—I’m in favor of doing away completely with Medicare. Are you?

–I can answer that, Becky values FREEDOM so it’s against, for, and yes. Obviously.

The issue to us is not that we are not allowed to pay for health care (which we can do in some cases) but that doctors and hospitals are not allowed to charge for health care as long as the patient has a medicare card from any province in Canada. It means that our docs and medical residents don’t spent 60% of their time finding funding for underfunded patients like they do in the US. They spend their time practising medicine.

My experience with the American health care system is through relatives who live down there and through my sister who became deathly ill while on vacation in the States and wouldn’t have survived for the trip back to Canada. I’ve also been to ERs in the US while on holiday as have many Canadians who fall ill or have an accident down there. While the quality of care in the US is as high as it is here, the costs are mind-boggling.

I think it is very hard to criticize what you don’t understand and from your comments, you don’t understand how our, and most of the developed world’s, universal coverage works.

With health care and so many other things, Americans are often at such a disadvantage because, while in addition to all of our own and some European ones we get all your major TV networks and some of the minor ones too and while we travel to the States quite often, the vast majority of your TV is only from within the US, most of your news is only American and even most weather charts stop at the 49th parallel, as if we don’t exist.

We learn Asian, European, English, Canadian and American history in school here. We know that the 49th parallel isn’t the longest undefended border in the world because we defended ourselves so well when the US attacked out of the blue during the other war of 1812 that it necessitated the rebuild on the White House. (Example: Do you know what our head of government is called? Do you know his or her name? Do you know what their residence is called?) QED.

To critise what you don’t understand gives others such a bad impression of you and often exposes a lack of knowledge.

Fear mongering is the last resort of the desperate.

L.

I think you’re misrepresenting anarchy, ma’am, in your initial post. >:( anarchy is not automatically crime and crazies, ok? it’s just grassroots gov’t. at least in theory.

and I hate big business btw. Let’s say big business is Microsoft. Macintosh is the product of Swedish-style taxation and gov’t. Linux is anarchy. What works the best? ;)

You don’t seem to realize that you’re making my point for me, including examples that I don’t have the time to root out, so i suppose I should thank you.

Thanks! :)

Apparently, the answer is that the government DOES have the right to do that, since THEY DO IT. Until We The People change that, they will continue to have such a right.

I don’t like the fact that our government has decided that it’s okay to violate our freedom of privacy because they want to get the drop on terrorists (presumably, and I prefer to believe that this is all they use these “rights” for, although the cynic in me says I’m deluding myself. My choices seem to be to bitch about it and go on, or to move. So far–and once again, please note how your example makes my point for me–the freedoms and protections I’d lose for what is a very VERY low “rent” are not worth what I’d stand to gain by going elsewhere.

See? Cost-benefit analysis. With your intense and abiding focus on economics, surely you can appreciate that. (And that has been my point all along.)

“By the same token, you’ve said several times that you’d like a single-payer health system, and that means total government control of all health care. I suppose it’s fine with you for the government to require everyone’s entire health records be turned over to the government . . . all abortions, STDs, addictions, mental health issues, genetic predispositions . . . the government gets it ALL so they can “digitalize” all the records in order to lower costs. If you object, too bad, it’s the price you pay for single payer.”

Yup. You’re, of course, asking a career military officer how she feels about the government having everything there is to know about her on file. Don’t become a lawyer. ;)

“It’s illegal to pay for your own health care in Canada. Cities near the Canadian border have an abundance of hospitals and clinics advertising “We take Canadian dollars.” They lost the freedom to buy their own care even if they want to . . . but hey, it’s the price they pay for single-payer. If they want go OUT of Canada and come to the US for health care . .. they can. Well, they used to be able to.”

I’ll let one of my Canadian friends respond to this, because frankly, I don’t know.

“What’s the problem losing a little freedom, or privacy, or having unlimited taxation, to grow the government so we can have more security or “social justice."”

I’m not sure where you’re getting the “unlimited taxation” thing, unless you’re “paraphrasing” again.

By the way, Becky…to paraphrase is to restate someone’s sentiments in your own words. If you distort or attribute motivation to the speaker, you are no longer paraphrasing. You are inferring. Just a friendly reminder from your favorite English teacher. ;)

“What happened to our nation’s important value of FREEDOM?”

Now THIS is a great question! Are you against the Patriot Act? For gay marriage? Legalization of pot? TALK to me!

d

Can you acknowledge that liberals don’t want progressive taxes because they “hate the rich"?

CAN you? If the answer is yes, please do so, unequivocally.

ALSO:

I said: “If a worker WANTS to work for $1/hr, let him. I don’t think that’s the issue, though. That’s why I wanted to ask a question.”

What do you think I meant by that? Apply the principle of charity and see what bubbles to the surface.

(Now I’ll respond to your thoughtful post, but please answer these questions.)

d

The “insurance company” that denies the MOST claims, both in raw numbers and in percentages . . . is your beloved government program, Medicare.

Why are Democrats starting 14 different new kinds of taxes, including a national sales tax . . . if “health care reform” is going to bring health care costs DOWN?

In Massachusetts, a test-bed of Obamacare . . . why did the insurance companies want to stop selling new policies? Because the government forced them to take all-comers, with pre-existing conditions, and NOT raise rates. People bought policies, got expensive medical care and then dropped them. And the insurance companies in Mass are NON-PROFIT.

If the US gets universal health care, where will the Canadians go for their “options?”