Behind The CBC's Hit Piece On Medicare: The Bias, The Blank Spots And The Damage

I saw this piece, I found it rather comical that they started the story out comparing private healthcare to veterinary medicine. Gee, interesting parallel - if you can't afford hip surgery for the dog, then euthanasia is your option. Maybe that's the way private healthcare will be operated in Canada?

Anyone who tells you that private healthcare is more efficient, safer, yadda yadda yadda, is delusional. Private healthcare is profit driven, which means more bodies through an operating room in the same time, lower costs, cutting corners and making profits. If one is smart enough to conduct a bit of research on their own (which this documentary clearly didn't) Canada's wait times, health care costs, etc. are directly in line with other G8 nations, and is competetive with the US, which by the way has 30,000,000 plus individuals who are turned away at the door of a hospital and countless more who's HMO's tell them what they can and cannot get help for. That isn't exactly a utopia worth emulating.

The right is on the march in Canada, and Canadians who have benefited mightily over the years from more civilized and more progressive governments are soon in for a rude awakening.

Most of us have taken all the good things in our lives, like medicare, pensions, collective bargining, a living wage, a charter of rights, freedom of speech and at least the pretense of equal treatment before the law (and so much more) for granted. We have simply assumed it was our birthright.

Well, it was not. In many instances, someone died so that we could enjoy those good things. In many others, good people gave up their entire lives to earn them for us. And what did we do? We failed to cherish them, we failed to value them, and we allowed them to slip away. Much of the best is gone already. More disappears every day.

Neo-conservatives, who believe their small following of the greedy, the narrow, the selfish and the powerful are better than all the rest of us, think they should have anything they want whenever they want it, and that the country and the world should made over to suit them. In their value structure, the role for everyone else is to work twice as hard to make them richer, accept a third or less of what you need, then shut up and be duly grateful. Or else.

To them medicare is a waste of money they could have for themselves, and allows that unworthy underclass take up valuable medical resources that should be reserved for their betters. The same is true of pensions. To them pensions erode profits, and their profits are what counts, nothing else. When you can't enrich them any more, you are worthless, you might as well starve. You are a liability.

Neo-cons hate rights. Rights elevate ordinary folks to what they see as their own exalted level. They want to write the laws for their own benefit, have their own people interpret them and judge others as they wish, and impose harsh penalties to terrorize anyone who thinks of challenging them. They see law enforcement as their very own vengful omnipotent enforcer. Believe me, in their world, you don't count unless you have something they can take from you far below value, and use for themselves.

This is the world we are heading towards in Canada.
Stephen Harper, that arch neo-conservative who would, and (God help us) very soon may be, Prime Minister of Canada, has said himself that these objectives have to be achieved incrementally, and that they need to be carefully couched in non-threating rhetoric in order that voters do not realize what is happening until it is too late, and are unable to defend themselves.

And this is the type of world the CBC was praising and defending in its anti-medicare diatribe. That is a rotten betrayal of the people of Canada, since it was not the greed soaked few who established the "Mother Corp" in the first place or funded it and defended it all these years. In it's gratitude, the CBC made common cause with those who would hurt the most vulnerable Canadians, and would soon put the public broadcaster itself to the dreadful knife for fear it might not always spout the appropriate commercialized right wing nonsense.

I know the old Liberal government has become arrogant, and has an odour of corruption. Yes, they deserve richly to be turfed out, and we do need a change. But I beg of Canadians, please, for your own sake THINK carefully before you consider any kind of conservative to replace them. You will be the one to pay the price, and it will be a very high one.

'Uninsured' Americans have faster access to better health care than any Canadian. Perhaps you are simply ignorant of the facts and therefore can be excused, but in the U.S. they have medicare and medicaid - programs that cover people who don't have insurance. If you had ever visited the U.S. you would notice that there are not lines of sick or injured begging to be let into a hospital - not there, nowhere to be found. Ignorance is bliss for a lot of Canadians, it's fun to sit around and blow sunshine up each other's butt pretending we have such great health care, but the reality is that Canada has the 30th best health care system in the world - yippee...

Although the Clinton administration worked to create a program that would cover all Americans he failed because the right wing opposed it. Medicare and medicaid cover only certain groups and are not available to the working poor. More workers are losing their coverage because their employers are dropping health care plans to increase profits. In part this is caused by increasing globalization and the "race to the bottom."

There is no point for the poor to beg at the doors of hospitals. There are second rate and third rate charity hospitals that do help the poor as there was in New Orleans where it was the last evacuated when the floods cut them off. The people that work in these facilities tend to be those who are dedicated to helping others but they are hampered by poor equipment and inadequate facilities.

There is no doubt that those with healthy bank accounts would be happy to buy their way to the head of the line for the best medical services their wealth can buy as they do in the United States. They would be delighted if others were allowed to live in pain and suffering while get got their tummy tucks and face lifts. That is the "self-interested individualism" of the new Conservativism.

The rest of us envision a much fairer system.

I can remember what it was like before our current health care system. People simply could not afford to seek medical help until they were desperate. I know someone who lost a leg because he could not afford timely health care. Hospitals and clinics were operated by charities and municipalities but people still had to pay. I know of a family that lost their home to pay medical bills when a pregnancy went terribly wrong.

When the private sector takes over health care access is restricted by profitability. Economic efficiency take precedence over outcomes as in the United States which has a poor record of medical outcomes. Anyone who wants an American system must be extremely wealthy indeed.

Only wealthy Americans have quick access to health care. The rest are SOL! Last year, 600,000 Americans went bankrupt because they couldn`t pay their medical bills! Americans deserve better!

