[Wayne Maybury]

Well I was going to stay out of this one but since you asked, what the he!!, I might as well jump in.

I think that many of the facts tend to be manipulated to suit one's needs. I really do not think that there is one system that is far better than another. Each system has it's strong and weak points. I like many others here feel that the government cannot run anything properly. Having said that, a strong point for socialized medicine is that no one is making a big profit. There are no very highly paid executives in ivory towers. I cannot remember the exact numbers but I think something like 14 cents out of every medical dollar in the US goes to administrative costs whereas that is only 2 cents per Canadian medical dollar spent.

It is true that there are line ups in emergency rooms up here and it can take time to get an appointment. However we have to look beyond that. If someone is really sick, they tend to be treated very quickly. Herein lies one of the big problems of socialized medicine. There is over crowding because it is free. I think that there should be a minimal charge involved when seeing a doctor or going to an ER. This would weed out a lot of people that do not really need to be there in the first place.

Is socialized medicine for everyone? Probably not. The US has a great system right now. It is up to you to decide but please don't think that the Canadian system stinks. Our system may not be perfect but it is very good. A small charge when visiting a doctor would go a long way to making it better by eliminating the over crowding.

Wayne