rick wrote:

Take a look into low birth weight babies born in Canada vs the
US. Being born low weight to a Canadian family is a greater risk
that being born to a African-American family in the US. Where
does that fit in with your ill-concieved ideas that the 'poor' in
the US suffer, while no-one in Canada does?

Take a look at the amount of teenage pregnancies, the amount of children
dying at birth, the state of health of the entire population, and you'll
find that despite the huge medical cost to society, it's not up to par
with most western countries with older populations that spend a lot less
on medicine.

Just repeating the "we don't have waiting lists" mantra doesn't prevent
people from dying out on the street, or from going bancrupt because they
can't pay all the high medical bills they were given because they
couldn't afford health care insurance.

Yes, rich people everywhere can find ways to get things that
other people
can't. Canada does not have a ban on rich people.

=====================
Yet you try to pretend that your have a single health care system
for all, and equal for all. All it manages to do is promote a
have vs have-not conflict.

Which is exactly what is usual in the U.S., where you have the haves and
have nots. There is a limit to how low the lowest incomes are, so that
people don't need to resort to crime (even wonder why you have a murder
rate several times higher than that of most western nations?) to
survive. It's not the law of the jungle that makes a nation "civilised"...

Also, there is a limit to how much people need to pay out of their own
pocket (usually through income related health insurance premiums) to get
normal medical attention, and there is a limit to how much people
(ab-)use the system, because they do take personal responsibility for
their own health.

The few rare examples that are continuously brought up here of people
dying while waiting for medical treatment is only true for certain
medical treatments, such as transplants. Since there is a huge demand on
donor organs, that will continue to be the case for a long time to come,
even in the U.S..

Personally I find it disgusting that someone who has willfully abused
his body through for example excessive drinking, eating or smoking but
who has a lot of money can use up several donor organs that would have
helped another less wealthy person last a lot longer. The same can of
course be said for the excessive abuse of energy, pollution and what
more. Just being able to afford something doesn't make it right to
squander it.

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilko(a t)dse(d o t)nl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://wilko.webzone.ru/