Comedy Central wild man Lewis Black had his audience roaring on The Daily Show this week, mocking the far right's renewed attacks on Canadian health care. It was indeed hilarious.
But some Canadian politicians, Canada's press, and my Canadian friends are not amused by the tsunami of media effluent coming from GOP professional know-nothings -- the predictable attacks, distortions, and outright lies about Canada's popular, government-run health system.
It's a helluva way to speak of the best neighbor our country could possibly hope to have. But do these self-proclaimed patriots of the pit-bull right care? Not likely, eh?
On his always-funny "Back in Black" segment this week, the volcanic comic joked that he was in favor of President Obama's health-care plan until he heard "incredibly convincing arguments like these..."
The first clip was of ferret-faced Texas GOP Congressman Louie "Gomer" Gohmert, who drawled,
"Ah know enough about Canadian health care, and it's a bureaucratic, socialistic piece of crap. One in five have to die because they went to socialized medicine."
Black, veins bulging as usual, exploded: "Well, ah've got bad news for you -- five out of five will die anyway."
Then Black showcased GOP Senate leader Mitch "McChinless" McConnell with his touching story this week on Meet The Press about a "friend of a friend" who'd lost someone to the jackbooted Canadian health bureaucrats.
Black seethed: "Your health-care anecdote is about a friend of a friend? That doesn't even qualify as an urban legend!"
Meanwhile, Canadians are watching all the ridiculous right-wing ads on U.S. TV attacking their first-rate system with more than a bit of displeasure.
My blog here in mid-June about fellow Americans like myself who've lived in Canada liking the Canadian health system drew a huge response -- most of it from disgusted Canadians tired of U.S. right-wingers' lies and who defended their single-payer system. They've largely been left out of the current U.S. debate, save a handful of highly questionable Canuck complainers in U.S. TV attack ads.
This week, Canada's largest newspaper, The Toronto Star, ran a piece about Canadian politicians like MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis asking the government in Ottawa to officially denounce anti-Canada "propaganda" and smear ads now befouling U.S. airwaves. And one major party's leader in Canada, the NDP's Jack Layton, is planning a truth-telling mission to the U.S. Much as MSNBC's "Big Ed" Schultz is planning the same kind of fact-finding mission to Toronto -- that is, if he can persuade a single Republican Senator to come along.
Tom Campbell, former Ontario health and economic minister, has a piece in the Toronto Star this week headlined, "U.S. Has Much to Learn From Our Health Care." He notes:
Canada spends more than a third less per capita on health than the United States and still covers everyone, whereas the U.S. system leaves 46 million people without insurance. "Since our health statistics are markedly better, average Americans would be healthier and live longer if they lived in Canada. Here, doctors do not have to waste time seeking insurance approvals. Medical need is the only requirement and pre-existing conditions don't matter." But the system's not perfect, Campbell says. But, he adds, Canadians are so happy with it that: "Our main obstacle to reform is the very success of the system to date. Politicians admit privately that reforms are needed but they hesitate to speak out. This does not make for thoughtful debate."
Thoughtful debate -- by politicians?
Not exactly something we expect down here in the U.S. Especially not from Senator McChinless and his GOP pals, and all the other weasels and liars on the far right.
Hey, this is only a matter of life and death, right?
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The lies they hear are the status quo fighting with everything they've got to keep the money flowing into their pockets. That's all it is. And yes, they are using the stupid, ignorant, racist, and angry cretin to jump up and down screaming at each townhall they can find. How else does the corporate insurance company get them to do their dirty work but incite them.
Sigh, Obama will win the day. Hopefully after we get public option, we can then move into single payer once enough progressives are voted in (the current blue dogs need to go).
If the rest of the industrialized world had our "system" and we were discussing change I might think we were carzy. We may have good doctors and hospitals, but the delivery "system" sucks and everyone knows it. And stop with the stories from Canada about somebody who got screwed by their healthcare system. We've got more stories like that than any country in the world.
Overall,they have a good health care system.
I heard one grizzled GOP'er going on about Canadians having a lottery system to see who gets to see a doctor... what on earth is he talking about? How come no one in the media asks these knuckle-heads for specifics? It is all "I know someone whose friend who has a cousin in Canada and when their cousin needed a kidney transplant they had to go out and mug a transient and extract it themselves" or other such rot.
Why are they not asking these twaddle-heads
1) if the Canadian health care is so bad, why do we Canadians live longer than Americans?
2) why, although healtheir, do we spend less per capita on health care than Americans?
3) why is it better for a nation to let people die / become destitute seeking medical aid than to cover everyone equally?
4) why can every other industrialized nation provide this benefit to their citizens, and yet the "richest, most powerful, yadda, yadda" nation on earth simply just can not afford such extravagance?
If the American people let this opportunity slip through their fingers again, it will be gone for good.
So overall, Health Care is generally not bad in Canada BUT it is partly held up by the fact that there is a private for profit system in the USA we can rely on EVERY SINGLE DAY when we run short of beds. So its not that Canadians are told they have to die, its that many are told they have to go to a foreign country to live and that in my opinion is the major flaw of the Canadian system.
