Universal Health Care - Some Insight

Normally in this blog we shy away from getting overtly political (apart from in an educational sense), but one of the many fascinating things we’ve discovered in once again living outside the US is that almost every issue is political to Americans, whereas outside America quite a number of these so-called “hot button” issues ... aren’t issues at all.

I’ve posted a couple of times about our healthcare experiences in Canada, in part because one of the main missions of this blog is to educate our fellow North Americans about the differences of our neighbour to the north, and in part because I have known for many years that Canada is a familiar if wildly mischaracterized scapegoat for the “horrors” of single-payer health care (which, contrary to a million lying ads and bits of propaganda on the subject, is not the same thing as “socialized medicine” -- Britain has socialised medicine, Canada has single-payer -- they're quite different really), and I intended to use my own experiences and credibility to prove this.

Sadly, neither Heather nor myself are sick enough to give the Canadian system a good shakedown. A nice problem to have, but apart from reporting that:

• We have no rationing of doctors (or a hard time seeing one);
• Prescription prices for uninsured people (of which I, as an immigrant, am one of the few around) are the same as insured prices for Americans; and
• That healthcare in this province isn’t actually free (just cheap);

We haven’t really been able to compare the two systems as well as we would have liked.

Interestingly, the imminent birth of our friends Sarah and Christian’s first child will allow us some deeper insight into how the system works for the people who need it most, so over the next few weeks we will post about how Canada’s (well, British Columbia’s -- each province has its own system) healthcare system works for those in need, and with particular needs (more about that later).

In the meantime, there is still a lot of utter and complete crapola about Canada’s healthcare system to dispel, and more is coming as the US debate about offering a “public” option heats up. Until we can post more of our own (by proxy) accounts with hospitals, doctors, prescriptions, prevention and follow-up care, we can at least point you to articles we find that ring true to us as people who have lived in more than one country.

Recently, the Boston Globe and their writer Jonathan Cohn came up with such an article, talking about the red herring of comparing the US system now (and in the future) with that of Canada or the UK (and falsely making them sound scary) and the rampant ignorance of those that claim the horror stories. This piece cuts through the bullshit and gives you the real deal on where healthcare in various countries -- notably France, the Netherlands and the US -- stand or fall when it comes to helping the people they serve.

We recommend the piece as a good “overture” for the comparisons and contrast we will be offering in this space over the next few weeks.

Happy 233rd Birthday, America!

(fireworks from Victoria’s Canada Day celebrations -- cool eh?)

Happy Canada Day, Happy Anniversary!

As Canada celebrates its 142nd Dominion/Canada Day, this blog celebrates its second birthday!

Happy Canada Day to all our Canadian readers, and we should have a link to some great fireworks photos up in a day or two (we have, shall we say, a better-than-average view of them from our place).

How Now, June COW?

The June episode of Crusty Old Wave is up and available from either COW Central or directly from iTunes (where you can subscribe for free if you haven't already, and thus get every new episode automatically!).

We’re doing something a little different this summer ... sequential episodes! Normally we pick which show tape we’re going to edit/remaster/upload at random, but June’s is episode #73, July will be #74 and August will be #75 in honour of the show’s 18th anniversary (!!!).

Naturally this episode has the same bounty of great 80s music you’ve come to expect, but this one also has a special treat -- a complete Nick Danger adventure from The Firesign Theater! Let iPods everywhere rejoice!

Yay Visitors!

We have written before about how much we enjoy having visitors up here, and the latest was no exception: an old high-school buddy of mine named Dom and his lovely family. At the tail end of what was already a punishing vacation schedule (fly cross-country to attend D&D convention in Seattle, then cross the border to hop on a cruise to Alaska), they had some time between the cruise ship returning and their train back to Seattle so we took our van (ideal for transporting five guests, as it turns out!) over to Vancouver to meet them.

The original plan was for them to come and visit us in Victoria, but as it ended up that wouldn’t have worked out well anyway (by the time they would have arrived in Victoria we wouldn’t have had time to do much before they headed back to the US), and we love going to Vancouver so we ended up having a great day.

