Most of the Democrat candidates pushing Medicare for all cite Canada’s system as the envy in the entire world.  Bernie Sanders has been touting Canada’s health care system as far superior than anything here in the United States.  At the same time there have been several articles debunking that reputation by patients needing immediate care.  I must disagree with all the 2020 Democrat candidates who are proposing the single payer socialist health system.  I believe we have the best system in the world and my recent health care proves it.  If I lived in Canada, I’d be dead.

I am not a wealthy senior citizen and I lost my Cadillac health plan when my husband retired.  I only have Medicare, which covers 80% of my doctor visits.  I’ve been seeing a cardiologist for past 20 years to control my blood pressure and my past test results have always been negative.  A few weeks ago, my doctor at Cardiovascular Associates of Staten Island informed me that my echocardiogram showed an abnormality and expressed concern that my heart function levels had decreased.  He ordered a nuclear stress test for the following week and when this showed even lower function, he suspected that I must have had a silent heart attack as I was asymptomatic.  When he said that he had to perform a cardiac catherization for a closer look at my arteries, I was terrified but submitted to it a week later.

On August 8th, during the procedure the doctor discovered that I had a 100% blockage of the lad artery (known as the widowmaker) and managed to insert two stents that opened the artery.  It was (I learned later)  a very challenging task, but after the doctor left the surgery to inform my husband why it had taken so long, his fellow physician was so excited that the procedure was a huge success and showed me the film of what had been done.  I watched in amazement and gratitude as the blood flowed through the blocked artery after the stents were inserted and thanked God and my physician for saving my life.

I only spent one day in the hospital for observation and went home the next day with prescriptions for a blood thinner and baby aspirin.  The only evidence of the procedure was a large black and blue bruise left in my right arm where the catheter had been inserted in the wrist.  I received excellent top of the line care in the Tower which is part of the Northwell Health System located in Staten Island University Hospital Center.  Perhaps this hospital is not as well-known as those in neighboring Manhattan but the Heart Tower is the embodiment of superb cardiovascular care.

From the time of my doctor’s appointment alerting me to my heart crisis to my hospital discharge only spanned weeks and there was no long wait for approval as there would have been if I received “free” medical care in our northern neighbor.  The tales coming from patients who endured unbelievable waits for simple diagnostic procedures amount to horror stories ending in, at times, death.  Many patients ended up getting taken care of in the States.

Valerie Sobel wrote a great column in American thinker about the “Health Care system that’s the envy of the world. Then I read last week about a 41-year old Canadian disabled man, Sean Tagert, suffering from ALS who had his health care funding stopped by this “great system” but it did pay for his assisted suicide (which is legal in Canada).

The Canadian system is not the only sort of so-called “free” medical care that the Dems would like us to have.  The National Health Service in Great Britain may be great if you have a cold or a sprained ankle, but for serious long-term illnesses, the wait for care is unacceptable, especially for senior citizens.  When my husband worked in a hotel, a group of nurses from England told him they were amazed that just about every little clinic here had an MRI machine. 

MRI machine (photo: US Navy)

In the town where they worked, there were only two available to cover a very large area.  Ironically, the MRI was invented in England.  Leave it to the Yanks to make this miracle tool widely available.

When I was 18, I started working for the telephone company.  There was no such thing as health care for regular employees.  Doctor visits would cost about $10 and most emergency rooms in Manhattan hospitals would treat anyone who needed help regardless of their ability to pay.  I had an emergency appendectomy when I was 7 years old at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in Spanish Harlem and my mother never received a bill she couldn’t pay.  This was before the age of Medicaid and Medicare and the skyrocketing of costs once the government took over our health.

Nevertheless, our health care system is the best considering that we have a much larger population to care for and these other countries spend a fraction of what we do for their defense.  I do not understand how any voter can consider electing someone who threatens to destroy the health care we now enjoy.  Medicare for all will eliminate private insurance and these moronic politicians also want to give illegal immigrants, who have no right being here to begin with, all the same benefits.  Open borders are just plain suicidal.  Speaking of that horrible word; there has been a rash of suicides in Britain of nurses who are overwhelmed by the NHS with long hours, low pay and shortage of qualified staff.  The NHS is dealing with an average of 1388 patients every three minutes. 

Bernie Sanders and the other 2020 candidates expect taxpayers to empty their pockets for their utopian dream that simply will never exist.

I find it somewhat incredible that I was walking around with a blocked major artery that could have proved fatal if I had to wait for months for an echocardiogram, a nuclear stress test and an angioplasty.  I credit my doctor with saving my life, but won’t reveal his name.  He does not need any more publicity as he is a very busy and popular cardiologist.  I am under no illusion that while Medicare pays for 80% of the bills, the resultant 20% will be considerable, but it didn’t prevent my excellent care.

I also thank the good Lord for making it possible for me to live in the greatest country in the world. Keep America Great.