I saw on the news up
here in Canada where President
Obama introduced his new health
care plan. Something similar to
what we have in Canada. I also
heard that Michael
Moore was raving about the
health care up here in Canada in
his latest movie. As
your friend and someone who
lives with the Canadian health care
plan, I thought I would give you
some facts about this great
medical plan that we
have in Canada:1) The
health care plan in Canada is
not free.
We pay a
premium every month
of $96 for my wife
Shirley and I to be covered. Sounds
great, eh? What they don't
tell you is how much we pay in
taxes to keep the Canadian
health care system
afloat. I am personally in the
55%
tax bracket. Yes,
55%
of my earnings go to
taxes. A large portion
of that 55% (and I am not sure
of the exact amount)
goes directly to health care --
our #1 expense.
2) I would not
classify what we have as a
health care plan; it
is more
like a health
diagnosis system. You can get
into to see a doctor quick
enough so he can tell
you, "Yes indeed; you are
sick," or "You
need an
operation," but now the
challenge becomes getting
treated or operated on:
We have waiting lists out
the ying yang -- some as
much as 2 years down the road.
3) Rather than fix
what is medically wrong with
you, the usual tactic in
Canada is to
prescribe drugs. Have a pain? Here
is a drug to take; not
"What is causing
the pain and why?" No
time for checking you out,
because
it is more important
to move as many patients thru as
possible each hour for
government re-imbursement.
4) Many Canadians do
not have a family
doctor.
5) Some advice: don't
require emergency treatment, as
you may wait for
hours in the
emergency room waiting for
treatment.
6) Shirley's dad cut
his hand on a power saw a few
weeks back, and it
required that his
hand be put in a splint - to our
surprise, we had to pay
$125 for a splint,
because it is not
covered under national health
care.
Plus we have to pay $60
for each visit for him
to check it out each week.
7) Shirley's cousin
was diagnosed with a
heart blockage. They
put him on a
heart surgery waiting
list. He died
before he could
get treatment.
8) The Canadian government
allots so many operations per
year. When that
number of operations is done -- no
more operations, unless you go
to your
local newspaper
and plead your case and
embarrass the Canadian
government.
Then money suddenly appears.
9) The Canadian
government takes great pride in
telling us how much more
they are increasing the funding
for national health care; but
the waiting
lists never get shorter.
The government just keeps
throwing money at the
problem, and it never
goes away. But they are good at
finding new ways to
tax us, but they don't
call it a tax anymore;
it is now a "user
fee."
10) My mother needs
an operation for a blockage in
her leg, but because
she is a smoker,
they will not do it.
Despite her and my
father paying
into the Canadian
health care system all these
years. My Mom
is 80 years of
age. Now there
is talk that maybe we should
not treat fat and obese people
either, because they
are a drain on the health care
system.
Let
me see now, what we want in
Canada is a health care system
for
healthy
people "only".
That should reduce our health
care costs.
11) Forget getting a second
opinion, what you see
is what you get.
12) I can spend what
money I have left after taxes on
booze, cigarettes,
junk food and
anything else that could kill
me, but I am not allowed
by
law to spend my money
on getting an operation I need,
because that would be jumping
the queue. I must
wait my turn. Except
if I am a hockey player or
athlete;
then I can get looked
at right away. Go
figger. Where
else in
the world can you spend money to
kill yourself, but are not
allowed to spend
money to get healthy?
13) Oh, did I mention
that immigrants are
covered automatically at
taxpayer expense, having never
contributed a dollar to the
system? And
they pay no premiums
until they become citizens.
14) Oh yeah, we now give
free needles to drug users
to try and keep them healthy. Wouldn't
want a sickly druggie breaking
into your house and stealing
your things.
But people with diabetes
who pay into the
health care system have
to pay for their insulin needles,
because they are not covered in
the National health care system.
I send this out not looking for
sympathy, but as President Obama
and Congress work on health care
in the United States,
you will be hearing more and
more about universal health care down
there, and the liberal advocates
will be pointing to Canada as a
good example of a successful
system for America to emulate. I
just want to make sure that you
hear the truth about health care
up here in Canada, and have
given you some food for thought
and informed questions to ask
when approached about this
subject.
Step wisely and don't
make the same mistakes we in
Canada
have.
"Overcome Resistance with Persistence"...
W.W.(Woody)Hayes
