
Oh, *really*???


I know that when working in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, I was aware
that I was paying for health insurance - e.g., in Toronto, OHIP fees
were listed seperately on my pay stub.

While I'm not the only Canadian who favours lower taxes and cutbacks
in spending, health insurance isn't on the table.  See our polls ...
A better one might be the July 1st polls conducted for Macleans (our
major English newsmagazine) by Decima Research ... Decima president
Allen Gregg is considered one of the world's top poll researchers,
and Mulroney's Conservatives have relied on him to keep in power in
the face of impossible election situations.  I haven't had a chance
to see this year's version due to our library, but previous ones
before the Americans started their assault and disinformation had
shown satisfaction at 97% and switching to an American all-private
system had support within statistical noise.  The Decima polls are
considered definitive.  Even the new Reform Party, a breakoff of
traditionalists from the Conservatives with a mildly "libertarian"
faction, hold our public health insurance as an untouchable but that
just a few people have to be reminded that it's not free (the average
Canadian/European is more fiscally naive than their American
counterparts on issues like these).

Personally, I feel that the universal health insurance approach used
in Canada, France and Germany -- paying to private health providers in
a nominally free market not unlike America's, minus HMO's -- depends a
lot on values in those societies different from the U.S.  The basic
health needs for life are not viewed as market, but the insurance does
allow the market to address that -- basic health care is not viewed on
the level of ownership of a VCR as Americans would see it.  Plenty of
room is left for expenditure of private funds as extra insurance or as


Please explain this one, hopefully in a way that Canadian readers
besides myself can understand and concur ...

gld