"There is no separation of church and state in the USA. There is a non-establishment clause that says we cannot establish a specific church as the official church or official religion of the United States."
As an American living in Toronto, you might ask a Canadian what all that transferring patients to the US is about before saying it is the major flaw of our system.
In Canada, medical care is a right. When you need medical care, you get it.
When you need timely medical care in Ontario, and the first response cannot meet your need because of any reason, they call criticall, a provincial medical hot line.
Criticall organizes getting you the medical resources that you need. Usually, that requires an urgent evacuation to another hospital in your community, or a nearby community, but the net keeps expanding until the resources you need are identified somewhere as available, and then you are evacuated to those resources.
It does not matter if those resources are across the border in the US, the majority of us live very close to the US. Your medical needs are paramount, and borders are not.
This is not a weakness; this is a strength, imagine letting patients go without treatment rather than evacuating them to a nearby American hospital with available resources.
We're simply not that jingoistic, to wish such a fate on ourselves.
It may be more timely and/or cheaper to transport a patient across the border for treatment than to fly them to Toronto or another urban area. This is paid for with our taxes via our UHS. European countries also send their patients beyond their boarders to nearby facilities on the continent. Medicare is a multinational effort by industrialized countries. This is often why the health of many expats and visitors are covered in foreign countries. It's a good will exchange and an effort that benefits all of us.
1) Health care in Canada is more than just reliable. It is a life saver to many of us and our friends and family. Perhaps you are one of the few who do not appreciate it in a way as many of us do; We are grateful that we have been fortunate to have such care when needed. Especially for our children.
2) French Canadians in Quebec have been targeted by US private health insurance.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2009/07/assessing_a_public_option_for.html#comments
English Canadians could care less an "identity crisis". They are more offended at the li3s of the cons in the US depicting us as cruel and heartless.
3) I too would like to see improvements in our system. First thing would be to expedite the licensing of our immigrant doctors so that they may serve the rural areas that most need it.
Overall, I'd say that our system is good and there is always need for improvement but very few Canadians would wish to switch to a system like the States. Look at how the comments are rated at the CBC:
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/07/21/shona-homes-health-care.html
Few Americans know anything about Canada, even those who live on the border. It is really quite amazing, actually. The myths their politicians perpetrate about the healthcare system of Canada are so easy to spread because there is little fact-checking done by the average citizen. As Canadians, we are not surprised these fallacies are believed, but it is somewhat disheartening at the same time.
We love our healthcare and gladly pay taxes for that right. Actually we take it for granted, as we do our schools, places of worship, libraries etc..........
We also have private health insurance, which some folks take advantage of if they don't have a plan at their workplace to cover prescriptions, dental, vision.....
I know our system can't be transplanted in the US, but hope you get something similar.
HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, by taking away the current PUBLIC SYSTEM, and instead go to
a PRIVATIZED SYSTEM................I can wager that that politician will not be in politics for
very long!
Is it possible to take these profiteering US politicians to court for OUTRIGHT LYING ABOUT
THE CANADIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM?............I guess the answer to that is no........
because of freedom of speech, etc, etc .............but does freedom of speech apply if it is an
out and out LIE?
It is time for CANADIAN POLITICIANS TO SPEAK UP AND DEMAND FULL APOLOGIES
from the US politicians who are SLANDERING THE CANADIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.
I would also question the integrity of the CANADIAN WOMAN who claims ( in the Repub.
advertisements etc) that she was refused Canadian Health Care for a LIFE THREATENING
BRAIN TUMOUR..................this is an outright FALSEHOOD...........this woman should be
ashamed to call herself CANADIAN................I wonder just how much she is being paid
by the REPUBLICANS............................TO LIE ABOUT HER COUNTRY'S HEALTH CARE
SYSTEM!!!!!!!!
I guess some people will do anything for the MIGHTY DOLLAR AND A LITTLE BIT OF
LIMELIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I resorted to all caps too when a certain person continued to li3 about Canada.
Louisiana Republican Warns Of Organ Rationing That Already Occurs
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21/louisiana-republican-warn_n_242111.html
by the LIES that are being spewed by US politicians about the Canadian
Health Care system, and since I cannot shout, I type in caps sometimes.
So if this annoys you............I humbly beg your pardon!
I too would like improvements to our system, but in no way wish to adopt a US style system.
A reality check on a reality check
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=1783177&sponsor=
Sadly, the GOP li3s make it sound like Canadians and our health care systems are cruel and heartless.
Emergency surgery... well, let's see. I did have to wait for my emergency gall bladder surgery. I think it was a whole 22 minutes -- might have been 25 by the time they prepped me for the OR. The emergency C-section... much have waited an entire 15 minutes for that. My husband didn't have time to park the car.
And by the way, I live in one of the POOREST provinces in the country. And my health care isn't free. I pay for by taxes.