10's of Thousands of DEATHS： Canada’s COSTLY Healthcare FAILURE
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
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Summary
Tens of thousands of Canadians are dying on waiting lists every year, and nobody is talking about it. Why is this happening? And why is there no discussion about it? I'll tell you why, and how to fix it.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John, and welcome to the channel, 322 AM, Monday, November the 24th. I hope
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you're having a great day today. You've got the big blue mug of coffee. I appreciate you
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being here. Thanks so much. By the way, if you haven't yet subscribed to the channel,
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I would appreciate a click on subscribe. Thank you. It really helps out the channel. Don't
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forget to like the video as well. I want to talk about a subject we don't talk about enough
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in Canada. We're so focused in on the politics. Now, this story I'm going to talk about today
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certainly has a political angle to it, a lot of political angle, but this is a story that
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really should infuriate you. It should infuriate you because tens of thousands of your fellow
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Canadians are dying every year, and nobody is discussing this at all. It will also infuriate
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you when I bring the Mark Carney angle into this, and it will really infuriate you. So
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it does have a political angle, but we need to have a grown-up discussion, and it's a
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topic we don't talk about like grown-ups very often in this country, and it's healthcare.
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As soon as you suggest there might be another way to do healthcare in this country, you get
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the regular people shutting down all discussion about healthcare, the socialized medicine that
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we have here in Canada. Now, I've mentioned on this channel before that I have had some
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interesting experiences in our healthcare system here. I had an interesting experience this year,
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and in no way am I criticizing the people who give you healthcare in this country. They're all
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professionals. They're there to help you. They do a wonderful job, but our system is broken.
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It is inefficient. It costs way too much money. But like the self-righteous Canadians that we are,
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like the people who think we're morally superior, mostly to the United States, and with the regular
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Canadian mediocrity that I talked about on occasion here on this channel, we don't want to do anything
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about our healthcare system. But my premier is going to do something about it. I'm going to play
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a short clip from her in just a moment, and then I'm going to show you the infuriating thing that
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Mark Carney is doing. Why am I talking about this today? Because of this article right here.
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This is Peter Menzies on Substack. Link in the description to all of the stories I talk about here
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today. But this is an absolutely disgraceful thing you hear nothing about. Now, I've talked
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before about my experiences in the private healthcare system here in Canada, and it is
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so superior to the public system, it's not even close. You know, if you do end up in the hospital,
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which happened to me this summer, I spent five days in the hospital, and I'm still recovering from
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a bad bicycle crash back on August 9th. If you do get into the system, you wait around a lot. I
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remember my wife being in an emergency room earlier this year. She sat around for two hours,
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and then they told her to go home because there was a 10 and a half hour wait. Now, she was only
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there for a minor thing, but if you're waiting for some elective surgery in this country, you can wait
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forever if you ever get your surgery done. The best care I've ever had, ever, wasn't even close,
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this was a private clinic, and it was in Ottawa. I got an appointment the next day with a sports
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medicine physician, saw the doctor at the exact time I was scheduled, got my examination, had an
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x-ray and treatment within 90 minutes. I had the same procedure in the public system, and it took me
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more than six weeks. It wasn't even close. We need to have this discussion. So, here's the story right
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here. Tens of thousands are dying on waiting lists following decades of media reluctance to debate
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healthcare. We don't want to have a grown-up discussion about this because you get the
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people on the left screaming bloody murder that we want to privatize the system. Let's read a bit
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of this story, and then I'll show you the clip I've got with Danielle Smith because she's doing
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something about this, and the regular people are screaming bloody murder. About the same time as
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William Watson's outstanding book, Globalization and the Meaning of Canadian Life, it starts off,
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and it talks about this book, Bill's book, which was runner-up for a public policy donor
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prize because it exquisitely details many of the things Canadians believe about themselves
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that simply aren't true. I've got to read the book. The Calgary Herald sent its health reporter,
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yes, there used to be such a thing, Robert Walker, to Europe to expose its readers to the fact that
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there are more than two healthcare systems, our defining one in America's, both which are extremes.
