Let me preface this with what I’ve been dealing with lately. My cat of 13 years is diabetic. A month ago he came down with a bladder infection and then his health spiraled out of control because the bladder infection was blocking the insulin from controlling his sugar. He was hospitalized at our Veterinarian and through all of the procedures I had to keep saying “Well, as long as his life won’t be reduced in any way afterwards… please keep going” -- after all how can you put a price on life?
Which brings me to Medicare, public Medicare at that. Public Medicare has been under attack for years, decades even. Since its inception, those that feel they can make TONS of money from people’s misfortune want it privatized again. They will tell you that it will improve services and reduce costs – all it will actually do is put money in the pockets of shareholders instead of the pockets of those actually doing the services and make our current situation even worse. A famous politician's daughter once said “if you want a problem all you have to do is create it”, referring to Mike Harris and his Conservative government in Ontario when they gutted our public Medicare system. Nothing like telling people there is a problem with the system when in fact “you’ve” created that problem, and the general public just accepts that there is a problem. Coupled with the fact that Paul Martin of the Federal Liberals, then Finance Minister, cut transfer dollars to the provinces during his reign which reduced the Federal support for public Medicare (keep in mind, Medicare is a provincial jurisdiction supported by Federal transfers).
So all that said and done and you have to say to yourself…. Without public Medicare, if my partner, child, parent, sibling or other significant other would become ill and therefore require a great deal of medical care… would you have to decide like I did with my beloved cat if you had enough savings that you could afford to help them get better. Would you maybe have to sell your house or other cherished belongings to pay for the treatments or worse yet, would you have to claim bankruptcy because you just couldn’t raise the funds to pay for all of the treatments? After all, many Americans actually have to deal with the latter claiming bankruptcy.
If you get a chance, watch Michael Moore’s SICKO. Some will tell you that it’s all one sided and a bunch of extreme cases. But ask yourself this, is anyone debating that the situations in SICKO are false – I haven’t heard anything… so I’ll leave that with you to think about and make your own conclusions.
Ask yourself, do you want to live in a society where we want people to live healthy lives, and if for some horrible reason you were to become sick, to help you become a productive member of society again without suffering from financial hardship.
“Courage my friends, tis not too late to make a better world”
Tommy Douglas, Father of Medicare
Watch a clip here of Tommy Douglas talking about Medicare in 1983… nothing has changed much, history continues to repeat itself, but you can make a difference. As Tommy said, “Don’t let the subtle strangulation of Medicare continue.”
Link to Canadian Health Coalition
Which brings me to Medicare, public Medicare at that. Public Medicare has been under attack for years, decades even. Since its inception, those that feel they can make TONS of money from people’s misfortune want it privatized again. They will tell you that it will improve services and reduce costs – all it will actually do is put money in the pockets of shareholders instead of the pockets of those actually doing the services and make our current situation even worse. A famous politician's daughter once said “if you want a problem all you have to do is create it”, referring to Mike Harris and his Conservative government in Ontario when they gutted our public Medicare system. Nothing like telling people there is a problem with the system when in fact “you’ve” created that problem, and the general public just accepts that there is a problem. Coupled with the fact that Paul Martin of the Federal Liberals, then Finance Minister, cut transfer dollars to the provinces during his reign which reduced the Federal support for public Medicare (keep in mind, Medicare is a provincial jurisdiction supported by Federal transfers).
So all that said and done and you have to say to yourself…. Without public Medicare, if my partner, child, parent, sibling or other significant other would become ill and therefore require a great deal of medical care… would you have to decide like I did with my beloved cat if you had enough savings that you could afford to help them get better. Would you maybe have to sell your house or other cherished belongings to pay for the treatments or worse yet, would you have to claim bankruptcy because you just couldn’t raise the funds to pay for all of the treatments? After all, many Americans actually have to deal with the latter claiming bankruptcy.
If you get a chance, watch Michael Moore’s SICKO. Some will tell you that it’s all one sided and a bunch of extreme cases. But ask yourself this, is anyone debating that the situations in SICKO are false – I haven’t heard anything… so I’ll leave that with you to think about and make your own conclusions.
Ask yourself, do you want to live in a society where we want people to live healthy lives, and if for some horrible reason you were to become sick, to help you become a productive member of society again without suffering from financial hardship.
“Courage my friends, tis not too late to make a better world”
Tommy Douglas, Father of Medicare
Watch a clip here of Tommy Douglas talking about Medicare in 1983… nothing has changed much, history continues to repeat itself, but you can make a difference. As Tommy said, “Don’t let the subtle strangulation of Medicare continue.”
Link to Canadian Health Coalition
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