For-Profit U.S. System Baffles Canadians

To understand how much Canadians value their national health system, consider that the winner of a reality TV show called "The Greatest Canadian" was the man known as the "father of Medicare."

That's what they call their system in Canada and the late, fiery politician and health care reformer Tommy Douglas beat even hockey star Wayne Gretzky when the 1.2 million viewer votes were counted in 2004.

"That tells me that people see our health care system as part of their national identity, something that reflects an 'all-for-one, one-for-all' point of view," said Lise Lareau, president of the 6,000-member Canadian Media Guild, part of The Newspaper Guild-CWA.

Lareau said Canadians are proud of their system and feel it's a privilege, especially because, "we happen to live next door to a country, one of the few in the world, that doesn't have it."

That doesn't mean the system is perfect, or that Canada is free from a debate over privatization. But when those debates occur, Lareau said they draw big crowds and a loud outcry.

She said it's stunning to know that that there are 47 million Americans without health insurance and then see streets full of elite hospitals in wealthy areas of the United States.

But that doesn't mean that even insured Americans have easy access, she and her husband learned on a trip to Florida in 2006. He had pain in his leg that had gotten so bad they went to an Orlando urgent-care clinic. Patients, "were lined up worse than anything we'd ever seen in Canada," Lareau said.

Their trip nearly over, they decided to wait to visit a doctor at home in Canada. Her husband saw his general practitioner in Toronto immediately, who diagnosed a blood clot and "sent him to one of the best hospitals in the city the same day," Lareau said.

The Canadian Media Guild and other unions negotiate for supplemental coverage that includes prescription drugs, dental and vision care. While those costs are rising, Laureau said the stress that supplemental health benefits put on bargaining is nothing like she hears about in the United States.

"When I talk with my American colleagues and they tell me that their bargaining is totally centered on health care, I shake my head. I just can't imagine it," she said.

The bottom line is this, she said: Canadians do not worry about health care. They never fear that their medical problems will leave them in debt, bankrupt or homeless.

"If you break your leg or you get cancer tomorrow, you're going to get treatment and you won't get a bill for it," she said. "You just do not worry about it."