RE: RE: RE: Bubba and Republ / TIBBERTibber:
OK great, Canada offers the surgery, and YOUR Premier screwed up not asking around Canada first. Great.
But, for some reason he didn't TRUST the Canadian "think-tank" to take care of him - and I dare say if you Google "Canadians flocking to the United States for Healthcare" you'll see there's a LOT of that going on. Reputation.
I know you have a lot of pride in your homeland, but you should open your eyes to the FACTS. Once you do that, you will see lots of Canadians go to Minnesota (the "Mall") and other places for procedures. For example, there's a place in Cleveland dedicated entirely to orthopedic surgery for Canadians. So, according to your logic, there must be LOTS of Canadians who are stupid, like the Premier. On the contrary, I think they're SMART.
Government-run healthcare is no answer to the US problem (and yes we do have a problem, but our healthcare is still the best money can buy). Competition needs to be INCREASED (government has artificially DECREASED competition for years) across state lines, tort reform needs to be imposed, and people ought to be able to get attorney fees when they sue health insurance companies who don't pay their claims (applies to non-ERISA claims). These immediate, less-intrusive changes can be stomached by the American people and should be given a chance before we embark on creating a huge goverment bureaucracy that's actually going to hurt Canadians.
After these changes are implemented, you will see prices go DOWN. This is Economics 101. Why would economic principles work for widgets, but not for healthcare?