Posted on 01/24/2003 6:07:20 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
Walk up to a Canadian and ask him what sets his country apart from the USA, and he'll likely reply with one of five things: Gun control; a less hawkish, more diplomatic approach to world affairs; a collective preoccupation with adverse weather patterns; a burning passion for hockey; and a socialized health care system.
Canada's health care system is its touchstone. Canadians are literally brainwashed into believing that Canada wouldn't be the great country it is without its health care program. According to Canadian lore, America is full of people who are paying through the eyeteeth for medical treatment, and if you're not wealthy, you either don't get the treatment you need, or you declare bankruptcy.
Being a Canadian myself, I grew up hearing all about these nightmarish tales of the "evil American health care system". All the while, I was having to go to the doctor three days in a row, only to be turned away each time because the doctor had seen his maximum allowable government-funded quota of patients for the day.
In my home province of British Columbia, 24 people died in one year while waiting for heart surgery. On the other side of the country, kids in desperate need of heart surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto were being sent home. At Moncton Hospital in New Brunswick, patients were being kept in hallways and closets because of a lack of beds. In some cases, ambulance workers spoke of how they would drive dying patients from one emergency room to another in search of available beds or adequate equipment.
Despite all these horror stories, Canadians somehow remain convinced that medical care in Canada is preferable to that in the US. The reality is that socialized medicine is an abysmal failure. Under this system, everyone is supposed to receive equal access to health care, but what really ends up happening is that no one receives any care at all. But at least we're all in the SAME sinking boat, eh?
Under the Canadian system, anyone who wants to escape this disaster of Titanic proportions has no choice but to look elsewhere for health care. This, in effect, creates the two-tier system of which Canadians are so deathly afraid. Those with money are going to the USA for treatment while everyone else is stuck dealing with the inexpensive - but totally ineffective - Canadian system.
Note to Hillary Clinton and others like her who want to bring socialized health care to the USA: When people in a country that has such a program are turning to one that doesn't in order to get the treatment they require, that should be a bit of a hint for you.
A citizen of the USA is twice as likely to have open heart surgery as a Canadian. Seattle, Washington--with a population of roughly half a million people--has more CAT scanners than the entire province of British Columbia, which has a population of 3 million.
There are more MRI scanners in Washington state than in all of Canada. Why such a shortage of diagnostic equipment? Because in Canada, there is only one, single, giant "HMO," and it's run by the government.
The government decides where to allocate resources and where to cut costs. And if you don't like your government-run HMO in Canada, there are no competing HMOs you can turn to in order to obtain better treatment. The only alternatives you have are to whine and complain, or to fork out some money to get treatment in the USA.
Hillary's dream is to have a socialized health care system in the USA, along with a Patient's Bill of Rights that would allow for people to sue their HMO. What you'd effectively have then is people suing the government for not providing them with the care they require.
I hope Hillary has borrowed Al Gore's "lock box" to save up those pennies, because if Canada's socialized health system is any indication, she'd better get ready for the mother of all class action suits against her proposed "government-run HMO."
(Rachel Marsden is a director of the Free Congress Foundation.)
Free Congress Foundation
In my home province of British Columbia, 24 people died in one year while waiting for heart surgery. On the other side of the country, kids in desperate need of heart surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto were being sent home. At Moncton Hospital in New Brunswick, patients were being kept in hallways and closets because of a lack of beds. In some cases, ambulance workers spoke of how they would drive dying patients from one emergency room to another in search of available beds or adequate equipment.
Sounds like they would all agree with you....< sarc off >
Remember, only a Republican could go to China and only a Democrat could reform welfare. A Republican can socialize the country much easier than a Democrat.
The author is from Canada, your fight is with him. If there was a lie, it was by a Canadian. So leave us out of your internal piss fights.
It would also be better if you addressed them on a point by point basis when you try to refute them.
I'm guessing you aren't any more Canadian than I am.
And you can't read.
If he appears on the moderators or Robinson's radar screen, I'm guessing he's gone. But I'll never tell, it's nice to have the ocassional commie here for target practice. :^}
Rachel is a Canadian-born journalist who has worked in both broadcast and print in the US and Canada. She has hosted call-in talk radio shows in Vancouver, BC, and has produced the nationally-syndicated "BQ View" with Blanquita Cullum at Radio America in Washington, DC. Rachel has anchored and produced news programs in Vancouver, and has worked at ABC News in New York as a production associate and assistant to Connie Chung.
Rachel holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Vancouver's Simon Fraser University, and completed her broadcast journalism training at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. She is currently pursuing post-baccalaureate studies in Law and Criminology.
I'm not even surprised much less astonished. I know it to be true.
I had a long discussion with a Canadian guy who used to be in my golf foursome 10 yrs ago or so. He always waxed poetic about his homeland and their superior systems up there. He particularly loved the so called health care system.
When I asked him why his sister was in a Detriot hospital, he said she needed surgury. I replied that I was sorry, but that wasn't my question, what I meant was, why isn't she in a hospital closer to home. He sheepishly replied that she coundn't get into one. They were afraid she might die while she waited.
I felt sorry for him, but he never could bring himself to admit the real problem.
As an aside, I once asked him why he lived in the states. He admitted that he couldn't find a job at home.
He said he loved this country despite it's shortcomings. When I asked if he was going to become a citizen, he said no, he didn't want to give up his entitlements at home.
Same reason Mexicans come here. Sad as hell.
The point is that this country was founded on the basis of individual rights and limited government. Socialized medicine is incompatible with that ideal.
Precisely why this article being written by a Canadian is relevant.
I reserve the right to argue it with them on my own soil when they bring it up however. And this site is open to the world even though it is based in the USA. It is surely fair game here.
Socialism and fascism are both evil and many who participate here advocate both in one degree or another. And then call themselves conservatives. I expose 'em every chance I get.
Mrs VS
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