Badger Health Care

The Truth About Canadian Health Care
Part 1 of Part 3-series

Firstly, we do not euthanize our sick and elderly. Most Canadians cringe at the thought. Yes, Canadians have universal access to necessary health care, but this had never led to a surge in euthanasia, that the two issues are different concepts.

My wife, who works as a television producer, has shared a humorous anecdote with me a few days ago. Its editor, returning from a family vacation in Virginia. He said that the locals really wanted to talk with him when they heard he was a leader of Canadian broadcasting. And the topic on everyone's mind was - you guessed it - health care. Unfortunately, many people he talked with were sorely off the mark or, worse, perhaps intentionally misinformed about the reality of the experience of Canadian health care. The jewel built on euthanasia is just one example he shared.

You do sound plausible, though. Think about it. Canadian taxpayer dollars directly and indirectly fund a huge and complex system of family doctors, specialists, surgeons, nurses, clinics, hospitals, laboratories, assisted care and convalescent care facilities. It would be the reason (some propaganda at the right time) that the directors of this mammoth system would allow the cutting of the lifeline, literally, those whose care costs more, no hope you feel better and have no chance to contribute to the very system that pays for the expensive care. Sounds believable, but this is not reality.

Several high-profile court cases underscore Canada's aversion to any form of assisted suicide or euthanasia. In 1993, a Saskatchewan farmer named Robert Latimer, carried a mercy killing of his daughter twelve years. She suffered from severe cerebral palsy, could not walk, talk or feed himself and was in chronic, excruciating pain. A year later, Latimer was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to ten years in prison without possibility of parole. Other cases have upheld the objection of the Court of those who assisted the suicide of another or the cessation of active life. In other words, Jack Kevorkian would not have fled to Canada with her either.

The "Canadian Health Care Plan"
So how does it work? Health system in Canada is not a federally administered health insurance plan public. Instead, what we have is a tissue of individual plans of the province that reflect a set of national health insurance "principles. It's very different from what is expressed by Washington.

Here's how it works in a word. Your average Canadian pays taxes to both federal and provincial governments, with the side of the federal government to take the lion's share. The handouts from the federal government a portion of total revenue from tax on income of individuals and firms, together with other sources of revenue to fund the "transfer payments retroactive to the ten provinces and three territories. These transfers are earmarked specifically for health care. Each province or territory is individually responsible for administering and providing health care services. Some provinces, like Ontario, collect an additional fee for health care on their paychecks of workers to shore up gaps between the funds available and actual costs.

There are differences in the precise manner in which each province or territory administers its own system of health care. However, the federal government has overall responsibility for establishing policies and priorities in the law that each province or territory must be the reflection. Thus, Canadians living in British Columbia on the west coast, Newfoundland and Labrador on the East co.