Day Seven - Monday, January 1, 2018 - Health Care

Everybody stayed awake long enough last night to watch the ball drop in Times Square and then hit the pillows.

We awoke to a rainy, cold and blustery day so it was mainly a day of playing cards.  We finished the game of Phase 10 from yesterday.  Grandpa was totally outclassed by the opposition in that one so he went away and pouted (with some Canadian Club) while games of Hand and Foot took over.  In the game pictured below, Mardi and Ewen crushed Sarah-Jean and Malcolm.

For New Years we had turkey dinner and toasted the year with some sparkling stuff.

As you can see, David is upright today and on the road to recovery.

Since this is another slow news day, let's keep our attention on health and health care.

On our North Rim of the Grand Canyon adventure, at the beginning of Barack Obama's first term, Malcolm and I stayed in Sedona for a week.  Around the pool, the discussion turned to health care and, as a Canadian, I was asked what I thought about our universal health care.  I fumbled through a few thoughts, but was later upset with myself for not having a more clear, lucid defense of our system.

Yes, there are long wait times for elective surgery.  If your hips or knees have been deteriorating for a few years, or your cataracts are slowly ripening, you may have to wait a few more weeks, or even months, to see a specialist.  But, these ailments have been going on for a while in your life and are not life threatening.  If you have a condition that needs attention, you will get it.

I spent six weeks in the hospital after breaking my back, received good attention, and it didn't cost a cent.  The nerve damage I have been dealing with in more recent years, that was probably caused by the crushed vertebrae, was treated promptly as well.  No need to argue with an insurance company about whether it was a pre-existing condition either.

There are lots of arguments that both sides can make, but when you get to the bottom line there is one factor that should win the day.

• an American child, born today, has an average life expectancy of 79 years.
• a Canadian child can expect to live an average of 82 years.

That is a huge difference, and as I am now in this three year window, this seems to me to be an increasingly important issue.

Yes, the Americans do kill each other with guns more than we do (over 30,000 people per year - more than in traffic accidents).  And over 40,000 of them died of drug overdoses last year.  But, in a nation of over 300 million people, those two causes don't fully explain the life expectancy difference.

It is my belief that the main factor is the difference between our universal health care, versus their "watch your neighbour die health care".  Despite the fact that the Americans spend considerably more per capita on health care than we do, a significant section of the population cannot access what they need.  A hateful situation that we may explore further on other rainy days.

However, tomorrow we hope to get in a game of golf and, hopefully, we'll have lots to report.