Roger Nelson (1:3828/7) wrote to Steven Horn at 08:04 on 23 Jan 2010:

 RN> Normally I try to avoid political discussions (that's what this is,
 RN> isn't it?), but my comment on the thread is that it's both a smoke
 RN> screen and NWO plot. [...]

Roger,

As President Obama does not appear to have given up on his attempt to
reform the U. S. health care system, I thought I should add an additional
comment.

to begin with, this is not a political discussion.  It is instead a
philosophical one.  Canada made the decision several decades ago that every
citizen was entitled to a reasonable standard of basic health care.  The
delivery of that health care was entrusted to a single pay system
administered by the governments of ten provinces and three territories
backstopped by the financial resources of our federal government according
to standards set by the government of Canada and the 13 governments who
administer the plan.  The coverage is mobile, portable and comprehensive. 

What you appear to have in the United States suggests that health care is
considered to be a service which must be purchased.  There are exceptions,
most notably the care given to veterans, but normally each citizen is
expected to get his or her care by paying for it or by getting some form of
coverage through HMOs, Kaiser plans or other coverage agents.

In the result, U.S. coverage of its citizens is less comprehensive than
Canadian coverage of its citizens and costs more to run (10.5% of GDP as
opposed to 9.5% of GDP which our scheme costs.)

Canada made the decision that the U.S. scheme was unacceptable both because
it lacked universality and was expensive to administer.  We also found it
undesirable that insurance companies benefitted financially from providing
a service considered to be essential.

You don't have to like the Canadian scheme and we don't have to like yours
-- every Canadian citzens who travels or visits the United States buys
supplementary health insurance to pay for what our scheme would normally
pay.  But there is no point in discussing any scheme unless you understand
its underlying philosophy.  

Take care,

Steven Horn (steven.horn{at}northwestel.net)
Moderator emeritus, ALASKA_CHAT 
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+