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> > I find it interesting that you use Canada as an example of how you find universal health care to be a bad thing, and I notice that your complaints about universal health care match those that critics of the system here in Canada often voice. Sadly, I know too little about Canadian health care (having rarely needed to use the system) and nothing about US health care (except what I learned from ER, so I'll call it nothing), but I would be curious to see a debate about the differences between the two systems.
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> > Don Monkey
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> My father works in the healthcare industry, selling computer networks to hospitals. Thusly, he is very knowledgeable on the subject. He's been involved with it for 20 years. From what little I remember that he's told me about Canada's health care system (he has dealt with hospitals there a lot), everything Sam said is correct. Examples include the 3 MRI machines in the entire country, and ONE Children's Hospital, in Toronto, for which the waiting list is humungous. He says lots of Canadians come to America for health care.
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> The Other "Not to mention how high taxes are" Matthew

OK, I can immediately point out one error in this post. There is more than one Children's hospital in Canada--Until July 10th, I lived about two blocks from the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary, and it has been there long enough that my ex-girlfriend's sister (who is now 18) was hospitalized there at birth. I don't know how long the Toronto Children's hospital has been there, but I would assume that it was at least as long.

The MRI thing sounds false to me as well. I know we have at least one MRI in Calgary, and I believe we have several in this city alone. If there were only three in the country, I can almost guarantee that we would not have one here.

It sounds to me as if the examples you have been given were founded on ignorance. Some of your commenta are correct, however--I have heard of wealthy Canadians going to the US to receive quicker treatment for some ailments than they could receive here in Canada. As I said, however, I don't know enough to carry on a lengthy discussion on this topic--just enough to deny the odd bit of misinformation. :-)

Don Monkey