Canadian Health Care: Dear America...

Last week John Kerry called for a national healthcare system in the U.S., like the one in Canada. If you Americans are planning to institute a national universal healthcare system similar to ours, you might want to look somewhere other than Canada for the ideal model...

...health care was to be provided by the government only and that any form of private care was illegal...

...many of our best doctors moved to the United States, where government was not going to limit the amount of money they could earn....

...many tests and procedures are beginning to be de-listed; meaning that the public healthcare system will no longer pay for them. Among these are items such as PSA examinations, which is used to screen for prostate cancer in men, physiotherapy or chiropractic treatments, certain dermatological procedures, such as the removal of skin growths and eye examinations...

...While on a recent visit to Toronto's Orthopedic and Arthritic Hospital, a facility specializing in the treatment of bone and joint problems, I overheard the harried receptionist at the clinic explaining why the patient would have to wait four to five months to receive surgical treatment...

...Getting an MRI in Canada can take up to six months, although many Canadians choose to cross the border into the U.S. where they can get it next day for about $450...
[Remember the bold sentence above]

...Other procedures can take longer, as in the case of hip or knee replacements, which can take three to four years of waiting...
[I've had 2 hip replacements personally, when you need them, you CANNOT wait 3 to 4 years!]

...Those Canadians who can afford it (including, by the way Paul Martin, our Prime Minister) will get their medical treatment at private clinics in the U.S. to avoid waiting...

Having personally required much medical care, I can tell you many of these scenarios are terrifing... I had private insurnace to cover many of my procedures, but my most recent battle with a severe infection in the hospital (so severe in fact that my family was told I was going to die, and the doctors litarally did nothing the first several days I was there) occured under a different plan, where my coverage was no where near as good as before... I am currently working on paying off what wasn't covered by the insurance, and will probably continue for quite some time...

Had the situation been such that nobody could attend to me, I very likely wouldn't be here today. While I'm struggling to pay off thoes medical procedures now, in the grand scheme it seems like a small price to pay...