Few things trigger leftists more than being told the United States has the best health care in the world. They’ve been fooled into believing the American system is inferior to other countries in the field of health care. What’s hilarious is even the most ardent socialists in our country wouldn’t for a day tolerate what Canadian and NHS citizens suffer.
No first-world system has 6 to 12+ month wait times for non-urgent care. These countries take it as a badge of honor for some reason, because it’s “cheaper”. Wait a year for a knee replacement? Or to get a new hip? Or replace a herniated disc? No way I could live in a country with that low of a quality of life. Here’s a Canadian doctor talking about wait times to a guy who thinks breadlines are a “good thing”:
Here in the United States, thanks to freedom and capitalism, even our drug stores are better than Canada’s and the UK’s health care systems. If we want some basic non-urgent care, we can walk into CVS or Walgreens that we take for granted, get looked at, get a prescription, walk 50 feet to the pharmacy, pick up the latest copy of “Golf Digest”, grab a candy bar, some toiletries, and be out for ~$100 in under an hour.
How funny is that? Our drug stores give us basic health care light-years faster than in socialist countries. These are first-world luxuries that Bernie supporters think is unfair.
Years ago in my youth, I shared an apartment with one of my best friends. He's from Canada, and his biggest nightmare when we were young was being unable to renew his visa and being sent back to Canada. He was a semi-pro soccer player, competitive runner, and martial artist, and therefore had his share of injuries. He told me a lot of stories about the Canadian health care system, and I would just thank the Lord I was born in the United States.
One night, we were playing some midnight basketball at a park and one of our friends completely destroyed his ankle when he landed, with all his weight, on the foot of the guy trying to block his jumper. We walked into the hospital in the wee hours of the morning with our friend’s throbbing ankle with no doubt it had to be broken (it wasn't). Including wait time, treatment, forms, and x-ray, we were out in a few hours trying to stuff him back into the car with his crutches.
This is normal for us in the United States, and I remember bitching that it felt like we were there all night. Sometimes wait times are longer depending on where you live, of course, but generally in third-world systems like Canada’s, my friend said that wouldn’t have happened. The more I learned from my friend from his first-hand accounts (and his Canadian father) the more I'd feel sorry for Canadians who are stuck there.
A few years ago my then eighty-five year old grandmother with late stage Alzheimer’s broke her hip. She couldn’t recite her children’s names, but she got hip-replacement surgery. A few years after that incident, she broke her other hip, which we subsequently replaced. Do you think a ninety year old woman in late stages of dementia with a few years of life left could have had two hip replacements in Canada, or the UK? Third-world systems adhering to QALY would have "kept her comfortable". It's sad to think about.
Last anecdote that makes me grateful I live in the United States, years ago I had a herniated disc in my neck. I couldn’t swing a golf club and the discomfort was too much to continue tolerating. I heard an advertisement on the radio for an orthopedic surgeon and decided to finally get fixed.
Long story short, in under two weeks, I had an appointment, MRI, blood work, under the knife, and at home recovering. Best of all, I paid cash and got a hell of a deal. I’m thankful I didn’t have to suffer through some crappy government-run crappy system like a Canadian or Brit. Even a month of that discomfort would have been too much -- never mind six or twelve months! I can't imagine. Poor Canadians.
Steven Crowder hits a few points highlighting the ridiculousness of libtards' standard talking points:
Thanks goodness we're Americans and have a first-world health care system and don't have to sacrifice our quality of life.
