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Blaming Canada's Success
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Mitch McConnell, United States Senator from Kentucky opposes single payer universal health care. That is his right and we don't object or really care. Where we take issue is his recent statements attacking Canada's universal health care in a disingenuous manner. |
On June 8, 2009 on the floor of the United States Senate, McConnell said said, "focusing on just one hospital in just one city in Canada", that pretty much gives away the game. "Kingston General in the city of Kingston, Ontario, we can get a glimpse of the effect that government-run health care has on everyday Canadians, and the long waits they routinely endure for necessary care.
Baloney. It is simply not true and your editor is living proof of it having battled cancer for three years. McConnell made points about delays in service. "I’d like to describe how government-run health care systems like the one in Canada not only deny, but also delay care for weeks, months and even years."
Again not true in our editor's case CT scans and MRI's have been made available within a matter of weeks sometimes days. For CT scans there is preparation required usually starting the night before taking bromium, something that needs to be built into the schedule. The scans have been conducted the same day in some cases for other patients. That is part of universal health care it is done via triage and it is not a faceless bureaucrat who makes this decision but the doctor. Our editor has benefited in two of her surgeries from the doctor deciding they were emergencies and had to be performed within 48 hours. Some could argue they weren't done immediately, it is not possible to snap one's fingers and produce all the necessary surgeons, nurses, surgical room, supplies in a matter of minutes. Organization is required whether one has universal health care or private health care. At last count our editor had over eighteen doctors involved in her care, hardly indicative of a bureaucratic run cut to the bottom line vision of universal health care.
The Canadian system is not perfect, we've said so in these pages with our editor's dismay at the issues she encountered at Princess Margaret Hospital. However in our sister publication, International Art Treasures Web Magazine, there have been multiple articles about the benefits of universal health care and her positive experiences, here are links to just a few of them.
- Angels of Toronto: Nurses
- Health care at Home
- Review of Michael Moore's Sicko
- Doctor Shopping: Finding a Good GP
Universal Health care works in Canada, no politician, not even a right wing conservative would dare suggest removing it and expect to win re-election. Our neighbors to the south are welcome to choose to retain the status quo or make whatever changes they want; but to use the Canadian success story, in a disingenuous manner, is unfair to any who listen to McConnell's words using a few examples at one hospital to draw negative conclusions. Perhaps McConnell is unaware or not about to tell his listeners that in a survey Canada's father of Medicare, Tommy Douglas, was voted the Greatest Canadian.
