An opinion on the issue of healthcare reform

“Opinions have vested interests just as men have”
-Samuel Butler


It has been with considerable interest that I have been watching the reaction to proposed plans by the Obama administration in regards to healthcare reform in the media and on the blogosphere. Truthfully I decided to write about it this week because I am so seriously lacking any creative juices and this seems to be a less ponderous undertaking not to mention just being such an obvious target.

My first reaction to my little review of the various opinions around the topic in question was WOW, how little has changed in people rhetoric since the last time a democratic president suggested reform to healthcare. In fact it’s almost exactly the same! About the only substantive change I could actually detect was unlike when President Clinton stumbled into these shark infested waters all those years ago, we now have the blogosphere to read about it. Other than that it’s same old bullshit on both sides of the argument!

But without question the most disheartening thing I encountered was the tendency of some to try and use the Canadian health care system as an example of what can go wrong or to make the statement “do you want this?”

Okay Fair enough!

Feel free to use my countries health system as a whipping boy if you must because in some cases it’s a fair shot.

But that freely admitted I note that most people who where quick to draw the Canada card neglected to mention that some of the problems mentioned in regards to Canada’s "socialized" medical system also exist in most other industrialized countries health care systems regardless of if it’s a public or private model one is living or operating with.

But what really chapped my ass is the attempts by some to appear expert on the Canadian health system when they are obviously anything but.

Take some friendly advice, if the sum total of your knowledge about health care in Canada is because you managed to actually watch and not to sleep through a certain Michael Moore movie. Or your entire opinion is based on the fact that you know someone whose father’s mother’s dog spoke to guy who lives in Canada and say’s health care up here sucks, than my friend you don’t know jack! So stop acting, talking and writing like you do!

To close this rant off and just in case you haven’t already figured out where I sit on healthcare reform please allow me to summarize where I sit.

There is no such thing as a perfect health care system! But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to make something better regardless of where we live.

The reality is that despite what some will maintain regardless of the model presently in use no matter in what country, state, province, county or municipality we happen to be talking about it will have both strengths and weakness. To suggest that one system is somehow better than the other is to first ignore the problems of the system you’re promoting. Plus it implies that just because your particular system works for you that it will do the same for everyone else. Let me ask this, is anyone really so arrogant as to believe that’s actually the case? Is anyone foolish enough to think that the rest of the world is exactly like where you live and therefore the same solutions will apply?

Well just in case you do, I hate to be the bearer of bad news. The facts are the rest of the world is NOT like where you live no matter how much it may appear to be in your eyes. So stop thinking it is and more to the point stop thinking what ever system your presently stuck with is the end all to be all.

Lastly and certainly not least before anyone sends me still more hate mail or nasty comments and death threats make sure you understand what I’m saying here. I am not debating anyone’s right to express an opinion on this or any other topic. I am simply expressing my own response to some of your words and humbly suggesting that perhaps you consider taking sometime and getting a little more informed about both sides of the argument no matter what side of the fence you’re presently on.

That said if anyone can show me the model for a perfect health care system send it to me, I’ll be happy to drink deeply of that flavor of Kool-Aid!