Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Free Health Care, Eh?

A certain "documentary" released last year praised the superiority of (among others) the Canadian health care system. Anyone is entitled to care at little or no cost.

Sounds great, right?

Not so fast.

Perhaps Crystal Gaudet will disagree.

Crystal is 21 years old and has cancer. Her specialist suggested a PET scan. Only one problem.

PET scans are currently accessible to patients in a number of provinces including Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba.

But in Ontario, the scan is only available in clinical trials and is not covered by the Ontario Ministry of Health.


Only available in clinical trials and is not covered by the Ontario Ministry of Health.

Ouch.

This is a treatment that normally costs about $2,500 but because of the family's low income in this case, Gaudet said they were eligible for a reduction in the cost to about $1,360.

What happened to free health care for everyone?

organization "has a mandate to raise money for special cases, assisting low income families" to pay for costly treatment

A private foundation to assist low income people who are not fully covered by the government (taxpayer funded) plan.

If the Canadian system doesn't fully cover low income people, then what happens to the middle class?

Never mind.
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