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Dave Ruston

> Canada has the 30th best health care system in the world

But it's FREE!

>>>Only wealthy Americans have quick access to health care.<<<

It is just not true. Simple as that.

Of course it is not true. Americans who are not wealthy may indeed experience quick access to health care. <br />
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However, looking at stats pulled from <a href="http://www.results.org/website/article.asp?id=839">http://www.results.org/website/article.asp?id=839</a> :<br />
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"The average family policy now costs $9,068 per year and continues to rise."<br />
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The U.S. system is more expensive per captia than Canada's. That even comes out in recommendations *for* 2-tier systems, most of which encourage looking at one of the more cost effective national models.<br />
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"The percentage of uninsured children in 2003 rose to 11.4 percent, not a drastic change from its previous 2002 level. There are an estimated 9 million children who do not have health insurance in the U.S.; furthermore 90 percent of these children have at least one working parent Recent data indicates that the number of children eligilble for assistance from Medicaid or the SCHIP program increased in 2003. Children who do not have health insurance are 8 times less likely to have a regular source of healthcare, 4 times more likely to delay treatment, and 5 times more likely to use the emergency room as a regular source of care. Even those children who are insured under government programs are at risk due to poor quality of care."<br />
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So, statistically, the less-well-off (compared to well-off americans, not canadians) are less likely to have access to timely care, and are more likely to use premium resources like ERs. Just like rural Canada, I might note.

When it was administered correctly it was number 1 and the envy of the world. When it came under attack from NAFTA and the corporate puppet politicians, it slid to 30, for no good reason. And really, if a tax system pays for it, then it really isn`t 'free.'

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Dave Ruston

It slid because we have an aging pop, people live longer and the entire system is not sustainable. Gov't-administered healthcare is a bottomless pit for money. We've had three "fixes for a generation" in the last 6 years and still the provinces beg for more. Two thousand bureaucrats in the federal health dept and they don't administer any hospitals. Hopefully some genius won't decide that grocery stores have to be gov't run so poor people can have access to food.

<<The average family policy now costs $9,068 per year and continues to rise.>>

And what does the average Cdn pay in taxes for "free" healthcare. Not to mention our "not free" private medical insrance to cover ambulance fees, prescription drugs, private hospital rooms, second opinions, eye care, etc. Or the hidden costs of family burden (time off etc) to take care of grandma while she waits 40 weeks for a hip replacement. Dave is right...healthcare, like lunch, is not free. At best you might call our system pre-paid healthcare with additional costs at the door.

Public health care is sustainiable when the rich and the corporations are taxed fairly as opposed to tax cuts for the rich resulting in cut funding, which happened across Canada in the 90`s. Monetary reform will also free up interest free money to fund the system. Public health care is also sustainable when administered correctly, putting patients needs ahead of profits and CEO/ Hospital administrators salaries, which have mysteriously rose inspite of cuts to other areas of health care. Also what didn`t help, is when Mulroney eliminated the ability of Canadian generic drug companies to supply our drugs and medicines. He allowed for big pharma to come in and charge more for their drugs, which caused a huge rise in the cost of health care. Not to mention, the loss of so many good paying jobs due to NAFTA has also resulted in a loss of tax revenue to further fund the system. But ultimately, fair taxation, monetary reform, and scrapping NAFTA will ensure that Canadian politicians are not prevented from sustaining public health care. That`s assuming that politicians aren`t corrupted by their corporate masters! The additional costs of privatization will mean more poverty, illness, misery and violence in our society. I guess that`s what you want?

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Dave Ruston

I have become pained and discouraged by the constant comparision of everything Canadian to everything in the US and the tone of critical and disdainful rhetoric those comparisions seem to give rise to lately.

The issue for us is not what kind of health care system they have in the United States. That's their problem. We should be talking about what kind of system we here in Canada want. Neither is it important whether or not our current system is "sustainable" by greed-based neo-con standards, or whether is the most efficient in the world.

It is what we want that counts. If what we want is what we had before NAFTA and the current market madness started to devalue our country, then our explicit instructions to our leadership should be to restore and maintain that system, regardless. Period. No excuses, no lies, no meddling, no tampering. Just do what ever it takes to make that happen and do it now. Otherwise, you cannot govern. That's the right answer and the only answer to this issue. Then we should vote accordingly at every level of government every chance we get.

Government's job is to serve us, no matter what they may believe. When they serve only some greedy fat cats or become slaves to some sort of world-wide fanatisism or a crazed economic philosophy that is damaging to us and our society, they must go and go quickly. When we discover how to make that happen routinely, when we grow up and use our democracy to further our own interests (while we still have it), then health care will no longer be an issue. Our cherished Canadian system will be restored. The greedies and the crazies won't be able to challenge it any more.

When will that be? Soon, I pray.

Hmmm no american rebuttal when confronted with the facts, surprise surprise.

<<Government's job is to serve us, no matter what they may believe.>>

You might want to mention that to the 10,000 federal crats working for Health Canada. Esp since they don't run any hospitals. But I'm sure all we need to do is tear up NAFTA, slame Mulroney and Bush then follow up with a ton of cash (maybe bi-annual fixes for a generation). That should save our cherished health care.

Btw: if service is the issue, you shouldn't care who delivers it. Health Can doesn't manufacture MRI machines in the basement of the Brooke Claxton Building, yet we still use those. Of course the waiting time to get an MRI is horrendous. But heh...it's all about service (or dogmatic religious attachment to a social program at all cost including life).