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In every country examined in Walker's reports, as is the case with almost every country in the world,
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public and private healthcare and insurance systems are maintained, a peaceful coexistence,
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and the public's needs were being met. Almost 30 years later, that remains the case. Almost 30 years
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later, neither Bill's book nor the Herald's reporting has had the slightest impact on the
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prevailing media narrative in Canada. It remains determined to perpetuate the fear that any move to
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increase the role of private health providers or even allow doctors to work in both systems,
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as was proposed this week by Alberta Premier Daniel Smith, is the first step on the slippery slope to
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American-style healthcare. Waiting for a needed surgery is a painful and often frustrating experience.
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How many people in Canada do you know that are currently waiting on a wait list for a knee or hip
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replacement, or a shoulder, cataract, or back surgery to alleviate chronic pain and resume their
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normal life's activities? If you're like me, you know a lot of people on these wait lists. Parents,
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grandparents, siblings, and friends. These are our loved ones, and they need care far faster than
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they get it now. And make no mistake, this problem is not just found in Alberta, it's as bad or worse
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in every province across Canada. In fact, last year, while Alberta performed a record 318,000 surgeries
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and ranked second in Canada for hip and knee replacement wait times, Canada continues to perform
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poorly relative to other countries. In a recent survey of wait times for elective surgeries in 10 of the
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world's wealthiest countries, Canada finished dead last, trailing the UK, Germany, France, Australia,
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New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and even the United States. Simply put, our wait times
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in Canada are well above what medical experts say is an acceptable amount of time to wait for surgery
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without risking other difficult physical and mental health challenges.
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We need to find a solution that results in lower wait times for surgeries, doctors empowered to perform more
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surgeries than they can now, and no more extra taxes or fees for taxpayers. Some might say it's quite a tall order,
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but it's not. And most of the world's advanced healthcare systems from France, Germany, and Sweden to the
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Netherlands, Australia, and Switzerland have figured out how. It's time for Alberta to do the same. We're calling it the
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dual practice surgery model, and here's how it will work. The Alberta government will introduce legislation
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to permit surgeons and supporting surgical professionals like anesthesiologists to perform
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both publicly and privately funded knee, hip, eye, shoulder, and other elective surgeries.
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That video is fantastic. It goes on for seven minutes. Obviously, I had to edit it down for time here.
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But it goes on to say that Alberta does 10,000 elective surgeries a year. That would be
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hip replacements, knee replacements, cataract surgery. Meanwhile, we've got 10,000 other people
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in pain and agony waiting every year, and they can't get the surgery they want, and they can wait years,
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and likely the same thing is happening in your province. In fact, that video goes on to talk a lot about
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the Canadian healthcare system. Here in Alberta, likely the same where you are, 40% of our budget goes to healthcare.
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The original agreement between the provinces and the federal government that they would pay 50%,
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the province would pay 50%. Feds are only living up to 20% of that right now. They don't pay what
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they're supposed to pay. And the answer to the left is always, spend more money, spend more money,
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spend more money. That never works. We need to have a grown-up discussion about this. But again,
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we've got the self-righteous Canadians who think we're morally superior to the United States.
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We don't want an American healthcare system here, so we've got to just keep throwing more money at a
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bad problem, which takes us back to our article. Now, it goes on here to talk about the baby boomers.
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We knew 40 years ago the baby boomers were coming, and there's going to be an unsustainable system
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here. But that single terrifying American-style slur has halted reform at every turn. The Ta-Yi responded
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with a Danielle Smith secret plan to destroy public healthcare. And here's the article right here.
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There's actually a Globe and Mail article right here.
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Alberta plans to allow doctors to deliver public and private services. Oh my God, the horror.
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Blame. A lot of it, in my view, belongs at the door of the Canadian news organizations that for decades
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have failed to fully inform readers by making them aware that there are a great many alternatives to
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just ours and U.S. style. I'm going to get to the tens of thousands of people who are dying every
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year in Canada that you don't hear about. And one of the solutions from Mark Carney and the
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Liberal government, who have mishandled this for years, you realize they're the natural ruling party
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here in Canada. They're the ones who have been in charge most of the time. The system never gets
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better. Readers have every right to demand that journalists push back and ask advocates for
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state monopolies simple questions such as, why do you say that? Could it not be the first step
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towards U.K., German, Dutch, French, Portuguese, or Swedish-style health care and open the debate?
