Is Free Health Care Good?

[Emancipated]

I think for the majority of people who are living hand to mouth and barely getting by, Canada's health system is a godsend but I wonder about the morality a two tier system where the rich can get in front of the queue by paying their way. Essentially what we have is a two tier system in place; if you don't want to wait, you can go to Mexico or the US to get your operation. However, if you decide to scrap everything all together and make it private, the people I mentioned at the onset would suffer dearly.

I was wondering about Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers and how he was reported to have had a liver transplant. You know it's highly likely he paid for that with a king's ransom to get it so quick. I just wonder how people think about that. Does a person on his or her death bed really care what is or isn't moral? WHen the chips are down, you do what you do to survive.

Just something to occupy your mind tonight before retiring to bed and of course realizing that the reality for many of us here are that we'd be knee deep in it if we ever found ourselves in that predicament.

[Heynow999]

Just to be clear, Health care is not free, it is paid for from our taxes.

I agree it is good for many people but we need user fees to cut down on unneccessary use. Any free service will be abused. Three out of four members of my family have nearly died in the last five years because operations were not done quickly. I feel this happened because the system is overloaded. These were all split appendix's that weren't removed for several days. I can tell you that I was sent home from the emergency room AFTER being diagnosed with appendicitis. I was told I would get better! A few days later I drove myself to the hospital for surgery after walking around with a split appendix for 2 days. Apparantly you can survive for several days with a split appendix. In total we all spent about 4 months in hospital for what is essentially day surgery.

[HBP]

In this society having money helps sustain a better life... and people are fine with this, they accept it.

Suddenly it becomes immoral if having money prevents death?

IMO, both are wrong.

[Hairball]

The health care debate was never to totally eliminate the public system. It's more about finding alternatives to solve the wait times, and doing a two tier system is a possible way.

I think it is great that everyone in the country is cared for, while there are limitations to this system, it is still something to be proud of.

I've had several minor surgeries when I was younger, I thought the service was pretty decent. My mom has had various surgeries over the years, and the service seems to be good too. But of course it depends on a lot of factors.

A small and reasonable user fee would help for things like family doctors. Perhaps say a $10 charge, it would be affordable, and at least will help prevent some of these unnecessary visits, that hold up the line that people that need the service more.

[bilibulu]

Canadian Healthcare is *****.

Free healthcare is only good when supplemented by a parallel private healthcare, which our country is severely lacking.

And there are low lives in this country who think that private healthcare is immoral.

Where does the government get money to provide free healthcare?
1. Tax like robbers. Rob the rich and feed the poor.... Robin Hood way. I HATE Robin Hood!
2. Provide ***** healthcare so everybody except government high ranking officials and MPs etc get ***** poor service.

No, having Free healthcare but having no private healthcare is immoral. People have no choice. Well, you may say we could go to Mexico or US to get ELECTIVE treatment. But what about car accidents? emergencies? one would be stuck in this ***** country and be treated in a 4th world hospitals.

[Emancipated]

Canadian Healthcare is *****.

Free healthcare is only good when supplemented by a parallel private healthcare, which our country is severely lacking.

And there are low lives in this country who think that private healthcare is immoral.

Where does the government get money to provide free healthcare?
1. Tax like robbers. Rob the rich and feed the poor.... Robin Hood way. I HATE Robin Hood!
2. Provide ***** healthcare so everybody except government high ranking officials and MPs etc get ***** poor service.

No, having Free healthcare but having no private healthcare is immoral. People have no choice. Well, you may say we could go to Mexico or US to get ELECTIVE treatment. But what about car accidents? emergencies? one would be stuck in this ***** country and be treated in a 4th world hospitals.

You make it sound like someone going in for a small surgery and waking up to discover their liver has been harvested is an every day occurrence. I don't think it's that dire, but definitely could stand some improvements.

[BornRuff]

Canada is far from a "4th world" country in terms of health care. If you think American health care is so good, why do they have a higher infant mortality rate and a lower life expectancy than us?

Our system isn't perfect by any means, but it is one of the best.

