Free Medical Care?

Free medical care is an oxymoron.  There is no such thing.  Publically funded?  Most definitely.  Funding for the most recent and proven better treatment methods?  Absolutely not.

I am not sure why we Canadians constantly say our medical system is free.  Oh, sure, we don't have to pay out-of-pocket to see our family doctor.  Or make frustrating insurance claims.  Yet, medical care is anything but free.  A portion of our taxes fund this system.  Some provinces pay a small portion each month to their provincial health care.  Not to mention certain medical treatments are not covered "free", but, rather, patients in dire need are charged exorbitant amounts to get well -- or perhaps stay well.  Don't forget the amounts we pay for employer insurance, and the difference not covered by this insurance.

As a parent of a Type 1 Diabetic child, one such example is an insulin pump, averaging $7000.  This price does not include the $600 for monthly supplies, such as:  infusion sets, reservoirs, insulin, and meter strips required to maintain my child's health -- thank goodness for employer benefits!  Many provinces do not fund the cost of an insulin pump that significantly lowers several long-term side effects of Type 1 diabetes.  Not to mention, greatly improves the quality of life for a child with this chronic disease.

Why isn't our medical system providing the lastest and greatest treatments to those who need it?  Why must children suffer through multiple injections per day, simply to stay alive?  Why must cancer victims beggar themselves to receive the best treatment possible to send their disease into remision?  Why are medical treatments and supplies so ridiculously expensive?  Why must those in need involve the media to obtain expensive treatments before the government or drug companies will help?  Why do we give these same treatments to people in our country on refugee statuses for nothing?

This is wrong.  If there is a better treatment, one should not have to sink into abject poverty to receive it.  Or never know the freedom an insulin pump can give their child because of lack of money.  No doubt if Steven Harper's child suffered from Type 1 Diabetes, he'd see to it every child at least had the choice for an insulin pump.  He'd ensure every diabetes clinic - large or small - had an A1C collection system that required a simple finger "poke".  I doubt he'd want to watch his child tense with anxiety, tears running freely, during blood work, if there was an easier way.

Why, then, do we Average Joes, allow this to continue?  Whether we like it or not, our medical system is very much two-tiered.  It's time that changed.  We deserve better.