http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com

It makes me ill when I hear people say that in Canada we have no right when it comes to choosing a doctor. That simply is not true. In Canada you can pick up the phone and call any doctor's office and as long as they are accepting new patients -you are in! My experience here has been just the opposite. If I want a doctor here, first, I have to call my insurance provider and ask them which doctors in my area are accepting patients with my “brand” of insurance. The last time I was looking for a doctor, there was only one doctor in my area (actually in the next town over, and I live in a town with over 95,000 people) who was accepting new patients with my kind of insurance. That actually sounds a lot like what Americans seem to think the Canadian system is like, doesn't it? What happened to freedom of choice? The only ones with freedom of choice here are: the doctors who can pick and choose what kinds of insurance they want to accept and the insurance companies who arbitrarily decide how much they are willing to pay for your procedures.

Lastly, yes, the lines to get into the emergency room are long in Canada. That's because people don't hesitate when they are in need of medical attention. Last time I ended up in the emergency room here in the US, I was in and out within 45 mins. Not because the doctor was so fast or because the service was better, but because of the fact that there were simply no patients!! Did I mention that I live in a town with over 95,000 people? But the best part about my trip to the emergency room was the bill. It cost over $1250 for my son to get a piece of tape for the cut on his upper lip. And two weeks later I got a surprise from the emergency room doctor for $100 and then another week later a bill for $250 from the hospital. So, I was out $350 for a piece of tape, not to mention the $500/month cost for insurance. Over the last 3 years my father has open heart surgery, prostate cancer surgery and knee surgery. The cost – $0, and he did NOT have to wait 6 months for the surgeries.

Ok, Canadians pay taxes for health insurance, but a recent Harvard study showed that at the end of the day Canadians pay far less via their taxes for 99.9% health coverage while Americans pay more per month in insurance costs for partial coverage. What system is better, you really need to ask? It's really no contest!

If you have the money to take yourselves out of the country and pay exorbitant American fees, then surely you have the 4grand it takes to have your surgery here at a private Montreal clinic done by the regular doctors who moonlight.

Everything in the video is true. I know *I* definitely took it all for granted. My first Dr visit in the USA cost me about $500 – for a checkup and a thyroid blood test! You just don't think about stuff like that in Canada. What a rude wake up call.

Also, I've never had to wait for anything in Canada. Contrast that with the fact that it takes 3 months for an appointment to see my primary care Dr here in the USA. 3 MONTHS!!

YES. Either he is lying, or you misunderstood what he said. NO ONE SEIZED ANY PERSONAL PROPERTY. EVER! Believe what you want. In addition to every physician I could possibly find who think I'm friggin IDIOT for even asking the question, today I nearly got tossed off my neighbour's sailboat. He's a former Deputy Minister of Health here and was so angry at these made-up allegations he had no words.

Medicare started in Sask in 1962. By the time it went to the other provinces the doctors all saw that it worked. The Church or the community groups had no problems giving up their operating budgets and transferring their hospital assets. The groups then concentrated on funding research or capital programs that ran alongside the hospitals.

HOSPITALS IN CANADA ARE ALL RUN AS PRIVATE NON-PROFIT CORPORATIONS.

Even when the province would de-commision hospitals, they would not sell-off the building. Instead they ceded them to local local not-for-profit groups who continue to operate it.

THIS IS NOT THE SOVIET UNION. People are free to come and go from this province as they please. No one takes any of my assets if I'm an engineer, or stock broker or farmer. Why would they seize assets if you are doctor.

Did he work ER shifts in NY. SO? Who cares? He wanted to make more money. Probably in Malone. A brand new hospital opened there in the 80s. Montreal being the closest city they went out of their way to bring in Montreal doctors. “Stay close to family but get the F*&K out of Quebec” was their message.

And, if u knew/understood anything about Quebec, you'd know that this province lost every good everybody and every major corporation between the late 70s and mid-90s. Until the mid or late 90s this city was a third-world run-down decrepid Flint Michigan.

Racism was/is only a small part of this place. And given today's festivities in Quebec city, not much has changed.

Here's from today's Gazette
http://tinyurl.com/p46f5x

No anglo who wanted a real job stayed in this province between the late 70s and mid-90s. Eventually it was rebuilt by the Swiss pharmaceutical world who were given a tax-free haven and didn't care about the politics, language issue, separation referendums and the fact that they had to speak French. They built themselves huge plants in the West Island english speaking world and hired people at highly reduced salaries. You'd be amazed at how many major drugs were developed here: Vioxx, Singualar etc..

