Given what we pay in taxes if we took that amount and bought health insurance we'd get amazing coverage and not have any issues in the States either. Anyone who makes over $35-40k is paying insurance premiums though their taxes that would buy them gold standard insurance in the States. Take the time to calculate how much of your taxes plus the Ontario health surtax goes to paying for health care and then see what that would buy you in the States. Talking about health care in Canada being free is not reflective of reality. We just pay for it a different way.

Regardless, that really isn't my point. I have no issue with keeping the current system. My issue is with preventing the existence of a supplemental system.

Take the following scenario. You have a heart attack and are rushed to the hospital. There are two treatment options. One is $500 and the other is $1500. The $1500 has an 8% better success rate. The government doesn't feel that paying three times as much is worth getting an extra 8%. I don't disagree that given finite resources the government would be irresponsible to spend the extra money given the $500 option is pretty good. So everyone gets the $500 treatment for free. My issue is with the government preventing me from reaching into my pocket and pulling out some cash and buying the better version for myself. Everyone still gets the $500 stuff for free but why not allow me to buy the $1500 version if I have the cash? No one is worse off by me paying for a treatment. They could even charge me the full price rather than just the difference so the system actually saves money.

The only reason we don't allow this is because if people could pay for better treatments then people would know they exist. As it currently stands when the doctor does X to you everyone just thinks X is the best possible treatment. That is often not the case. In many situations there is a more expensive option that patients in Canada are never even told exists since it isn't covered or available here.

Millie ,

My brother in law's had four brain cancer surgeries. My wife has had ovarian cancer surgery and treatments. It didn't bankrupt us like it does people in the U.S.. that's really a BIG difference.

I don't worry about getting sick as I know I can go into the hospital and get treated.. which fortunately I've only had to do once. That's a big relief.

For things like knee surgeries, hip surgeries, there is a wait time. My friend waited for 10 months to get knee surgery. That could be improved.

Other than that I"m pretty thankful for our healthcare system

While I have no issues with anyone going to the States or a private clinic here there is a certain level of hypocrisy when politicians who are against having a two-tier system here do it. With Danny Williams I have no idea who his position is but we have had several Liberal and NDP politicians who are staunch supporters of socialized medicine go to the States or a local private clinic.

The reality is that the Canadian health care system is horrible. This isn't even open to debate. In Canada we seem obsessed with the idea that everyone should get the same treatment even if that means everyone gets horrible treatment rather than a much more logical course of having a public system that everyone gets access to and then allowing people to pay for better treatment if they can afford it and want it. I can't think of one good reason to deny someone the right to pay for better care other than envy. I've been arguing that socialized medicine in Canada is unconstitutional for about a decade -- finally the SCC agreed with me a few years back. Unfortunately not much has changed since that decision.

The big news is that Danny Williams - premiere of Newfoundland has gone down to the U.S. for heart surgery.. He's got the money to go anywhere he wants to for surgery. Unlike most of Canadians who rely on the Canadian health system.

The debate is pretty hot.. should Danny Williams support the Canadian health system and get his heart surgery done here? In my opinon, if he's got the money to go elsewhere, why not?

Why should he be forced to stay in Canada if he can go elsewhere. I'm not saying that the Canadian system is bad.. I'm saying that if you can afford it, why not do what makes you happy!

I t is truly astounding how critics on both sides of the border have seized upon Premier Danny Williams' trip to the U.S. for heart surgery, and are using it to take broadsides at Canada's health-care system, without knowing any of the facts, namely what he is suffering from. North of the border, the grumbling is about how the rich -- Williams, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, is independently wealthy -- can afford to go to the U.S. for treatment. What's more, Williams donates his premier's salary to a charitable foundation he set up to help families of children needing out-of-province medical care. South of the border, the opponents of President Barack Obama's health-care reforms are using it as ammunition to bolster their case to keep any kind of government-mandated insurance from being brought in to aid the more than 45 million Americans who don't have any at all.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/little+heart+Danny+debate/2521096/story.html