[Dion]

An interesting read about American vs Canadian health care

Consider the bogeyman of the meddlesome government bureaucrat, who in some TV ads stands — quite literally — between patients and their doctors, smiling and waving his finger — nuh uh uh — as he nixes this or that procedure. Yet, the only time in my life that I have ever had to plead my case for health treatment to a bureaucrat was when I lived in New York City.

I had purchased out-of-country medical coverage from a private insurance company in Toronto, where I normally live, for the time I would be spending in the USA. Health care their way

As luck would have it, I had an attack of appendicitis while I was alone on the fourth-floor of an apartment building. The issue I had to clear on the phone with the insurance company was whether I was allowed to call an ambulance, given that I was in too much pain to walk. That conversation, in turn, evolved into a debate about whether I was experiencing a pre-existing condition, which was difficult for me to articulate or even ponder. (Projectile vomiting will do that.)

Eventually, it was deemed permissible. Hurrah. Whereupon the only lasting harm done was my ongoing fear that I might ever get sick again on a private insurance company's dime. To me, it was a novelty and a horror to have to justify my experience of suffering to a stranger who seemed more concerned about the company's bottom line than my pain.

Why hadn't that ever happened to me in Toronto? Because our government funds health care, but doesn't micromanage it. There isn't the case-by-case nickel-and-diming that many American patients experience with HMOs. All doctors and specialists are available to us. When my daughter needed a hernia operation, our pediatrician felt that one particular Toronto hospital was best for that procedure — and off we went.

The point is not that the Canadian system is superior, per se, but that in many ways it feels freer, and more humane. Canadians believe that no individual's frailty should be profited from unless that individual chooses to allow someone to profit. That is a core belief. It is why we voted the politician Tommy Douglas, actor Kiefer Sutherland's grandfather and an early advocate of universal health care, to be called "Greatest Canadian."

A uniquely American fear

Many Canadians have private benefits to cover prescription drugs, dental care and visits to chiropractors or marriage counselors. This affords them more choice without draining the public coffers. But the bedrock upon which the system continues to grow is the belief that no citizen should ever have to choose between health care and rent, or between her care and that of her children.

As long as Americans continue to lack consensus at this bedrock level, there will be no clarity to the objectives for reform. Rumors, slanders and tangential, confusing arguments about scary bureaucrats and oppressed foreigners pining for Dr. House will be the death of the debate.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.ac...81474977787302