Dan: Nice job defending socialized health care. The private health care
system's biggest friend in the US is ignorance, which I find rather
surprising, given our proximity to your country. One of these days the wall
of ignorance will come tumbling down. It's only a matter of when. Keep
picking away at it.
Meanwhile, I will weigh in with my admittedly anecdotal corroboration of the
Canadian experience. In gneral whenever I have occasion to visit Canada, I
am always struck by the fierce pride that Canadians of all stripes have in
their health care system. It's like it's woven into their being as citizens,
like the freedom to own guns, unfortunately, is into ours.
At times it's rather amusing. I recall one time watching a clip from the
World Wrestling Federation, of all things, that showed Canadian wrestler
Brett "Hitman" Hart taunting the US crowd. How did he taunt us? By calling
us weenies, or girlie men? No. He taunted us with our selfish, profit-driven
health care system, in contrast to the Canadian one, which exemplified the
Canadian values of mutual aid and compassion for all! It was the funniest
thing. I couldn't help but wonder what the typical US wrestling fan thought.
On a more personal level, my Calgary uncle, a dual national US/Canadian
citizen and life-long Conservative, had a heart attack last year that
required emergency surgery in a Canadian hospital. When I called to wish him
well after the surgery, I asked him how the treatment was. One of the
standard canards about Canada's health care system is that it falls down
when it comes to treating serious illness.
My uncle, however, couldn't stop raving about it. "Absolutely topnotch, I
can't say enough good about my doctor. The treatment was superb," etc. I
mentioned that this was at variance with the portrait of socialized medicine
in the US, promulgated by Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. He scoffed. "Complete
bullshit. This system is GREAT." This from a multimillionaire conservative
who could certainly afford the finest privately financed health care, were
he to have a similar illness in this country.
That's all I have to say at the moment.
Tresy
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