XPost: ab.general, ab.politics, calgary.general   
   XPost: can.general, can.taxes, ont.politics   
   From: cskeeguy@yahoo.com   
      
   Ceri Thomas wrote:   
   > Fact: a portion of my tax dollars go to healthcare weather I use it or not.   
   > If that's not enough they want to bill me even further every month for every   
   > member in family.   
      
   Maybe you didn't realize it, but what you are paying for is health   
   *INSURANCE*, not health care as such. Specifically, Canada has the   
   single payer model of health insurance, the single payer being the   
   provincial government, the payee being the health care provider.   
      
   > The level of care in return is very very low barebones. If   
   > I want adaquate care I have to spend yet even more money on private   
   > inssurance (Blue Cross) that has to use crown hospitals and doctors I   
   > already paid for twice.   
      
   Here is what you said: "I use private US health care ... "   
      
   It is now apparent to me that this is not true. What you have is Alberta   
   Blue Cross, which is supplemental health insurance. That is a different   
   bird entirely from the sort of Blue Cross coverage that one can get in   
   the US, which is primary care insurance. Blue Cross Canada is forbidden   
   by law from providing primary coverage. And should you happen, by some   
   circumstance unknown to me, to have US health insurance, Canadian health   
   care providers participating in the public system (virtually all) are   
   forbidden from accepting payments for primary care from other than the   
   single payer.   
      
   > If I get something seriuosly ill with me, I don't   
   > feel very secure that I won't die waiting to get care, even with all this   
   > Canadian healthcare I fully paid for.   
      
   It's called rationing. In Canada, health care is rationed on   
   availability. In the US, by contrast, health care is rationed on price.   
      
   But do not delude yourself. Health care in Canada is not going to change   
   because the vast majority of Canadians do not want it to change. They do   
   not want it to change because it is a large part of the Canadian identity.   
      
   --   
   "Just because you're smart doesn't mean you're wise."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)