Just got to watch it on Saturday. And it was definitely an emotional rollercoaster. Not because of the physical pain that Americans are put through. I was in emotional distress watching the added emotional distress of the American citizens on top of the physical distress they are in while claiming Health coverage from Private companies.
This movie was by far in my opinion Michael Moore's most well researched. And well I kind of floated between feelings of, "I am so lucky that I live in Canada" and "Oh my gosh, I want to move to France, even Britain might do too!".
Its amazing how some progressive countries think of preventative medicine or therapy as an investment as opposed to "spoiling its citizens".
Okay, lets even forget about Britain and France for a second and think about the "evil" Castro's Cuba for a little bit. If they can do medicare and pharmacare, why cant we!?
And I say "we" because Canadians are quietly watching our provincial healthcare systems being stripped of things that we used to take for granted: for example Eye Care Packages. Ontarians without any prescription coverage through their employers are forced to choose between expensive more effective medications and their cheaper less effective counterparts. We are watching Gander's residents lining up from the crack of dawn just to sign up for a newly arrived bright eyed doctor who is capping his patient intake at 800, in a place where thousands are doing without one. We are sitting on our couches and witnessing the demise of what we used to be the most proud of, our Healthcare system, and yet we, the citizens of the free world are doing nothing, absolutely NOTHING!
Now for some fun statistics. Here are the numbers of the following health professionals per 1000 of canadian population (2003 statistics, WHO):
Physicians: 2.14
Nurses : 9.95
Dentists: 0.59
Pharmacists : 0.67
The above is why it takes more than just a few phone calls to find a new doctor, why it takes an average of 14.3 weeks to see a referred specialist in Ontario (its still the shortest wait time in Canada!) (2004, Fraser Institute) , and why 1 Patient in the ER waiting to see a doctor means 4 patients denied access to the Emergency department (2005, ON).
Ever wonder why it takes several hours before you are taken care of when you go to the Emergency Room? Heres Why:
Number of Hospital beds (per 10 000 population): 36.0 (2003, WHO)
Ever wonder why when you face an unforeseen health crisis you start cramming numbers as opposed thinking of a viable solution out? Heres why:
Out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of private expenditure on health: 49.40 (2004, WHO)
Ever wonder why the governments are not doing anything to prevent us from becoming the true younger brother in the North? Ever wonder why the Federal government does not increase the Federal Health Transfers? Ever wonder why in the land where the father of Healthcare, Tommy Douglas was voted to be the greatest Canadian, we truly do not have a UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM?
Lets think about that for a second.
This movie was by far in my opinion Michael Moore's most well researched. And well I kind of floated between feelings of, "I am so lucky that I live in Canada" and "Oh my gosh, I want to move to France, even Britain might do too!".
Its amazing how some progressive countries think of preventative medicine or therapy as an investment as opposed to "spoiling its citizens".
Okay, lets even forget about Britain and France for a second and think about the "evil" Castro's Cuba for a little bit. If they can do medicare and pharmacare, why cant we!?
And I say "we" because Canadians are quietly watching our provincial healthcare systems being stripped of things that we used to take for granted: for example Eye Care Packages. Ontarians without any prescription coverage through their employers are forced to choose between expensive more effective medications and their cheaper less effective counterparts. We are watching Gander's residents lining up from the crack of dawn just to sign up for a newly arrived bright eyed doctor who is capping his patient intake at 800, in a place where thousands are doing without one. We are sitting on our couches and witnessing the demise of what we used to be the most proud of, our Healthcare system, and yet we, the citizens of the free world are doing nothing, absolutely NOTHING!
Now for some fun statistics. Here are the numbers of the following health professionals per 1000 of canadian population (2003 statistics, WHO):
Physicians: 2.14
Nurses : 9.95
Dentists: 0.59
Pharmacists : 0.67
The above is why it takes more than just a few phone calls to find a new doctor, why it takes an average of 14.3 weeks to see a referred specialist in Ontario (its still the shortest wait time in Canada!) (2004, Fraser Institute) , and why 1 Patient in the ER waiting to see a doctor means 4 patients denied access to the Emergency department (2005, ON).
Ever wonder why it takes several hours before you are taken care of when you go to the Emergency Room? Heres Why:
Number of Hospital beds (per 10 000 population): 36.0 (2003, WHO)
Ever wonder why when you face an unforeseen health crisis you start cramming numbers as opposed thinking of a viable solution out? Heres why:
Out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of private expenditure on health: 49.40 (2004, WHO)
Ever wonder why the governments are not doing anything to prevent us from becoming the true younger brother in the North? Ever wonder why the Federal government does not increase the Federal Health Transfers? Ever wonder why in the land where the father of Healthcare, Tommy Douglas was voted to be the greatest Canadian, we truly do not have a UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM?
Lets think about that for a second.