We also BTW specialize in tele-marketing fraud.

The Cdn medical system is not on the verge of collapse, but the last 2 directors and the current CMA head are part of an American insurance-backed initiative to promote private health care. And by the way, even the most right-wing of all these guys were never promote an american version of health care. They know they were be tarred and feathered in a public square.

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I wonder what the medicare fraud in the US is compared to the insurance fraud?

And just cuz there is fraud, so dismiss the entire program? You can't get away with an $850 cane in Canada. So why can you in the US? That has nothing to do with the system. Rather than the way it is being run.

Funny, I've never heard a Medicare recipient complain about the care they were getting.

Ditto for any vets. My 83 year old uncle in Vermont LOVES all his Vet benefits. Gee.. that's socialized medicine isn't it?

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Allowing the illegal immigrants to work cheap but get get free healthcare supports slavery. They should be documented legally and paid a fair wage.

Oh please. Americans would never do that. If they had to pay real wages you guys wouldn't have such cheap stuff. and that would never fly. EVER! Everything about your system goes hand in hand. That's why it is so difficult to change anything. From your election system that means you are up for re-election basically every 2 years to the idea that regulation is bad. It's an ideology that identifies Americans to the core. Nothing is ever going to change in your country because people who call Obama Hitler for wanting to give them free health care — are celebrated!

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Whether they give more than they take is a discussion for another blog.

No. It's not. It's a statistical fact put out by one of your libertarian organizations that opposes health care.

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I am tired of the students losing ground in learning because the classes are taught in two or more languages. Put a price on that.

OMG — ONLY IN AMERICA! From the time I started school I was taught in 4 languages. I learned a 5th in university and a 6th when I left school and moved to Eastern Europe. The ONLY unilingual people in the western world are Americans and separatist Quebecois.

The problem is the US system of education. My brother has been spending $15 000 a year for my 9-year nephew in Rochester NY. After 15 years in the US he has just moved back to Montreal. Kid is in Grade 4. It's one thing that he is behind in three of the 4 languages, he now has to learn. It's pathetic that he is behind in English and math as well.

And they also moved back because in the next couple of years the kid is going to need open heart surgery. They would not have been able to afford it. NO MORE NEED SAID.

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And why is there no real plan for healthcare?
Because everytime something substantial is discussed it gets re-created into “death squads” and lies about the government making the decisions about your health. (I know if I was a school teacher in Alabama I would want a high school educated pencil pusher at Blue Cross deciding if I could have my medication or not.)

You can't have an honest conversation about policy or health care because people like Glen Beck, Bill OReilley and Rush Limbaugh make more money than you, and the American public is too stupid not to listen to them.

That's the Matter with Kansas! (to misquote Thomas Frank's book.)

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?art...

says: Socialized medicine: A system of health care in which all health personnel and health facilities, including doctors and hospitals, work for the government and draw salaries from the government. Doctors in the US Veterans Administration and the Armed Services are paid this way. And the Veterans and US military hospitals are also supported this way. Examples also exist in Great Britain and Spain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialized_medicine

says: The original meaning was confined to systems in which the government operates health care facilities and employs health care professionals. This narrower usage would apply to the British National Health Service hospital trusts and health systems that operate in other countries as diverse as Finland, Spain, Israel, and Cuba. The United States' Veterans Health Administration, and the medical departments of the US Army, Navy, and Air Force would also fall under this narrow definition. When used in this way, the narrow definition permits a clear distinction from single payer health insurance systems, in which the government finances health care but is not involved in care delivery.

http://rolandhulme.blogspot.com/2009/09/guess-w...

says: In that respect, one of the few true examples of 'socialized medicine' is Britain's 'National Health Service' – in which the British government builds, owns and operates hospitals, and employs the doctors and nurses who work there.

That's why the NHS is 'socialised medicine.' Socialist principles are deeply ingrained in every part of the structure and organisation of the NHS. It's state-run healthcare from the ground up.

In comparison, almost all of the health care systems incorrectly accused of being 'socialized medicine' are very far from that.

There are many (mostly non American) othere sources but these are three.