One of the major hot topics in society today is health care – who should get it and who should pay for it?
Dave Ramsey weighs in on the subject and while he doesn’t solve the problem, he does bring up some good points. And I have to agree with Ramsey on one thing:
Relying on government rarely solves issues such as these.
The biggest problem I have with socialized health care is twofold: 1) I worry that if everyone had health care, nobody would get the health care they needed. I worry that health care might come in order of importance – which makes sense…but inevitably, I believe that people will fall through the cracks. Old people, check. Mentally and physically challenged people, check. I just see it as a bad, bad situation.
My second concern is my right to choose. I like being able to choose from a list of doctors, get a second opinion if I need/want one, etc. I don’t need my government to choose for me. I’m quite capable of doing that on my own. And I resent my government taxing me if I choose not to follow along with the rest of crowd.
What is the answer?
Lord, if I knew, I’d be president. I know the system that we currently have in place doesn’t work. I feel that the system the president proposes won’t work. Whether it’s a right or not, I feel that everyone should have access to affordable health care. Free? It doesn’t exist. Someone always pays. But the health care should be available if someone wants it. And if someone doesn’t – well, that’s their choice.
What do you think?
The Horizontal Yo-Yo 
The government has no business being in Health care period. I’m old enough to remember how it was before government butting in where they don’t belong. The costs are so high and everything is confusing BECAUSE of government interferrance. We all used to rely on each other and family for help (financialy or whatever) and it worked out just fine. This is part of the “progressive” Soft Tyranny and is VERY VERY BAD. (I’m not yelling at you, just making a point.) 🙂
Well, as a Canadian who enjoys socialized health care, I can tell you I don’t know what we’d do without it. I choose my own doctors, participate in decisions that are made, and never do I have to put my hand in my pocket to pay for it. Our extended health care provided by my husband’s company takes care of prescription costs, glasses, dentistry, and a bunch of other things. My children were born in a first-class hospital, and cared for in spectacular fashion. I had no complaints whatsoever.
True, here you often have to wait to see a specialist, depending on your level of need. My daughter needs to see an orthopedic surgeon about her “crunchy” knees, and the earliest we can get in to see him is November. If she was in dire need, I’m sure they’d find a way to get us in earlier, but she’s not, and November is fine with us. If/when she needs surgery, it’ll be done, no hesitation and no cost.
My father had a triple bypass in 1992, and there was no cost to him. His GP sent him to a cardiologist, which saw him next-day, and he was in the hospital for his surgery by the end of the week. His company paid for a semi-private room at the best hospital in Toronto, and his surgeons were among the best not only in Canada, but world-wide.
My grandmother is 98, and well taken care of. There will always be people who fall through the cracks, but I’d venture to guess that is the exception here, and not the rule.
Long winded post – sorry 😉 I feel very privileged to be Canadian, and cared for by a world-class health care system.
Jenn, I am SO GLAD you cared enough to comment on my post! I was thinking about you the whole time I was posting it because I had always heard that Canadian health care wasn’t worth a pot of beans. Are different areas affected by the system differently, I wonder?
Your thoughts?
Well, I’d have to say the nay-sayers are only those who have had bad experiences. No system is perfect, we certainly have things we’d like to change, and the waiting lists for specialists and elective surgeries in some cases are long. I have not had a bad experience though, nor has anyone in my family, and we have had a number of health crises with various family members over the years.
The health care system is not the same across all the provinces, although it is a Government mandated program. The Canadian government only partially funds each province, and the rest is provided by provincial government, which means each province makes its own guidelines. In most cases they are fair and acceptable.
Case in point: My Mother has a cataract that is causing her fits – she saw a specialist within 3 weeks of her referral in June, and she’s having the operation for it next Thursday. The ultrasound, pre-op screening, physical and blood tests were at no cost to her, but she elected to pay for one additional precautionary test that was not included under provincial health care, and it cost her $100. I would call that fair, and more than acceptable.
What it boils down to is that *every* Canadian citizen has access to quality health care, regardless of their financial situation. Should prescription drugs be too expensive for an individual in need, there are programs to help out with that too.
I really don’t see a problem, and if it’s truly “not worth a pot of beans”, that must be a huge pot full of solid gold beans 😉
Thanks again, Jenn, for your candid post on Canadian health care. It sounds like you have a pretty good system going on. But I still think our government would louse up ours 😉