Is anyone else getting the republican spam?

I opened up my inbox today and was greeted by emails from republican relatives telling me to watch all of these different videos about the Canadian Healthcare system and how a vote for a democrat would turn us into a pinko communist nation. They were variations on the chest-thumping "I'm not paying for some lazy bum to be insured...and if they are middle class americans then it's their fault too" kind of crap.

I started sending back a response to all of them:

If you are concerned about the healthcare crisis in Canada, then you are certainly concerned about the problems facing hard working american men and women. It's wonderful to see your activism and I hope that it will inspire you all to vote for the democratic nominee in Novemer.

If you are happy with your current health insurance program, you can keep it. If not, the congressional health plan will be opened up for regular citizens to provide inexpensive private insurance options for all americans.

No US citizen (forget about the canadians from these videos who are not much different than uninsured americans) will ever be bankrupted by their ICU stay after an accident, have their health insurance policy cancelled in the middle of a bone marrow transplant if we can institute some form of universal coverage. Health rationing in this country (The United States of America) will stop. We will no longer penalize members of the middle class and working poor who contribute to our society and economy but are either denied basic coverage or are bankrupted by it.

No American citizen will be told again that if they get a divorce or quit their job they or their spouse will be able to get coverage under Medicaid, but that otherwise, they earn too much money to receive benefits but not enough to be able to afford health insurance. No mom will be forced to treat her child's leukemia with chemotherapy but will be denied powerful drugs to prevent nausea. Parents will not be hit with a bill for nearly 1 million dollars after their baby dies in the NICU following months of care.


If you are ok with the current system as it is...if you can look at my friend who lost his health insurance in the middle of a bone marrow transplant for cancer and tell him you are ok with it...then vote republican. If you find it unacceptable that a Canadian can get better healthcare in America than a US citizen...so be it. If you are concerned about the Canadian's not getting healthcare, then I am sure that you are even more upset that American citizens are being denied quality care..

Vote for the democrats in November!




Kristen Math

the mistake of coming near me. Not so much anymore.

is that after I sent out the message that I posted here, many of them responded to me. When I tried to reply, they had blocked me!

... healthcare "crisis" come from (although I have a good idea), but as an American living in Canada for the past 34 years, I can tell you that I don't have a single complaint about the healthcare system here.

And believe me, having had a major medical "misadventure" just last year, I know whereof I speak.

I see this kind of thing all the time on RW websites: Canadians have to wait months for treatment, can't choose their own doctor, get sub-par treatment, etc.

This is all total bullshit, perpetrated by insurance companies and supported by their enablers, the GOP.

(i)"Forget about the Canadians from these videos who are not much different than uninsured Americans ..."(/i) There is no Canadian who is even remotely like an 'uninsured American', because all Canadians are insured. And because a doctor's visit or a hospital stay is paid by the government on a flat-fee basis, there is no motive for anyone to be turned away regardless of financial means. My doctor gets reimbursed exactly the same amount for seeing me as he does for seeing the next patient.

Anyway (got my dander up there - as I always do when this topic comes up) your response to the emails was brilliant!

people can have different opinions about universal health care.

Moore does interesting work comparing systems in Canada, England, France and the US. He also visits Cuba and kicks the tires on their system.

The whole idea is that the least of us and the best of us are covered at all times. We can walk into any pharmacy, hospital, dental office, doctors office or mental health office and be taken care of. No claims. No HMO bureaucracy. No denial of service.

and decided to tell me about the evils of universal health care. She's older (maybe in her 60's), and had a bad tonsilectomy when she was a teenage in Germany, from what I gather. This is her entire argument about why universal care is a bad thing. :shrug:

hit the "Bounce" button and it goes right back to her as "Returned".

there are times i'll get one about a Clinton that reads like it 1997, in those cases i respond with the same message all the time "Hows things back in 97, you should invest all your money in Enron stock and go long, do not sell!"