On Tuesday 12 February 2008 7:14:33 pm Kristian Erik Hermansen wrote:
>
> +1.  For Michale Moore, you could tell he was holding back to try
> being "fair and balanced".  Health care in the USA is a joke compared
> to the UK.  You don't believe it?  Watch the movie and ask any of your
> friends who have had care in both places...

Or you can ask me. I endured the Canadian health care system for over 30 
years. To clear things up, it's not the panacea you appear to think it is. 
The US health care system -- expensive as it may be -- is light years ahead 
of the Canadian and British systems.

A few quick examples from my own life experience.

1) I had to wait over 18 months to get a simple, outpatient operation to fix 
an inguinal hernia in late 2004. The only reason I was "rushed" in at the 18 
month mark was that I was to the point where I could barely function any 
more. If I hadn't pushed the issue, the surgeon's office would have let me 
sit on the waiting list for my originally scheduled date -- six months later.

2) My mother waited over 2 years to get one hip replaced and has waited over 
two more years to get the other done (four years and still waiting).

4) My wife's step-grandfather was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November 
last year and was told that he will need to wait until June to get in to see 
the specialist to determine how they will treat his cancer. Eight months of 
letting the cancer grow before they will even take a first look at it.

5) My wife and I lived in Calgary, AB for five years. In that time, we were 
only able to get our kids into a pediatrician once, after we were referred by 
another doctor. Additionally, none of the doctors we could find were taking 
on new patients, so any time we needed health care, we went to walk-ins 
(urgent care) or the emergency room.

Those are the first few examples that come to mind. If I needed to, I could 
dig up a lot more.

Regarding your first assertion, Michael Moore doesn't have the first clue what 
life is like under socialized health care and you don't see him traveling to 
Cuba for his check ups and surgery, do you?

The simple truth is that people are dying on wait lists in Canada, Great 
Britain, and France. Worse, they're made to wait like that after having paid 
50%+ taxes for their "free" health care.

Don't fall for it. The grass is not greener on the other side of that fence.

-- 
Jason Hayes
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