[RiCHC3]

Well the complication with privatization is that it inevitably spreads. Furthermore, they may be able to offer better incentives to care aids than the Canadian Government (thus poaching doctors / nurses from an already scarce pool of workers). At the same time, the private sector would be more incline to cut corners (shotty service, cleanliness, ethics, etc) which can be incredibly dangerous.

In truth, I think the public health care system is a bit wasteful with finances and a bit of fine-tuning here and there could not only free up money for beds, and so forth, but also improve the quality of service. In essence, I'd like to see public system managed partly like a corporation. Right now though, it just bleeds money and in some cases, just lacks common sense.

[champlinD]

Its better than no care.

[shannn]

There's no such thing as a free lunch

[Frankie3s]

With free health care, Steve Jobs would've been put through so much crap that he would've either a) died before it would happen or b) figure it's not worth all the crap and just wait for the end to happen. Just because we have subsidized (not really free) health care it doesn't mean that it's so easy to get.

[brunes]

With free health care, Steve Jobs would've been put through so much crap that he would've either a) died before it would happen or b) figure it's not worth all the crap and just wait for the end to happen. Just because we have subsidized (not really free) health care it doesn't mean that it's so easy to get.

Yeah, and meanwhile people who aren't loaded like jobs get to wait for a kidney and probably die, because they can't afford to fly to another state for a transpalant like he can.

Tennessee is known to have been chosen for the small size of its transplant waiting list. Where the median number of days a patient would have to wait for a procedure in the US was 306 as of 2006, Tennessee's list was just 48 -- enough to virtually guarantee an operation during Jobs' hiatus. Methodist University Hospital also points out that it's one of the ten largest locations offering liver transplants in the US and that Jobs specifically chose the hospital due to its strong reputation for patient survival rates.

Why should Jobs, or anywhere else for that matter, get better care because they have more money? We're talking about peoples lives here. Not everything should be expressed in dollars and cents.

[flexwong]

yes and no. i've always been supportive of a 2 tier system. in the end, those with money will get treatment anyways so why not keep their money flowing in the canadian economy?

[Emancipated]

Yeah, and meanwhile people who aren't loaded like jobs get to wait for a kidney and probably die, because they can't afford to fly to another state for a transpalant like he can.

Tennessee is known to have been chosen for the small size of its transplant waiting list. Where the median number of days a patient would have to wait for a procedure in the US was 306 as of 2006, Tennessee's list was just 48 -- enough to virtually guarantee an operation during Jobs' hiatus. Methodist University Hospital also points out that it's one of the ten largest locations offering liver transplants in the US and that Jobs specifically chose the hospital due to its strong reputation for patient survival rates.

Why should Jobs, or anywhere else for that matter, get better care because they have more money? We're talking about peoples lives here. Not everything should be expressed in dollars and cents.

Because of the hypocrisy of human nature.

I don't actually buy that line. It's a tacit understanding that the more money you have in this world, the better off your life is. If we were all moral, we wouldn't have starvations in Africa because if everyone in the world chipped in a dollar (in reality it's much less than a dollar), we wouldn't have famine yet we still have children dying in scores every single day. Why should someone with money get to live and someone without it has to die... because every transaction whether we like it or not is spoken in dollars and cents.

Moral of the story is, don't get sick if you're a broke ass because you're screwed if you are.

[danman227460]

It's the free market that allows people to "shop" around for health care. Why should a person be limited to the lack of procedures here or the wait times when they can "shop" for their health care? If you had ONE chance to live and that operation happens to be 50K and offered only in China, what would you do?

Its with anything. If you have money, you can afford things that other people can't. It isn't right but living in a free market society, its how it is done. If you don't like it, move out of the country and into the Scandinavia countries.

It is pretty nice in Canada we get MOST of our basic health cares taken care of instead of other nations where the simplest procedure would run a huge bill.

There are flaws but no system is perfect. You fix one thing, another problem appears.

So is "free" health care good? Yes because even if you are poor, you can get most of your procedures taken care of.