Canadian Healthcare from a Canadian...

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

To bring the discussion back on topic, the debate really is about one thing: is healthcare a need, or a luxury? My personal feelings are varied on the matter. For kids, it's a need. You can't expect them to afford it, and denying them care because their parents can't afford it would be like denying them a shot to grow up and afford healthcare on their own. For adults, only emergency care is a need. If you're hit by a bus, you should be given care (as hospitals do) whether you have coverage or not. As for preventative, elective, terminal, psychiatric, rehabilitation, and pain management, I view all of these forms of treatment as luxuries, not needs. Therein lies the true debate - and it's virtually impossible to come to an agreement.

Yeah, I'd have a hard time believing that insulin shots for diabetics would be a luxury item.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by skinsguy

Yeah, I'd have a hard time believing that insulin shots for diabetics would be a luxury item.

You're right, I'd call that a "need" too. Healthcare is so complicated, there are a lot of grey areas that you can't cover with blanket statements like the one I made classifying certain things as needs and others as luxuries.

That complexity is actually one of the reasons that healthcare is so expensive these days. It takes a lot of brains just to sort through all this stuff, and those brains have to be paid.