August 23, 2004

KERRYCARE:

More Canadians look to U.S. for treatment (Mark Kennedy, August 20, 2004,
CanWest News Service)

Canadians will increasingly travel to the United States to pay for medical care unless governments in this country finally devote the public funds to the health system that it needs, says the new head of the country's medical profession.

In an interview with CanWest News, Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Albert Schumacher added that if the "crisis" isn't fixed, public pressure will only intensify for a parallel private system in which Canadians can pay for faster treatment in their own communities.

Schumacher, a Windsor, Ont., general practitioner, said that Canadian patients are not getting the timely access they need to a range of medically necessary health treatments.

"There is a patient demand. Where I live in Windsor, I see people go across the border on a continuous basis because they want to buy more."


Yet this is the system the Democrats promise us?

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 23, 2004 3:46 PM
Comments

Actually, Hillary's version would put you in jail for spending your own money. The Canadians are positively "liberal" in comparison.

Posted by: Tom C, Stamford,Ct. at August 23, 2004 3:50 PM

Notice Dr.Schumacher's immediate focus on devoting enough public funds to solve the crisis, and contrast with the later point that "I see people go across the border on a continuous basis because they want to buy more."

There is no iceberg! Full steam ahead!

Effectively Canada already has "Two tier" medicine. The US is the second tier for those who can pay.

Even as Canada's once reasonably efficient socialised medical system augers into the ground, keep in mind that you in the states are not going to stop having the Canadian system held up as an example of what you should be emulating. After all, Castro's Cuba is still held up as a beacon of progress.

Posted by: BC Monkey at August 23, 2004 4:14 PM

>Yet this is the system the Democrats promise us?

Of course. What could be wrong about it? Hillary, Heinz-Kerry, and the rest of Our Betters won't be inconvenienced in the least.

Posted by: Ken at August 23, 2004 4:56 PM

Effectively Canada already has "Two tier" medicine. The US is the second tier for those who can pay.

If the US socialized its medicine a la Canada, where else could people with advanced needs (MRIs, transplants) travel to get medical care?

Posted by: Gideon at August 23, 2004 6:11 PM

Gideon- you couln't. Were the US to go to a national healthcare system, I believe that progress in new cures and medicines would decline dramatically.

Posted by: BC Monkey at August 23, 2004 6:26 PM
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