Canada's Health Care

I'd like to first introduce this entry by saying it has nothing to do with the show. It will also not count towards the 8 remaining posts I'd like to have done by the end of the month. This may also be considered somewhat of a political post; I'd like to at least address that this is my personal perspective and shouldn't necessarily reflect that of any other individual.

I spent about an hour on youtube yesterday under the search string "town hall outburst". The town halls refer to the public meetings that the Obama Administration has organized in order to have a dialogue with the general public on the sweeping health care reforms. In a nutshell, the nation's health institution will become much more akin to Canada's. In these videos are not only clueless rednecks and selfish do-nothings, more importantly, there's a lot of misinformation being said about Canada's health care.

Shona Holmes, from Hamilton, Canada suffered from a brain tumor and wasn't receiving the treatment she felt she required. A trip to the Mayo clinic and $100, 000 later and she was all better. She seized the opportunity to gain media exposure, trashing her nation's health care in light of her experiences. There's absolutely nothing wrong with her feeling the way she does. She's obviously had a bad experience and it's no lie that a system that serves 31, 000, 000 citizens has a few flaws and horror stories.

I, Dustin Bell, from Shanty Bay, Canada, don't suffer from a brain tumor. I've never had any serious illnesses, but I have been to the hospital a few times for what I'll call... stupid things. Here's what the Canadian health institution has offered me; friendly and capable nurses; compassionate and professional doctors and a completely satisfying experience in which I've never, ever, felt that I didn't receive the care I required. I had to wait in the waiting room for a few hours. Wah. I wanted someone to call 9wahwah for a whambulance, but I had a feeling that would just lead to a big circle. I was drunk. The point is, as an average individual, I've never felt let down by the institution in any way. Never had my faith shaken. Confident that if I needed to go right now, this instant, to the hospital, I would be taken care of before sunrise. It depends on how many people have been cut by beer bottle class tonight. Oh yeah, did I mention it's FREE? Like go to the bar with $200.00, spend it all and wake up in the hospital without a bill FREE.

The biggest issue between the American and Canada health institutions isn't in its bureaucracy, or its market value or the degree of government administration - it's in its philosophy.

The Canadian government generally acts on altruistic and egalitarian principles. As a nation, we believe in the equal value of every human, regardless of their appearance or societal value, and we believe in helping those less privledged even at the cost of self-interest. Americans are generally comparable to utilitarianists, or ethical egoists. They believe in the greatest good for the greatest amount of people, or the pursuit of their own individual interests. Their health care system is modelled after those ideals.

There's obviously a lot of in-fighting going on because this isn't just a change in health care policy - it's a change in their philosophical ideals. Obama won on a platform that included introducing sweeping reforms into the way the nation simply - was. I don't think a lot of people actually anticipated that change requires change.

For what it's worth I do hope that the 47, 000, 000 that are currently without health care insurrance in America do become part of a system that demonstrates altruistic values. I also just thought it was important that I share my experiences with the Canadian health care system and hope it finds some way into American hands/eyes and provides some insight.

Thanks everyone for reading and I hope this encourages you to share your own experiences - they may become important in stopping the minority opinion becoming the major story on CNN.