On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:20:22 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Steve
R." quickly quoth:


clare at snyder dot ontario dot canada wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:51:06 -0400, Wes wrote:

clare at snyder dot ontario dot canada wrote:

Gee, I WISH we had $4/gallon gas.
Best price today here in Kitchener/Waterloo is $4.20 for regular.
Across town it was $4.30. ANd that's for your pipsqueak american
gallon.


But you have free health care
Not free in Ontario. There is an employee health tax.

It's not free. It just that there is a health insurance plan for each
province. Most of us pay a fee every month. That and taxation covers the
cost when we do get sick. The system is run as close to cost as possible. In
B.C., it's run by a crown corporation. There is some variation from one
province to another. The Canada Health Act sets minimum standards. No one
can be refused coverage for previously occurring conditions. Many people
also volunteer where it's practical. For example, I am registered as a
volunteer driver, to take cancer patients in for treatment. This way, we do
not have to front cash when services are needed, and overall costs are lower
due to the economies of scale.

That's what our Congress said they were doing for us with the current
prescription drug plan. Instead, it resulted in higher overall costs
for U.S. citizens and a real windfall for the drug companies.

Comprehensive health care should be available in the USA, but we'll
have to totally revamp the entire system to be able to do it. Moving
to a preventive care system would help, too. The gov't shouldn't fund
it (I'm a Libertarian, and I hate to add the latter, too) but could
regulate it.

By putting the Congress on our own public health system, it would
-really- help get them focused on the actual issues here.

--
Save the whales! Trade them for valuable prizes.