Another Victim Of Government Run Healthcare
Universal Healthcare is one of the primary platforms of Presidential candidate Barack Obama, and why not, it invokes good feelings in people when they hear that a politician believes that free healthcare is an inalienable right. If however Obama and other Democratic leaders wish to push government run healthcare on Americans, I would ask they refrain from implying that it will be “free” healthcare. As Juana Tejada is learning the hard way, nothing in life is free, and in Juana’s case the cost associated with “free” healthcare may be her life.
Juana Tejada wants to stay – and die – in Canada.
A live-in caregiver from the Philippines, the terminally ill cancer patient will be forced to leave when her work permit expires in two months, even though her period of service here as a nanny was supposed to be the gateway to permanent residency.
Tejada has twice been denied a chance to stay, however, because her illness puts a burden on the health-care system.
The 38-year-old came to Canada in 2003 under the federal live-in caregiver program, which grants permanent resident status to domestic workers after they complete their three-year assignments and obtain the necessary medical and criminal-record clearances.
Her cancer was found in 2006, during an exam for her immigration application. Tejada appealed to immigration officials to waive the good-health requirement for humanitarian reasons.
“While I am sympathetic to your situation, I am not satisfied that these circumstances justify granting an exemption,” a case processing officer in Alberta wrote in the latest decision. “In the opinion of a medical officer, this health condition might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health and social services.”
Canada has now told Juana and her husband they have until August 8 to leave the country, not because they have violated any of Canada’s laws, but because Juana has cancer. We are being led to believe by Democrats that establishing universal healthcare is the humane thing to do, however as has been proven in Canada and Britain, it inevitably will lead to rationing. Government entities charged with running these programs have the final determination as to what illnesses, and what treatments qualify under the program, with those who do not qualify being told they must leave the country for care.
As Ed Morrissey notes:
Sphere: Related ContentNow, let’s imagine that a private health insurer pulled that kind of stunt. It would make headlines, and political candidates across the spectrum would start including Juana as the victim of the corporate, profit-centered mentality of the American health care system. Except, of course, it doesn’t happen. Insurers can’t kick people off their rolls for getting cancer after their coverage starts, and the US government doesn’t deport legal immigrants for dying before they’ve serviced enough Americans to make them worthwhile.
Government-run health care rations treatment. It sets limits and conditions on access to health care, and generates irrational solutions such as this. And only the power of the government could have resulted in the deportation of a low-wage recruit into that system because she needed the very services she supported.
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I’m still awaiting a response to my comment on the terribly misguided post on immigration…
That notwithstanding, I’d like to point you to BarackObama.com–there, you can find all of his policy positions, including his position on health care. What has been instituted in Canada is a single-payer health care system–the socialism conservobots like yourself so vehemently rail against. That, however, is not what Barack Obama espouses. His is, by and large, a system that retains freedom of choice for adults. It does mandate coverage for all children. However, if people already have coverage which extends to their children, they don’t need to do anything else–if anything, Barack Obama’s plan will save them almost $2500 in premiums per annum. If you want to criticize that, though, you’re free to do so–we already have that in place… it’s called SCHIP. And when House Democrats and even some moderate Republicans wanted to expand coverage to all disadvantaged children, the right wing shook its head.
So, next time, before you tie Barack Obama’s plan for health care in with the health care system in Canada, find out what his position is beforehand and avoid looking like an idiot.