[caya]

I have remained silent for many weeks watching this debate rage on between my American Her2 family. As a Canadian who is for the most part, happy and grateful for our universal health care system here in Canada, I thought I would chime in here to offer a few opinions. I have done this before periodically, with some board members welcoming my experiences and opinions, and others have reprimanded me saying that my opinion really means nothing, as I am not American.

I was happy to see DianneS, an American now living in Canada, post to give her experiences with both health care systems. She states that "having experienced BOTH medical systems" she prefers the Canadian one. And she goes on to say, and I heartily agree with DianneS - "It may not be perfect, nothing in life is- but at least everyone is covered." That statement I believe echoes the opinions of probably every Canadian. We believe that health care should be covered for every citizen, and no one should have to worry about paying large sums of money for medical care, especially during times of major illness. No rejection if you have a "pre-existing condition," no waiting for an insurance company to approve your treatment. The government does set some guidelines, but, to the best of my knowledge, nothing out of the ordinary standard of care. Pap smear, 1x year, (unless there is reason to do another), yearly physical, etc.

Brenda, that article you sent focuses on the very small minority of people who sometimes do have to wait for some elective surgeries. And that is exactly where our system needs to improve. We do need more access to quicker surgeries, more MRIs etc. But I would not throw the entire system down the drain to do so. Canadians would be up in arms if our equitable health care system was denied them.

I agree with DianneS - it is a falsehood that we have have long waits here for most surgeries, dr's appointments etc. My husband had a brain aneurysm, it was diagnosed on a Monday at 4 p.m. - operated on the next day, 6 days in the neurology ICU, home visits by a community care nurse for months of rehab - no forms to fill out, no fighting with an insurance company about treatment. When I had my BC - I decided which dr., which hospital I wanted - no HMO or insurance company telling me that this dr. was "out of network". My onc. and surgeon and I decided on my chemo, treatment etc. - not the government. It's bad enough when you are coping with a life-threatening illness, but at least here in Canada, you just go to your appointments etc., have basically no forms to fill out, no worries about payment.

Yes, our taxes are higher, but it seems to me that many of my US friends pay increasingly higher insurance premiums for less coverage, rising co-pays etc. What's the difference if you pay extra taxes, or give the money to insurance companies - the benefit is that all citizens are equally covered - isn't that the moral way to be?

Again, I must state that I am not trying to butt into American affairs, but I cannot stand by and see the Canadian system maligned based on a few exteme, isolated incidents. Ask any Canadian if they are happy with their healthcare system, I bet 99% will say yes. Ask the 45 million Americans who have no coverage, or the ones who, like Dianne's daughter, who are struggling to make the payments, or people like susan w, "went bankrupt" paying for her BC bills - what they think.

Yours respectfully,
caya