Sunday Open Thread [7.22.12]

A gorgeous Sunday and it seems to be pretty quiet everywhere — much of the political world is still wrapped up in the Aurora murders.

If you read nothing else today, read this blog post from a young conservative mother who moved to Canada with her family and changed her mind about universal healthcare.

I started to wonder why I had been so opposed to government mandated Universal Health care. Almost every western country in the world has Universal Insurance of some kind, except the USA. Here in Canada, everyone was covered. If they worked full-time, if they worked part-time, or if they were homeless and lived on the street, they were all entitled to the same level of care if they had a medical need. People actually went in for routine check-ups and caught many of their illnesses early, before they were too advanced to treat. People were free to quit a job they hated, or even start their own business without fear of losing their medical coverage. In fact, the only real complaint I heard about the Universal Health Care from the Canadians themselves, was that sometimes there could be a wait time before a particular medical service could be provided. But even that didn’t seem to be that bad to me, in the States most people had to wait for medical care, or even be denied based on their coverage. Depending on where one lived and how rural the area was, one’s access to care could be limited, and that was regardless of what country one lived in. The only people guaranteed immediate and full service in the USA, were those with the best (and most expensive) health coverage or wads of cash they could blow.

It is well worth reading the whole thing. This woman would likely be what they call a “values voter” here, and her opposition to universal health care went away with her experience of it. And her experience of it is that it is one of the most family friendly policies there is. If you have time, the comments are worth it too.

I missed this, but yesterday would have been Paul Wellstone’s 68th birthday. Wish he was still around.

What interests you today?