I used to have access to universal health care. As a Canadian immigrant, my family and I had the right to a number of universal pro family benefits, which included the best access to health care we have ever enjoyed. Consequently, the years I spent in Canada taught me that the Canadian Government cares about families.
A government that behaves as if it cares about families is not something that most Americans can even imagine.
Accessing health care in Canada was always a breeze and never a bureaucratic nightmare. As a resident of Tennessee, I consider myself to be an expert on bureaucratic nightmares. Want to renew or get a new driver's license in this state? Expect to stand in a line so long that you will be standing outside in the sweltering summer heat, sweating like a pig, for at least an hour. Once inside the packed and stuffy warehouse-like building, you can count on waiting a few hours more, and you will be lucky if after that wait you are not told to come back tomorrow and do it all over again. By the time you are done, you may need a doctor.
In the time it took me to help my teenager get her driver's license, I could have seen half a dozen Canadian doctors and had time left over to go on a shopping spree.
Obviously, the Tennessee State Government is not capable of managing a universal health care program. But maybe we could contract it out to Canada?
Or California?
The California Democratic Legislature is about to send Gov. Schwarzenegger a bill that would create a single-payer universal health care system. (California already has enough pro family programs in place to make the rest of the country look like a third world.) The Republican Governor has gone on record as opposed to a single-payer plan, but his office says he has "no official position" on this particular bill.
Will Schwarzenegger dare to veto universal health care with the election on the horizon?
Dave Chappelle once joked that if he were president, he'd give everybody fake Canadian IDs so we could all have access to excellent health care. As long as Republicans are in power, that seems like the best chance for this nation to get the same kind of universal access to health care that every other developed nation enjoys.
Or, we could move to Canada.
L-Girl over at We Move to Canada has posted an article I wrote a few years ago about my experience with the Canadian system. You can also find out at her cool blog all about why and how to move to Canada. And check out her post and the really interesting discussion about differences between Canada and the U.S.
Update: Surprise! The new U.S. Census Report [reveals that] the number of Americans without health insurance continues to rise at an alarming rate. .
Canada California Tennessee Health Care Election 2006 Universal Health Care Pro-Family Policy U.S. Republicans Democrats
