by Linda Vallee

We have spent the last six weeks sending this out to every newspaper in the USA we could find and have posted it on blog’s everywhere we could. Please cut, paste and send this to anyone who is undecided if you think this will help … perhaps they will put weight into the testimony of someone who is living the health care plan Senator Obama is offering and how it is not working for us. God bless and good luck on Tuesday.

To Whom It May Concern,

We have watched with great interest over the past year the on going election process in your beautiful country. We have the social health care system that is being batted around by your Democratic Party and thought you might be interested to hear from someone in British Columbia, Canada. Our health care system in Canada began under the best of intentions … “Health Care for All” and we have heard many times that most Americans believe our system is an excellent one. DON’T BELIEVE IT AMERICA!!!! Our health care system is collapsing. We are a country of about 30 million people and have a national debt of 720 billion dollars. The growth of this debt has slowed but only at the expense of our health care system, schools, social programs and our military.

In many cases we have to wait up to a year or longer for CAT Scans, up to a year for a specialist appointment and more than a year for surgery. If you are lucky enough to be able to afford it and smart enough to do it you take your problem across the border into the USA and pay for what you need there to ensure you will at least live. Lots of Canadians are doing just that. Our hospitals in British Columbia are dirty, over crowded, understaffed and they can’t keep up with the load of patients they have to see. Our Doctors and nurses are worked to the bone and stretched to the limits. You think you are finally going to have that surgery you waited so long for and you get to the hospital only to find out that it was cancelled because the operating rooms could not be staffed. Wards are being closed because of personnel shortages and patients are sleeping in the hallways.

We have the finest doctors and nurses in the world but we are losing more and more of them to other countries where they can receive better pay, be appreciated for their work and have a life with their own families. A lot of them are in America. Family doctors are a rarity here in Canada now. Clinics are the only way most of us can get care and we often see a different doctor every time.

Our school systems have suffered greatly. If you think you have problems with your public school systems in America now just add a socialized health care program to the list of things that need to be paid for and see what happens. Good programs that we did have are being cut left right and center because of the drain … our schools are bulging at the seams … they are overcrowded and under funded … we simply do not have the money to sustain our social programs. One of our daughters is a special education teacher’s assistant trained to work in the school systems here. She has four children and is so discouraged by the failing of the system she home schools all of them. When we started hearing about the social health care system that has been suggested to you in America we decided to warn you all about what the cost will be. If you go down the same road we have here in Canada ALL of you will pay and pay dearly no matter what income level you are. Once you are on the road and like us find it is the hugest money pit ever, how do you try and turn around again? Taxes, taxes and more taxes that never work. Middle income folks as the majority population will be the ones that pay for this system.

No matter who wins your election America, your country has come a long way. It is an exciting time in your history but remember that voting with your heart is going to hit your wallet hard! If you want to go the road of public health care and be one of the highest taxed countries in the world we will be more than happy to pass that title on to you but you won’t like it. Just a view from a Canadian neighbour!

Kindest Regards,

Cam and Linda Vallee

11372 87A Avenue

Delta, British Columbia V4C 3A6

Internet links to examine the state of Canadian Health care:

http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_3_canadian_healthcare.html

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=305524a3-fd5c-4368-ad97-b0eb7f147d18

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E2DF1530F932A35752C0A9649C8B63

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/international/americas/26canada.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2007-07-02-opcom_N.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/international/americas/28canada.html

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E2DF1530F932A35752C0A9649C8B63

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/international/americas/26canada.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2007-07-02-opcom_N.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/international/americas/28canada.html