Opinionated Fool

Or rather, on Canada’s healthcare system. Rudy giuliani has officially joined the crowd saying that a vote for Barack Obama’s healthcare system will be as much of a disaster for the US as it has been in Canada. Except there are a few very noticeable problems with that statement–not the least of which is the fact he’s getting some support from another used-to-be, in former house speaker Newt Gingrich.

Giuliani continues to trumpet the idea that Canada’s healthcare system just plain doesn’t work. But, like most politicians and people south of the border, he does so without any real idea as to exactly how Canada’s system *does* work. Mind you, the jurry on whether or not Obama understands how systems like that actually work is still out, but that’s a point for another opinion. A few things to take into account when looking at the issue of healthcare, particularly north of the Canada/US border.

Healthcare in Canada is not nationalized. Yes, the regulation is national. However, that’s about the extent of it. Provinces do have the option of obtaining additional funding from the federal government, but it is the individual provinces that handle the actual delivery of health insurance. As such, while the Canada Health Act does lay out a definition of services that must be offered by each province/territory, it leaves the interpretation of those definitions up to the individual provinces.

In a document released in May of 2005 by Canada’s parliament, it explains the reasons for the current healthcare system as it stands right now, and as it stood when the Canada Health Act was initially created in 1984. The release highlights many of the reasons the pro-healthcare advocates south of the border hang onto when pushing for what it believes is a similar system.

Critics are quick to point out the common myth that Canada runs a socialised medical system, when in reality, it’s no more socialised than our education system–which the US has already to a large extent adopted. As stated above, funding does come from the government for various initiatives, but the hospitals, clinnics etc are run privately, by entities out to make a profit–just as they are in the US. In addition, Canadians still have the option of taking up private health insurance for items not covered under the public plan–in other words, things not considered by the regulatory body to be medically necessary. The only difference? If you can’t aford the private insurance option, or your employer doesn’t provide same, you’re not completely screwed.

Someone should ask mister giuliani, and those who would support his view on Canada’s healthcare system, one very important–and, I’ll wager, very difficult to answer–question. If Canada’s healthcare system is indeed such a disaster, why is it in the 40 to 50 years since it was in some way, shape or form adopted federally no one on either side of the political spectrum has tried to overturn it? If he can provide even a partial answer to that question, perhaps I’ll be able to take him without the for now requisit few grains of sault. But somehow, I doubt it.

Update: The US anti-healthcare crowd has a shill from Canada, who has no problem with their healthcare system now that she might get something out of them financially. Shona Holmes reportedly went to the US to receive treatment for what she says was a life threatening brain tumour that would have taken months before she could be treated here. Except, well, it was neither life threatening, nor a brain tumour, as reported by the Ottawa citizen. Yet, Shona still thinks she can sue her way into compensation from the healthcare provider in Ontario in compensation for her having decided to pay 100000 dollars to jump the queue. Her testimonial, which established that she was, in fact, in no danger of dying–contrary to her claim on just about every US TV station lately, was very promptly removed from the Mayo Clinic website, instead replaced with this. So, the clinic dodges a publicity bullet, Shona gets to sue for compensation for treatment she would have received had she waited, and the American population gets misinformed. Everybody wins.

Update 2: Apparently, they’ve put her success story back where it was supposed to be. Guess they didn’t want to be caught defending the wingnuts. Too late.