CANCER CURED: [cancercured] Re: national healthcare? see how it is in canada ("the model" for the proposed system)

I sincerely hope this nonsense is not getting a lot of play in the States.
This is a very poorly done video that does not represent the health care experience in Canada at all accurately. I certainly didn't recognize anything in it, that's for sure.

First, although I don't think anyone could expect a lot of clinics to be open on weekends, there ARE certainly quite a number of them close to me that are. If you cannot find a clinic on a weekend, yes you go to emerg-if its actually an emergency!-many people go that don't have real emergencies and tie up the system. Real life threatening emergencies get pushed to the front and the non emergencies wait longer-thats a reality in any hospital anywhere.
If I don't have a family doctor I can go to a walk-in clinic, many choices nearby, and, depending on time of day etc., wait anywhere from ten minutes to an hour and a half and come away with what I need. If I need a blood test, then I have a recquisition for that in my hand. I can then go across the street to the lab where they draw blood and get a blood test same day-none of this nonsense that was described and no charges for it.
I have never heard of anyone not being able to get a blood test or having to wait for a year to get the right kind if medicine they need.

I'm not saying there aren't any problems with this system. It is overburdened-that's true. It gets abused by people who dont really need to make use of it-they go for such minor things they dont really need to and so on.
Yes, waiting for specialists and certain types of tests like CT scans can be long. People are sometimes sent home from emergency when they should have been kept, but again this is not unique to Canada.

I do not have to pay anything directly for the ability to be able to walk into any health care facility and get seen by a doctor.
Yes, I do pay for this through income tax, but my income tax of course also covers many other government programs etc etc. And even paying for all of that it is nowhere the amounts I have heard recently described on this list by Americans as being necessary payments just to have health coverage. The amounts Nancy D was quoting as having to pay per month were simply shocking to me. I probably wouldnt have to pay yearly income tax of the amount of one of those monthly payments. And of course this year I didnt pay any income tax at all due to my circumstances.

I have not heard any stories about people getting sick and losing their homes and all their savings in Canada, as I hear in th States all too frequently.

Also, could someone please explain what the price of gas and sandwiches has to do with healthcare?

Of course, the alternative scene is another story. You have to pay out pocket for that as it is not covered. Some naturopaths are now, which is great, but there is much room for improvement there.

Stop worrying about labels like 'socialism'. Not many Canadians would describe themselves as socialists just because they have a healthcare system that is government run.
Also if you study economics, you will know that a capitalist society cannot go on and on forever. It will at some point need to balance itself out with a more socialist system.

I am very proud to be a Canadian-I'd choose it any day over the US system. KC

--- In cancercured@yahoogroups.com, Kelvin <kelvin.internet@...> wrote:
>
> Found an interesting video that shows a typical experience in social
> healthcare in canada. very interesting/enlightening to see what it's like
> there in that system.
>
> --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2jijuj1ysw
> Kelvin
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>