Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Ignore the gap.
How is taxing the people who you need to help the economy bounce back a good thing at this time?
Canada has regulations in place to help prevent all the crap that happened in the US. Bit different situation.
The US can't even provide Social Security without screwing it up somehow. Why should anyone trust them to provide good health care?
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I agree with you that new taxes during bad times are a bad idea, but in this case, it has to be done. I really feel for the people who are struggling under the American system. The republican chairman and others in the GOP have constantly stated that they have the best healthcare system in the world... but the catch is that you have to be able to afford it. Every year that passes under this system, means a lot more people are not able to afford basic medical care.
I believe a good society is a society that ensures all its citizens can get that medical care. Obama's plan may not be able to cover everyone, but as you said, you cannot compare Canada's situation to Americas. There are many many problems in that system, and it has lead to overhead costs taking up an insane amount of the percentage of money spent on healthcare in the USA. In Canada, overhead costs look non-existant when compared to the USA.
We have problems with our system. We need to train more doctors, train more specialists and provide incentives to keep them here. But we need to keep things in perspective. Doctor shortages are not unique to Canada, it is a worldwide problem. We supposedly have enough doctors in this country, but some Canadians still have trouble finding a family physician if they live in rural areas... where doctors tend to prefer not to practice.
The situation down south is not going to be able to be fixed over night, but providing an affordable government run alternative to the insurance companies seems like the right step to me. I think it can, at least, help keep the insurance companies honest.