Canada's Health Care Plan

Too often we hear of doctors and their lobbyists proposing the demolition of Canada's present health care system and allowing doctors to bill their patients privately if they so wish. I cringe whenever I remember what it was like before Canada's universal health care was instituted.

No, it's not perfect. Like all government business, there is waste and inefficiency, but it works better than no plan at all.

Before OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan), the poor could not afford to see a doctor when they were sick so they suffered or died unnecessarily. This is what is happening in the States today and we can't allow Canada to revert to that cruel system.

Two of my children were born before OHIP so I know from experience what it means to be poor and unable to pay for basic health care. My first child was born in 1958 and we barely had enough money to live on and definitely not enough to pay for me to have prenatal care. I was young and healthy and only saw a physician when I was 6 months pregnant because a friend insisted.

The attending physician at my daughter's birth was a kindly old man who agreed to take monthly payments for his fee but I became pregnant with my second daughter before daughter #1 was paid for. Ashamed at still owing the doctor money, I again had no prenatal care.

My grandmother suffered for years with serious stomach ailments but she refused medical treatment. After she passed away from the results of these ailments I often wondered why she hadn't sought medical help. It's very possible it was because of the cost.

My husband was ill with cancer for a year before he passed away. His treatments and care would have bankrupted us if we'd had to pay directly for them. There was never a day when I wasn't humbly grateful for the excellent medical care provided by my country.

In a decent society, everyone deserves food, a place to live, schooling, and medical aid. In Canada we do a fairly good job of providing these services and we can't allow ourselves to lose what we have gained. Is it fair for some physicians to destroy the present system in order to earn a few dollars more over the backs of the poor? I hope the majority of our leaders are honest and honorable enough to stop this from happening.