A Canadian tells about the kind of health care system we should have

[dragonlady]

From time to time I post about some of the excellent upcoming interviews on Wisconsin Public Radio. I really recommend listening to the guest on tomorrow's program at 10 am and 10 pm (Central). We heard James Clancy, president of the Canadian public employees' union, speak recently about his nation's health care system. Numerous times he held up his dog-eared Ontario health insurance card, like the one that gets every citizen into the doctor's office or hospital of their choice anywhere in Canada for whatever care the doctor and patient deem appropriate. No copays or deductibles. No worries about pre-existing conditions. Your insurance doesn't tie you to your employer. Providers get paid without a hassle. Businesses can compete better in the global marketplace. Canada's percentage of GDP spent on health care is about half that of the U.S.

Sound good? Listen to Mr. Clancy explain the background and details at
http://wpr.org/webcasting/live.cfm (Ideas Network) live at 10 am or 10 pm, Wednesday, December 12, or later in the WPR audio archives.

You can also hear his recent speech at http://grassrootsnorthshore.org/?page_id=19

[LakeSamish706]

1. The Canadian Health care system is not the best in the world by any means...

But it is one hell of allot better than the US health care.. (That is basically AWOL)

[dragonlady]

2. There are problems but not with the basic system

Waiting times for certain elective procedures have been longer than they hoped, but he said that situation has improved in the past few years. The cause was not nationalized health care per se but the fact that the government didn't give it enough resources for a while. That is being fixed. He estimated that 95% are satisfied with their health care.