B-HO Shrillda care - Pope Benedict XVI

Here’s an interesting one for the”universal healthcare” crowd. While I was visiting Phoenix, I had the chance to meet my sister-in-law’s cousins who were visiting from Canada. The couple almost had to cancel their trip because of a health concern.

The woman had an on going irregularity with her heart. The”free” Canadian healthcare system couldn’t deal with a heart irregularity quickly enough for it to be resolved so that the doctor could then certify the woman fit for international travel. It seems for the woman to have health insurance while traveling outside Canada; the doctor’s certification is required.

So what to do? Simple, you sneak across the border to Detroit, have the required medical tests performed there, ship the results back to your doctor for “certification” then go on vacation. Well that’s what this couple did. It was all working perfectly until the doctor went on his own vacation before “certifying” the woman’s tests. Well a couple of frantic calls and a small bribe later, the woman’s tests were reviewed and certified and the couple left on vacation.

So what did I learn from this exchange?

Canadian healthcare isn’t free. The couple had to go to Detroit and pay out of their pocket for the required care.

Canadian healthcare isn’t efficient. If heart irregularities are placed in the same cue as hangnails and a scraped knee, you got problems.

Canadian healthcare is used to affect the behavior of its citizens. Had the required tests not been done the couple would have had to purchase private health insurance before leaving the country or stay home. The man told of several friends who had to pay for extra health coverage when leaving the country because of certain health problems. How long before the nannies running the system decide that people who smoke, drink or eat too much are placing an undue burden on the system. Therefore their behavior should change, healthcare withheld, or subsidized with an out of pocket “contribution.” Once “those people” are dealt with, the nannies will turn their attention to people who ride motorcycles, fly an airplane or own a gun.

Canadian healthcare which was devised originally, I’m sure, to help the poor is least responsive to those it was set up to help. The rich couple I met, when faced with an unresponsive system, simply dug into their own pockets, crossed the border and got their treatment. The poor have no option but to stand in the bureaucratic healthcare line receiving the same success rate of the public school system and the same compassion of those standing in the line at the DMV.

And This

Pope Benedict XVI will arrive at Andrews Air Force Base today. Even before he started packing his bags for the trip, the liberal intelligentsia were mocking the Pope for being, of all things, too Catholic. The same people who mock him offer advice on how to run and grow the Catholic Church. That advice boils down to - stop acting Catholic.

It is unlikely that Pope Benedict will follow any of their advice.