Canadian commenters rallied to the defense of their single-payer health-care system at this site on my previous post.
At least half the 1400 comments came from Canadians furious at the way their cherished health-care system is being trashed by the American right. And, as I wrote, we Americans who've used the "socialistic" Canadian health system know it works quite well.
But we can learn a lot more from our more progressive "upstairs" neighbors about socialism and international matters.
How many Americans know what's on the back of a Canadian $10 bill?
A. A female U.N. peacekeeper with binoculars.
Think we'll see anything like that in the U.S. soon, where the looneytoons at Fox News and their followers are ever on the lookout for the U.N.'s black helicopters?
Canada takes its international obligations seriously. It's lost a lot of soldiers in Afghanistan the past decade.
Also, much has been made of feckless Louisiana GOP governor Bobby Jindal's Indian ancestry as a sign of racial progress.
But a decade ago, British Columbia elected Punjab-born Ujjal Dev Singh Dosanjhh as its Premier (B.C.'s equivalent of a governor).
And, on top of that, he was -- brace yourselves - a socialist! And the province is still functioning!
His socialist NDP party has been a major political party in Canada for decades.
Living in Canada, as my wife and I did, is an experience that permanently changes most American expats.
You learn that a bit of socialism, properly applied, benefits everyone -- and makes for a better society.
(Another: It's sure as hell nice to live in a safe place without handguns. But we'll save that for another day).
Ironically, it got harder this month to enter the U.S. from Canada. Passports or enhanced I.D. are now required.
That's absurd. If anything, it should be the other way around. After all, WE'RE the loud, gun-owning types living downstairs who could know or care less about their neighbors. We're the ones who drive bigger vehicles -- and who don't have medical insurance.
Socialism Run Amok!
When my wife and I first moved to Montreal, this then-Republican thought it was dangerous socialism when the province of Manitoba took over - socialized -- the auto-insurance business.
The result: Province-wide no-fault insurance that cost every Manitoban exactly $49. (Socialism! The horror!)
Yes, taxes in Canada are higher, but so are government services.
Closing out today's Canada 101, a few more interesting things you may not know about our decent and respectable northern neighbors:
So, government-run health care is only one thing we Americans can learn from Canada and its "left-leaning" political leaders.
Finally, on most issues, even Canada's ruling Conservative Party is to the left of our own Democratic Party. That tells you a lot.
Follow Bill Mann on Twitter: www.twitter.com/newsmann
WHAT is wrong with this picture?
These kinds of accidents do happen and I wish some Americans could see the value of UHC under such circumstances. Especially for kids.
HOW TO MOVE TO CANADA: A PRIMER FOR AMERICANS
http://www.howtomovetocanada.net/work1.htm
Good luck and best wishes! We are thinking about moving to beautiful BC too!
(I live in beautiful northern BC, by the way)
I guess we make a distinction between "playing safe" and moralizing.
Just FYI: The back of the $10 also shows a young woman and her child and an elderly veteran in front of a war memorial and part of the poem "In Flanders Fields," written by Canadian army doctor John McCrae to acknowledge the dead in the First World War.
The $50 pays tribute to the "famous five" who championed women's rights in Canada and the rest of the Commonwealth:
* Emily Murphy (the British Empire's first female judge);
* Irene Marryat Parlby (farm women's leader, activist and first female Cabinet minister in Alberta);
* Nellie Mooney McClung (a famous suffragist and member of the Alberta legislature);
* Louise Crummy McKinney (the first woman elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, or any legislature in Canada or the British Empire) and
* Henrietta Muir Edwards (an advocate for working women and a founding member of the Victorian Order of Nurses).
To clarify for Americans, we have laws regarding seat belt use and helmet use, whether motorbike or bicycle for a reason: it matters to us that people prevent injuries which would impact our UHC. If the hospitals are full of people with injuries which could have been minimized, or even avoided, by using safety items then the system will get bogged down and start losing efficiancy and those who are sick through no fault of their own will suffer.
One thing you don't mention is that Canadian health care isn't free, as a lot of people believe. Working adults pay a monthly premium, but much of the time their employer pays it. In BC, how much are these premiums?
$54 for one person
$96 for a family of two
$108 for a family of three or more
And if you can't pay for your premium, you can apply for premium assistance and the government will pay for most, if not all of it. Oddly enough, ambulance trips aren't covered under the plan, for this you get charged about $75.
I had a car accident a couple of years ago. I had an emergency room visit, another hospital visit because of complications, had x-rays, an MRI and a CAT scan, and visits to several specialists since the accident. My bill. $54 per month.
Oh, the horrors of socialized medicine!
because some sites are republican tricks, they get the email or fax, not your Senator.
medicare covers people they don't want... those most likely to be or to get sick soon. Why can't you
idiots figure it out that the same thing will happen to a public option. All the people, you have turned
down or dropped after they got sick... like anyone with any tiny illness will flock to the public option.
They have nowhere to go now except to stand in line with the serious drug addicts for HOURS with their children (these are middle class people who can't qualify... not who can't pay) or they can go to
an emergency room where the doctor has to treat them for free by law... welfare healthcare because
the doctor doesn't get paid.
I am sick of repugs, they hire people to make up their horrible lies and then they say them over and
over until they are stuck in some peoples brains. We know you are doing that, repugs. It may work for
a while but soon enough we start reading about your new evangelical ploy... get Lou Engle, Founder
of the call to recruit KIDS who consider it an honor to be a martyr for God, and we watch him bless
Gingrich and Huckabee on You Tube. All that is left of the so called Christian right are the real crazies. And don't even try to pretend that you are not a cult. "Google evangelical and scandal".
Single payer non-profit health care for all. No representatives or senators who get money from ins. and pharm. get to vote on this issue.
Let's keep agitating for proportional representation and turning out to vote so we don't get stuck again with a batch of conservative nuts that ONLY 20% OF CANADIANS VOTED FOR!
Somebody please help control the h8fest going on in this thread...Baby Jeebus, where are you???!??!
Why are some Americans like this???
When It Comes to Health Care, Why Do Republicans (and Some Centrist Democrats) Hate Americans?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-bard/when-it-comes-to-health-c_b_218945.html
http://www.votingbloc.org/Health_Bloc.php