Quote:
Originally Posted by pylon
This can certainly go both ways. My dad had an bulge/aneurysm on his aorta. He was told, "Lifting a 10 pound box, could kill you before you hit the ground." Oh, BTW there's a 10% chance you die on the table at your age. He was then placed on a waitlist and told to wait for a surgeon. 6 months had passed and he was couch ridden, depressed, gaining weight from lack of activity and losing hope. He's 82, and I believe they were hoping he'd die before his appointment.
Meanwhile his 75 year old brother in Seattle went for a routine checkup and was on the table for a triple bypass within 72 hours of them finding an issue.
Money was no issue to my parents, and when my mother started making some calls, and looked into getting the Surgery in the States they miraculously managed to hustle him in within days when they caught wind of this. If they lived in US he would have already had his Aorta replaced and been swinging his golf clubs again. The wait would have been days not months.
I'm sorry, I am as capitalist as they come. I have worked very, VERY hard to have what I have, and made enormous personal sacrifices to get to where I am. As have thousands of well off people in this province. I believe if I have the means, and I am willing to pay out of pocket to save my own life or the life of a family member, I shouldn't have to get on an Airplane and fly thousands of kilometers. That should be available to me in my own backyard, and the fact it isn't and I could die as a result tells me the system IS broken.
There's gotta be something in the middle.
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Is your suggestion that those who don't work VERY hard are worthy of less care? I've worked incredibly hard in my life, as has my wife. Sacrifices? Don't even get me started. We both, through no fault of our own, have had our lives changed long before old age with life changing health issues. We both lost the health lottery. We still work incredibly hard and pay taxes, despite having many many challenges. But we can't afford to fly to the States every time we need to see a doctor(or one of the 10 or so we both have to see). Most months I need the health system several times. I get that's probably hard to understand for some people, but that is why it is so important. If we were Americans, no doubt, my wife would be dead and I'd be broke, probably on a street in Portland. Instead we both contribute the best we can to society(and work in oil and gas!) and pay taxes.
Here's where your partisan blindness comes in. You think the system we have is the fault of the system itself never being able to provide timely care, but the reality is, that's exactly what the Conservatives want you to believe. They've spent decades molding the system into what it is, which is a failure. They've ignored countless reports and advice. And now the system is utterly broken. The solution isn't privatization for those who can afford it because they won the health lottery and were able to bank lots of money. You have allowed the system to become what it is by supporting a one party system, just like China has. And you have been abused by them, whether you recognize it or not. Voting one way for life doesn't make you committed to a cause, it makes you a tool to be used.
But the fact is, as you clearly state, you value your money more than you value healthcare for the less fortunate. There's a word for that. But it's not something Canadians typically hold as a key value.