MG: If the States had medicare, the balance would tilt in the
> other direction with eager Canadians wanting to compete for
> jobs across the border.
> For all the money Canadians spend on their healthcare, they could have
> much better care in the US. But since it would come out of their wallet
> (instead of having it taken directly by the government via their high
> taxes) they might think they were getting a bad deal. But they'd
> probably be wrong.
No, they would be right. Doug has already noted that numerous studies show the US spends more on health care with poorer outcomes than in Canada - or the rest of the OECD countries for that matter. In 2001, the US spent $4887 per capita to $2792 per person in Canada (USD adjusted for PPP), or about 13% of GDP versus approx. 9% north of the border. The OECD average was $1513. Measures of life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, adult obesity, percentage of acute care beds and physicians all showed the US lagging the OECD average. But if you can afford it, it's better to have elective surgery in the US. Wait times are far shorter.
(http://www.academyhealth.org/2003/presentations/docteur.pdf)
Canadians regularly visit the US, watch the American networks, and have friends and relatives there. If they saw they could spend less for better care, they would be clamouring for the largely private American system. It's not as if the Canadian right, which focuses mainly on wait times, isn't trying. The subject is frequently aired and debated in Canada, and surveys show Canadians want their eroding public system stregthened rather than dismantled. ------------------------------------ Jim Devine wrote:
MG: Of course, the Republicans would never allow Canada to join the US. It
would
> result in a permanent Democratic Party majority.
> wishful thinking. Years ago, the DP thought it might have a permanent
> majority (and by today's standards, Eisenhower and Nixon were
> card-carrying DPers). But that kind of majority was undermined.
Also wrong. Way wrong. Like most of the rest of the world, Canadians massively favoured Gore and Kerry over Bush in both of the last two US elections. This was not only the case in the largest, most urbanized and liberal provinces - Quebec, Ontario, and BC - but also in Alberta, stronghold of Canada's Conservative party. I don't have time, but disbelievers can Google public opinion surveys of Canadian attitudes to US elections to confirm this for themselves. The pronounced Canadian tilt towards the DP goes back to FDR, and reflects a more liberal political culture in Canada than in the US, certainly that part of the US outside the big US cities, northern US states, and California.
I don't know what you're referring to, Jim, when you say that Canadian majority support for the Democrats was "undermined"? When? How?
MG