You should have heard them: Three middle-age couples sitting around a breakfast table, complaining about glitches in the Canadian health-care system.
This was in a charming (of course) bed & breakfast in Victoria, British Columbia, about three years ago. My wife and I had slept a little late (of course), but the proprietor had (of course) kept breakfast warm for us. And the conversation was just heating up.
The three couples were from Canada’s east coast and upper (there’s no other kind) Midwest. For a few minutes we listened in silence to their cataloging of irritations, until finally I asked, “Well, would you like to switch over to the system we have in the U.S.?
To a man and woman, they looked aghast. Their vocal responses, to the best of my recollection, went something like, “Good heavens, no!” “Certainly not!” “No, no, no, no, no! and (LOUD GUFFAW).
Because in Canada, everyone is covered. No one worries about how they’ll pay for medical care, no one is afraid to leave their job because they’ll lose coverage, no one is bankrupted by medical bills, no one has to choose between a prescription drug and putting food on the table. The Canadian government doesn’t mandate or guarantee health insurance; the Canadian government mandates and guarantees health care. Doctors receive payment from, but are not employed by, the state. No “government bureaucrat” determines what test or treatment a patient will receive; if a doctor orders it, the patient gets it. Period...
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