We started off very early in the morning, taking the BC Ferry over. We don't sing the praises of this service often enough, but they have a very comfortable fleet of ships (that get more comfortable as newer ships enter the fleet), reasonable prices and much better-than-expected food. You drive your vehicle right onto the ship (if you have one), saunter upstairs for a meal or just staring out the windows, and before you know it the 90 minute voyage has elapsed and you drive off. If the ship offered internet access it would be absolutely perfect. :)

We picked Dom, Betty and the kids up from Canada Place, drove through the seedier parts of the city (okay, so I don’t know my way around that area as well as I should) to Pacific Central to check the luggage, and then the fun began. We headed over to Granville Island and the Granville Public Market, a food fest the likes of which is rarely equalled. On a pleasantly warm day as we had, there is just no better place to buy a freshly made lunch and eat it. I had fish & chips but the kids all had very different choices, from Dom’s dressed-up sausage dog to exotic Indian dishes and excellent sushi. Oh and the freshly-made desserts, including fruit tart and cheesecake -- wow!

From there we headed over to Science World (I would have preferred we go by AquaBus, but we didn't want to end up that far from the van) for a quick look at the Dragon Boat races before heading in to an OMNIMAX movie about Van Gogh that I really enjoyed. Made Victoria’s IMAX look like a drive-in!

Alas, all too soon it was time to go, so we headed back the station and wished them well on their long journey home. It’s a pity we (and they) didn’t have more time to discover Vancouver further, but we definitely had a lovely afternoon. We hope they can make it back up this way again soon, and I think they will back me up when I say that if you’re sick of the Florida heat, the Pacific Northwest is a great place to visit! :)

How We Do It in Canada

Looking at the fighting going on in the US and in Iran (passionate people on both sides fighting to be heard), Canada’s politics must seem awfully sleepy by comparison, but when you think about it -- that’s often a good thing.

Currently we have a “little bit of a crisis” -- a phrase I have always found funny -- on our hands. The Conservative party, who currently run the government, aren’t as popular as they once were. The Liberal Party have gotten themselves a new leader who, though untested, has managed not to annoy people (a real key to winning votes here in Canada). Under the rules up here, if the present government cannot survive a Vote of Confidence, they have to dissolve their administration and new elections are called. Canadians have voted in national elections three times in the past six years and have no desire to do it again anytime soon, so oddly enough it is in both the Conservatives’ and Liberals’ interest not to have an election right now.

So the leaders of the two parties meet to negotiate on upcoming pieces of significant legislation (that usually means budgetary matters) and work out a compromise before it comes to vote in Parliament. The other parties (we have more than two, but these are the two dominant ones) can do what they like, but if the two majors are in agreement, it’s likely that the bill will pass and the present government will stay in power for a while longer.

Harper, Ignatieff reach deal to study EI reform: report

This part seems to me to be a good idea for America to adopt; perhaps a small panel of (let’s say) three Republicans, three Democrats and three representatives from the White House (probably including the President) meet and close the doors and don’t come out till they have an agreement, rather like a jury, on a really major piece of legislation (like health care reform). Each side should try in good faith to explain and defend their views, but should be willing to hear the other side’s plan without prejudgement. Implicit in the resulting agreement (if one can be reached) should be the support of the parties involved. There would be some “conscientious objectors” and/or “craven grandstanders” but the rank-and-file would support the agreement in the best interests of the country.

I have to wonder if the US has enough politicians who can put country ahead of party to do something like that.

UrbanSpoon Victoria

I’m pleased to say that I am now contributing restaurant reviews to UrbanSpoon.com’s new Victoria section. Of course, anyone can review restaurants for UrbanSpoon, but they only just got out here and it will be fun helping to shape our city’s culinary reputation on the interwebs. You can keep up with my reviews (up to the point that someone can hire me to do this professionally again) here.

For those of you who are “foodies,” here’s the quick rundown on this town:

• A few, but not many, of the US fast-food places are here. A&W is probably the most popular.

• Victoria has the best Eggs Benedict varieties this side of France.

• Not the best town for sushi, you’ll want Vancouver for that. But we do have outstanding salmon and cod dishes.

• If you’re craving real British staples like fish-n-chips, Shepard’s pie, Irish stew, British candy, etc -- you’re in the right place!

• A lot of the food we eat here is locally-produced, so “fresh” is very available all year.

• Our local breweries are pretty darn good.

• Almost nobody here seems to understand what “hash browns” are. They aren’t pan fries.