A DrHurd.com reader, Navy retiree Paul J. Gagalka, from Canada writes in:
In Canada we have socialized Medicare, instituted by former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Eliot Trudeau, in the 1970s. I pay for my Medicare every month at the rate of about $150.00, whether I am sick or not. Premiums are based on income tax. Yes, my Canadian Medicare is $1800.00 a year!
Canadian socialized medicine has been established for more than 40 years. However, that system is bankrupt and recently private clinics, for profit, have begun to mushroom in this country.
At these for-profit health centers, we have walk-in clinics — private ones – -for immediate medical treatment, and we can purchase prescriptions and experience relief of sickness in a matter of minutes. No more emergency lineups, as in the public system.Yes, it costs money to purchase private medical care, but by God, if someone loves life money does not count. On top of that, it is easy to get financing and pay it off in case people cannot pay the lump sum up front.
Yes, private medical services in Canada are now income tax deductible. So in a case of sickness, I can and do reduce my mandatory $1800.00 a year with the help of tax deductions.
This is how Canadian health care has changed in recent times. Yes, conservative governments in Canada have allowed the two systems to coexist.
This will eventually evolve in the USA, as you have many states and migration from one location to another is allowed.
When any profession is nationalized due to “promises” of something for nothing, there will be sections of that profession which will survive, and regenerate to private practice.
I work in construction today, am a former Navy man, and I can, from my experience, tell you this: No government is able to control masses of people without their cooperation!
With cooperation, mass control is possible for a period of time. However, when bureaucrats see no reason to put on the brakes or exercise any self-control, people will abuse the system that supports them and ultimately will destroy that system from the inside.
This is what happened to Soviet Russia, Communists in Poland and the Deutsche Demokratische Republik.
I am optimistic for the future and have reached the conclusion that America must go with this unpleasant experience [of Obamacare], for now. Many will die, but education is working today, despite the mindless mass of people who keep hoping for a “messiah” to save them.
In America, illusions about national health insurance will evaporate very quickly. For this reason, I would stand by and continue to attack the system of socialism until it collapses completely. It can take a year, or five, but I am certain that victory is there in the cards, just waiting for the cause of freedom in medicine!
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