Speakeasy forum: Canadian Healthcare system sick; in need of an overhaul

not aware that Saskatchewan's economy has taken a terrible hit over the last 5 plus years. Right next door is Alberta with huge oil reserves, no sales tax, and gery well funded health care. It is true that there are needed reforms, primarily an infusion of the Federally mandated funds that were taken away by Brian Mulroney, Ronnie Reagan's good friend and true believer. This is not a new news item, it has occurred annually since the Federal Canadian Government went AWOL back in the late 80's. Canada's system is currently underfunded by every other nation's criteria. But that's not the system's fault. That's the fault of a Conservative Government under pressure during the NAFTA negotiations to throw the US negotiators a bone. It is long past time for the Feds to step back into the Health Care system and return the missing funds.

A little knowledge of the historical and economic context might help in a clearer understanding of the issues that are not explained in this glib, very short news items that just repeats the quotations of one side of an issue.

Rob

"Trend #2: Failure to Provide Health Care for All
Virtually every other developed country has a national health care program. They are not perfect and never will be, but they generally work better than ours. Studies in places such as Germany, France, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and Canada show that citizens in those countries are happier with their systems than we are, and are healthier as well, with lower rates of obesity and chronic disease. I fully support a national health care program for the U.S."

If I knew how to use bold text and underlining I'd bold and underline this: "Studies in places such as Germany, France, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and Canada show that citizens in those countries are happier with their systems than we are,"

The vast majority of Canadians are very happy with their health care system, despite a few extremists here who would rather be in the United States.

Rob

ing in several rather small right of centre groups whose manifestos have been published. The so-called Liberty Newsletter published a guide for how to disrupt town meetings back in July with all the tactics "spread around the room and make it look like there are more of you than there really are" "try to rattle him" "Shout down any supporters of the plan". The money has been traced to Big Pharmaceuticals and to Health Insurers. The bad news is that most visual news media simply reports the protests without discussing the sources of the protesters organization or uniform tactics. It's sloppy reporting as usual. If the news people would interview the protesters they might learn something. There is even a clear trail from person to group of the "They're trying to kill old people" rumour. There isn't a Health Care scheme on the planet that does that, even though the Dutch system will accommodate a person's personal wish if it is backed up by the spouse and a committee of doctors, but that is only pursuant to what is effectively "a living will".

You'd be astonished at the variety in Britain with both its indigenous population which is not as homogeneous as the US's, some of them speaking different languages viz. the Welsh, or local forms of English like the Scots, Irish and extraordinary local dialects Cornish, Dorset, South and East London, Yorkshire, Northumberland (now Northumbria), Mancunian (that's the Manchester dialect), and Manx from the Isle of Man. But leaving all of that alone there is an enormous population originating from Jamaica and all the West Indies, and another enormous population originating in Pakistan, and India, and the Middle East, as well as refugees from Europe, North Africa, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania Nigeria and other African countries.

Having visited several times over the past 40 years, I was stunned by the diversity when we moved there in 1997, so the answer in at least one country is that, yes there is huge diversity, more than in the United States in my opinion. France too has a rich diversity of former colonial peoples living there, Germany has Turks and various peoples from the former Warsaw Pact as well as an artistic community attracting North Americans as well as people from all over the world.

But what does ethnic diversity have to do with wanting health care? Health Care is just like Pensions, Unemployment Insurance, or Workman's Compensation. It's a safety net for everyone in society paid for by everyone in society. Otherwise we might as well return to the 11th Century where it was every man for himself, except for the very wealthy who could do anything to anybody with few consequences.

Rob I've lived and worked in Health Care in 3 different countries so this is not merely belief or what I feel to be true, it is grounded in real experience of the systems.

While Canadians disagree on many things, we're very much united over medicare. EKOS reports that 87 per cent of Canadians believe Canada's health-care system is better than the one in the United States. Only 7 per cent prefer the American model.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/682311

Rob