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Stuck in the fetid trench of an us-and-them narrative that compares two systems at extreme
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ends of the spectrum, the public is largely unaware that moderate alternatives exist, ensuring that
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no meaningful reforms will ever take place and tens of thousands of Canadians will continue to die
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on waiting lists. So let's go over here and take a look at this article right here.
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This is on 2nd Street. 15,474 Canadians died waiting for health care in 2023-2024. This is
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from January 15th of this year. It's actually worse than this. Today, 2ndstreet.org released
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government data showing an additional 15,474 patients in Canada died in 2023-2024 before receiving
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various surgeries or diagnostic scans. Canadians pay really high taxes, and yet our health care system
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is failing when compared to better-performing universal systems in Europe, said Harrison Fleming,
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legislative and policy director at 2ndstreet.org. Thousands of Canadians across the country find
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themselves on wait lists, in some cases for years, with too many tragically dying before ever getting
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treated or even diagnosed. If one extrapolates the data provided across provinces and health regions
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that did not provide data, an estimated 28,077 patients died last year on health care waiting lists.
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Since April 2018, 2ndstreet.org has identified a staggering 74,677 cases where Canadians died while
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waiting for care. Have you ever heard of this? Listen to this next paragraph.
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When a restaurant fails a health inspection, the government shares the news publicly and sometimes
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notices are posted in the establishment's windows for everyone to see, said Colin Craig. But when nearly
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75,000 Canadians have died before getting the care they needed, governments don't proactively disclose
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anything. Maybe it's time for governments to hold themselves to the same standard they hold
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everyone else. Again, link in the description to all of these articles. And how does the Kearney
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government deal with health care in Canada? They give $1 billion for health care in Africa to
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developing nations. Now I'm all, I'm all for charity folks, but we spend far too much money overseas and
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we don't ever know what happens with the money. Let's read a little of this article. This is True
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North Wire. Go subscribe to them. This is just a couple of, yesterday, go subscribe to them. They do
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good work. Taxpayers are on the hook for over a billion dollars after Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged
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new funding to a global health fund ahead of the G20 summit in South Africa. You know, actually,
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I should make this one of my Kearney horrifics, you know, doing a kind of a series. Kearney's G20
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visit follows a stop in the United Arab Emirates earlier this week, where the federal government
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announced a prospective $70 billion in future investments. However, no binding commitments
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were signed, naturally. The $1.02 billion pledge aligns with Canada's historical support for global
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health efforts, but comes as inflation, housing costs, and spending restraint remain key domestic
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political concerns. Ottawa's continued international funding commitments have drawn criticism in light
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of federal program reviews and domestically affordability issues. No doubt about it.
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Got people standing in food lines here, people dying on the streets from drug addiction. We've got
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crime issues in this country and our government spending a billion dollars overseas on health care.
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Meanwhile, our health care is languishing and we can't have a grown-up discussion about the
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situation. I applaud Premier Danielle Smith. More private care in the system. And let me just tell
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you this about my Ottawa private health care clinic that I went to many, many years ago to get
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some treatment for my knee. I used my Ontario health insurance plan card for it and I paid $60
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for the medicine to help me out. It's all I paid, 60 bucks. That was it. It was either that or wait
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six weeks or longer to just see a doctor in the first place. It took six weeks to see a sports
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physician in the town I lived in. Then I had to get x-rays and wait for that. Meanwhile, the whole
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summer would have been gone. I've been waiting for months. We need to talk about this situation. I've
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been talking about this for years. I used to do a radio program back in Ontario when I used to sit in
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to talk about health care and brought this up and people are just aghast that whatever suggests
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we have private health care. Maybe it's time we have more of a discussion because it's become
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unsustainable. What do you think? Let me know if you've had a situation with a private clinic.
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There's more of them across the country and they give good service. And again, I'm not knocking the
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people in our health care system here. They do good work, but we have a highly inefficient, expensive
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system that needs reforming. Let me know what you think in the comments. If you like the video,
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give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications. I'll see you.