Great LTTE that appeared in my local paper.

I must take issue with a Nov. 22 letter critical of the Canadian health care system. The writer repeats most of the right-wing talking points without providing the readers with anything resembling independent research and evaluation.

I expect that, sometime in the future, Rush Limbaugh, Neal Boortz, Bill O'Reilly and other members of the right-wing audiocracy will be offering a coveted Golden Cracker Award for the audience member best able to parrot the lies and distortions, which they disseminate to a gullible, hee-haw public.

Regarding the waits Canadian citizens endure for medical attention, one must recognize that the procedures which the letter writer refers to, while not elective, are certainly not emergencies.

Emergency care is a wholly different issue and is taken care of immediately in both Canada and the U.S. There is one difference, however. Canadian citizens do not recuperate under a mountain of debt and a cloud of harassment that uninsured and uninsurable U.S. citizens have to endure.

If the medical system of our neighbors to the north is so bad would the letter writer please explain that, according to a massive poll conducted by the Canadian Institute of Health in 2003, there was only an average of 10 percent of Canadians who expressed dissatisfaction with their health care system?

The line of reasoning expressed by the writer is typical of those who have excellent health care polices for themselves and their own families. They see no need to change a system in which they are the prime beneficiaries. They are the first ones to squeal for change, however, when their own coverage is canceled, inadequate or their claims pre-denied.