Friday, January 8, 2010

OK ET Take This Asinine Comment A Part

Some go to India as it's cheap there--most of the doctors/nurses are trained in India rather than at U.S. schools. I have no problem with that, it's the free market at work. I also have no problem with Canadians coming here to take advantage of our free market, but it does tell you something about their "free" health care.
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. -Milton Friedman

Posted by: New Millionaire on Fri 1.8 11:44pm

4 comments:

et said...

Happy to, Count. Yo! New Moronaire, listen up! The only person suggesting that Canadian health care is free is YOU. Citizens, and permanent residents like me, pay into the program according to a schedule based on annual income and the size of the household. You can pay annually, quarterly or monthly. Our cost is just over $100/month for a family of three. Stack that up against the $800/month we were getting dinged for independently-sourced health insurance (we're self-employed) in the States...regardless of whether or not we actually used it for anything but a catastrophe thanks to the co-pays and exclusions and fretting about what would or wouldn't be covered.

You seem to have a problem with one citizen helping to fund another's health care, even on so minimal a level as paying a fair premium to help offset those who can't afford to pay at all. So, with that in mind, I suppose you never drive on a municipal roadway, rely on the police or the fire department, or so much as look at a public library, right? It's called the social contract and people looking after one another. Do I want my kid attending school with healthy, well-cared-for classmates, or with a bunch of kids who are going to spread H1N1 like wildfire because their families can't afford care? Hmm. Gee, let me think...

For that matter, a healthier population translates into greater productivity (fewer sick days or people coming in to work when they're ill) and a higher level of employability (employers like reliable employees, and health = dependability and vigor). So even your beloved "free market" benefits from publicly-funded health care.

And here's a closing mind-bender for you. ET Spouse is in the process right now of getting referred to a specialist. We completed the necessary form at the walk-in clinic today and he was told a recent chest X-ray would also be needed. Guess which of the following happened?

(a) He was told to contact a bureaucrat in Ottawa before having the X-ray done to make sure it was covered.

(b) He hopped on a ferry to Seattle because it would be so much easier, quicker, professional and affordable in the States.

(c) He was sent to a hospital radiology facility on the other side of town and put on a waiting list.

(d) We drove two minutes to our area hospital, he presented the form, they said it would be a 10-15 minute wait, but it ended up being closer to 2 minutes, and the form and X-ray report were faxed to the specialist within the hour.

But by all means continue spouting your third-hand, unsupported drivel on this topic. You make yourself look even stupider with every single post and it's high-value entertainment all the way.

Eh?

Anonymous said...

You know I thought your answer would be good stuff and I have to admit I was wrong...





It was GREAT stuff!

et said...

Thanks, Count! As you know, I have zero patience for these ludicrous pronouncements about the evil, inefficient, grannie-killing, death-panel-laden Canadian health care system...in large part because I, unlike most of the spouters, have personal experience on BOTH sides of the border and can speak to the matter directly. They're so off-base as to be laughable.

And, if New Moronaire was wondering, of course the answer was (d). I even had well over an hour on the two-hour parking permit that another hospital patron had passed on to ME as a freebie, when I in turn "paid it forward" to someone ELSE who was about to feed coins into the parking pay station.

Catch that happening in a US hospital lot? I've seen it three times already here in BC. Never once Stateside. Take THAT in your charitable-donations-challenge maw, New Moronaire.

Kiefer Sutherland said...

I think Canadian health care rocks the house.

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