Quote:
"Anything that conservatives say is nothing but a 'talking point'
Yes, because I'm certainly the one that mentioned that phrase, you twat (hint: it was someone else). Certainly I've never posted a bevy of statistics to a thread before, because that would make what you just said a lie.
Meanwhile, as usual, you are incapable of coming up with actual statistics to support your point (despite being repeatedly asked for them), instead only looking for people who support what you already want to believe. That worked out so well on global warming, right?
So let me inform you with a few facts.
1) Canada doesn't actually have an actual public healthcare system, like the UK or Italy does. Doctors are private practitioners, not on a public or per-capita salary, can incorporate, and are paid on a fee basis (which they merely bill to Medicare, except for any of the procedures which aren't covered, which in fact can be quite a few). Few people like to admit this, however.
As well, neither dental coverage nor drugs are publically covered in Canada; both require private insurance or paying fairly stiff sums of money. Your interview with so-called privatiser Dr. Brian Day, incidentally, neglects to mention that he favours expanding public health care to include dental and drugs (he also says he's against privatisation flat-out on his webpage, but otherwise in interviews; so perhaps he's playing to the crowd... but where, I wonder?).
I also find it interesting you quote somebody who brings up Switzerland and France's public health care systems as models for us to aspire to. I'm certain you're a
huge admirer of those.
2) There are private clinics in Canada; they aren't illegal. However, it is statistically shown that the care you get in Canada from the public system is equivalent or better than what you get in the US even when you can afford their prices; once again, we also pay less for it per capita, even with the so-called 'skyrocketing costs' (of course, federal transfer payments to the system were cut immensely in the 80s); moreover, said cost increases have been tied mostly to the fact Canada, like every single other Western democracy, has an aging population.
So, I'm curious, what country are you bringing up as a model of what you want, and why? We know that you love bringing up public health care systems that have funding difficulties, like Canada's (while ignoring that even they are better for the populace than, say, the US's system).
So what's your ideal? What's the country that got it right? What do you think we all ought to be aiming for? Actual, concrete real-world examples of your magical private-sector-efficiency that doesn't screw over patients, please.
