[caya]

Brenda,

With all due repect,that article you posted is nearly 3 years old. If you search through the internet you will find articles like this, as Mke said, the lobbyists in the US against universal health care will stress things like this. As I said previously, I fully admit that the Canadian universal health care system is not perfect. And BTW, in this article you cited, the WHO in 2000 ranked Canada 30th in health care, and the US 37th, not exactly positions either country should be proud of.

Unfortunately I am not as tech savvy as you, so I cannot bring up a link directly, but just a few months ago it was front page news across all the Canadian papers - a woman from Seattle (I think) was advertising for a Canadian husband because she had no health insurance and could not get it in the States - She knew if she married a Canadian, she would be covered.

I personally know of a Her2 BC patient in Wisconsin whose oncologist has been trying to get her a PET scan for weeks - fighting with her insurance company. Another woman I know in California - her husband has just been diagnosed with prostrate cancer and their insurance will not cover the latest robotic surgery. Many Americans think "the government" will dictate what their care will be, if they have universal health care. Well, to me, it seems like in the States, the insurance companies have the final word - if you have coverage at all. And you have to stay within your HMO or Network- here I can go to any doctor/hospital I want to. Yes, I need a referral to see a specialist from my GP, but that is just a formality.

And if universal health care is the big bad beast, why are both Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama making this such a big election issue in their campaigns? (Sorry I don't know much about the Republican candidates). Ask the 47 million Americans who do not have any insurance what they would prefer. Ask people who are stuck in jobs they hate, but are afraid to leave because they would lose their health insurance.

You can bring up articles showing the "failures" of the Canadian system all you want - but I can tell you that, while not perfect, and I stress that, most Canadians are very happy with our system. We have very good care, in general, for EVERYONE. No one is losing their house to pay for medical treatments in Canada.

No one has to fill out endless forms to fight with insurance companies about treatment options - this would be so stressful after a serious diagnosis, like my family had - January 2006 my DH was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm - which by the way had been misdiagnosed by a Boca Raton hospital team 3 weeks beforehand when he was rushed to the hospital while we were on vacation - then in Oct. 2006 my BC dx. I nearly had a nervous breakdown between these 2 very serious events occuring within months of each other - I cannot even begin to fathom the stress and pressure of having to justify treatment with an insurance company. And we got immediate treatment with top notch specialists at the hospitals we chose. Scans, tests etc. were scheduled by our doctors, we did not have to wait for "approval" from an insurance company.

all the best
caya (a content Canadian)