Post
by Gillian » Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:50 am
You know, I'm still amazed by the number of people who buy into the outright lies and disinformation concerning universal health care. It's really very simple. In Canada, a portion of your taxes go into the national health care fund, and at the end of the year (in Ontario's case) you pay an additional premium based on your annual income when you file your tax return. In return you are given health care coverage which covers everything from doctor's visits, lab tests, hospital stays, surgery, cancer treatments, etc., etc. Even if you're unemployed or a new immigrant, you're still covered as long as you can prove you're a resident. Now I'm sure some people will be absolutely outraged by this -- "I'll be damned if my tax money goes to pay the bills for some freeloading low-life" -- but the fact is, when you average it out over the entire population, covering their expenses only costs pennies per person. More importantly, should you suddenly find yourself unemployed (a real possibility these days), then you'll be covered too.
We also save a lot of money cutting out the middle-man (insurance companies). Less bureaucracy means less money being funneled away from the people who actually need it (you -- the patient) and going back into providing services, R&D and building new hospitals.
Doctors are also self-employed. They do not answer to insurance companies or HMO's and therefore will NOT deny you any medical treatment based on the ridiculous criteria they lay out. All they do is simply bill the government for services once you've been seen. You never see a bill. Nor will you go bankrupt or be denied treatment. Ever.
It's fair. It's accessible. And it works. For us.
When it comes to health care reform though, the States I'm afraid, will face a long haul. There's a lot of entrenched bureaucracy with their fingers too deep in the pie for this to be resolved any time soon. They're going to use every scare tactic, rumour mongering and lie in the book to secure their interests.
My heart goes out to you guys. I hope Obama can turn this around.