Maybe Canadians gloat and brag about the fact that we have "free" healthcare. We are so much more compassionate, loving, caring. We don't just care about profits, we care about people! We are so morally superior to Americans who couldn't care less if a poor person died on the streets!
To me, this sense of moral superiority is annoying, for many reasons.
First of all, it's not free. Free would imply volunteers built the hospitals, and doctors volunteer their time to help patients, medical supplies are donated, and it's all just a benevolent endeavor. In actual fact, it costs us massive amounts of money. A huge percentage of our income is taken away to pay for healthcare. So calling it free is one of the most factually inaccurate statements one can make.
Objection: "Okay, it costs money, but we are just paying for those who cannot pay. It's a mutually beneficial society. The strong look after the weak."
Response: There is no moral merit to forcibly taking money from people and then spending it something, no matter how worthy the cause. It would however be morally viable to spend your own hard-earned money to help the less fortunate or those who couldn't afford it. This can be done through donations. There could be a sort of child sponsorship model for people who need medical care. This is just one possible idea. The bottom line is that you should not be proud of taking money from others by force to pay for some service. There is no moral merit to it.
Second point about our healthcare is that it's deplorable. Again "free" doesn't describe the quality. A friend of mine recently, who is still in the hospital, arrived at the hospital complaining of intense pain. She had just given birth to twins and was understandably concerned. She spent around 10 hours before anyone would even see her. She had to stay overnight waiting for a doctor to see her. And in the end they basically only gave her painkillers. Then a couple of days later, they told her to go home. She works in the medical field and so she knows a thing or two about medicine. She insisted on staying for a number of reasons. They allowed it after she insisted, and she is currently facing many issues. She is having a difficult time. But they just wanted to throw her out.
This story reproduces itself many times each day. Ask anyone in Canada, even advocates, and they will tell you a medical horror story that happened to either them or a friend or family member of theirs. Whether it's 10-30 hour wait times, inadequate help, being ignored, and low quality care. There seems to be a cognitive dissonance involved. On the one hand, die-hard advocates will always praise our "amazing system" while being able to also talk about many many terrible incidents. These arent' just "one-off" things, but the norm. You have to take an entire day off to visit the hospital, and there you will get very low-quality care.
Canada's healthcare system is expensive and immoral and must be massively reformed.
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