I was chatting with a good friend - an American who has spent much of her adult life in Canada, married to a Canadian. During our conversation, she mentioned the current US medicare debate and how sad it made her.
It's hard for me, as a Canadian, to understand why so many Americans don't want everyone to have medical coverage, I said. To me it's totally illogical.
They think the cost is too high, she replied.
Her comment made me think of my recent trip to Hawaii. At the Ala Moana Shopping Center, I remember watching several ladies pick up empty soda cans to take to a recycling station several blocks away.
It wasn't unusual to see dusty, sunburned beachcombers gathering cans to cash in at the recycling depot. But these ladies looked different. I stared at them for a few minutes because I had never seen anyone hobbling along like they were. Something was obviously wrong with their legs.
I remember thinking - if these ladies were in Canada, would they be walking like that? Or would a doctor long ago have fixed whatever their problem is? Can they simply not afford to get treatment for whatever ails them?
If so, the cost of a country's health insurance can't simply be counted in dollars and cents. Surely one must factor in lost potential: the loss to society of everything that these women (and others like them) could achieve - if their medical problems weren't holding them back ... If they could afford the treatment they needed...
Marlene, are you suggesting that no one in Canada walks with a limp and the everyone there achieves the fulness of their human potential because of nationalized health care? Fortunately most Americans prize their liberty; both to succeed and to fail. National health care is an abominable infringement on that personal liberty--and on the free enterprise system as a whole. For both Americans and Canadians. Your American friend is limited in her appreciation of the breadth and depth of the problem.
ReplyDeleteFor the realatively few Americans who want health insurance and can't get it (about 12 million is the real number--excluding, in all liklihood, the beachcombers you mention as they are probably covered by medicaid), nationalized healthcare is the equivalent of swatting a fly with a sledge hammer. Maybe a steam shovel! And there is simply no objective, empirical data to suggest that it (at least as presently proposed) will save one thin dime of cost.
Your compassion is noted and laudable. But your conclusion that nationalized healthcare is therefore the only solution, reveals the depth of your indoctrination in the concepts of collectivism. You simply can't imagine any alternative, can you? Personally, I'd rather be hobbling around Hawaii collecting cans than trapped in a mindset that had no room for individual liberty and personal responsibility or the virtues of industry, free enterprise and excellence.
Wow! Lots of entry points for commenting! I just want to say two things - I don't think 12 million (people without health insurance) is "relatively few" - and yes, nobody is hobbling around Canada because they can't get medical care.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have missed my point. Relative to 300 million, yes it is a small number. Therefore to address their problem by completely up-ending what is arguably the finest healthcare system in the world (where do Canadians go when they can't get timely or adequate care?) is a disproportionate response. There are better, more cost-effective free market or even government solutions to a comparatively small problem. Upwards of 80% of Americans have coverage and are currently happy with it. Nationalization isn't a healthcare play, it's a power play, pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteAll of us live in "collectives" - whether they be families, cities, countries,etc. These groups decide what resources they will share, (and share the cost for). One difference between Canadians and Americans is that Canadians have decided to put health care into our shared benefits (together with public education, roads, defence, etc.) - And as for Canadians seeking medical care abroad - we are all free to do so if we wish (It's a free country!) though I personally know of no one who has ever done so. The medical care all in my family have received over the years is outstanding.
ReplyDeleteThis category is mainly taken from private insurers. This means that you or a loved one is still a Medicare beneficiary but this can be acquired with additional premium payment. Part A
ReplyDeleteMy main point was that if people aren't healthy, they can't be productive members of society. And if they don't have afford medical care, they can't be productive members of society. Medical coverage - in my opinion - should be for everyone. For free. Of course, the cost comes from taxes, but really - everyone in society benefits.
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