Given Permission

Recently, I came across an article by a vehement conservative pro-life U.S. mother, who related her experience giving birth to two children under Canada's universal health care. She spoke about how she had initially opposed the idea on moral grounds, but when she was able to complete all of the pre-natal care, she found herself changed by the expectations of what a government should be to its people.

I started to feel differently about Universal government mandated and regulated Health care. I realized how many times my family had avoided hospital care because of our lack of coverage. When I mentioned to Canadians that I had been in a car accident as a teen and hadn’t gone into the hospital, they were shocked! Here, you always went to the hospital, just in case. And the back issue I had since the accident would have been helped by prescribed chiropractic care which would have been at no cost to me. When I asked for prayers for my little brother who had been burned in a camping accident, they were all puzzled why the story did not include immediately rushing him to the hospital. When they asked me to clarify and I explained that many people in the States are not insured and they try to put off medical care unless absolutely needed, they literally could not comprehend such a thing.

[Via Permission to Live, by A Young Moms Musings]

This is an important difference. Many GOP members have shaped it as a blight on your freedom to be forced to be healthy. Instead, this mother discovered that it gave her the freedom to have a child and get the necessary treatments without worrying about cost or debt. They're also able to do it much more efficiently. Unless you're part of the one percent, comprehensive health care is most likely out of reach.

Growing up in a family that had good health care provided by a parent's employer, I'm still shocked when people put off going to the dentist or the doctor. Health was important, and if you didn't prevent it now, you'd pay for it later. But, I was surprised to learn that my own policy covered chiropractic care, which would have been easier to obtain if I'd had all of the documents translated from legalese into English.

The scary thing for me was always the threat of losing health care. In the U.S., you might need to declare bankruptcy. In Canada, there's health care for you, regardless if you lose your job, have a baby, or get into an accident.

Making sure that all citizens have the ability to receive quality health care, regardless of their ability to pay, is a way to ensure that you're taking care of your entire population, not just the rich.