post (somewhere above) about Biden. I thought it to be amusing.
But, that's me.