Article Contributed on: 6/30/2009 7:48:58 AM
The Obama folks are quick to point out the "success" of Canada's "free" healthcare system.
When all else fails, look at the facts. First, it's not free. Canadians pay on average, 65% of their income to taxes. Some are disguised, like no mortgage interest deductions. That's a tax.
Other are not-so-disguised, like Canada's "Goods and Services Tax." You pay something like 5-7% for every purchase, whether is a car or a candy bar.
Problem: The tax costs more to administer than it takes in. So they have another tax, to pay for the other tax. Doo-dah, doo-dah.
Private clinics are starting to pop up in some Canadian Provinces. Why? People don't want to die.
Example: Let's say you have cancer and need radiation treatments. The average wait is 8 weeks. My wife has cancer. An 8 week wait would likely have killed her.
No wonder that Canada's cancer survival rate is far less than here in the United States.
Canadian Doctors are flocking to these private clinics because they can actually afford to make a living. There's a shortage of both doctors and nurses in Canada. Why spend 10 years in college to have some bureaucrat in a cube somewhere telling you how to practice medicine.
These private clinics are expensive and not covered by Canada's "Free" plan.
So Canadians essentially have a choice. Pay and live. Or die for "free." Sound like hyperbole? Nope. May aunt died of cancer under Canada's plan. She once spent 3 days in a hallway waiting for a room. Staffs are indifferent because there is no incentive for them to be anything but. My source for this is my cousin who is a nurse herself. Simply put, my aunt was too old, not worth saving.
This is what Barack Obama wants for us.
He'll say anything you want to hear to get this passed, like when campaigning he promised no new taxes OF ANY KIND for families earning less than $250 thousand per year.
Now on the table, taxing the health care benefits you're getting right now from your employer.
Live or die. Your choice folks. Don't let the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama make the decision for you.