I have come to the conclusion that we are not a polarized country because of Republicans or Democrats or Conservatives or Liberal.  We are polarized because of you people.  You people being the editorial board of the Bennington Banner and all other editorial boards that have decided to turn their local newspapers into extremist tabloids.  Pointing to the editorial on September 25 regarding Canada's health care system and comparing it to ours, with the title Canada's is better.

 

     Now OK, editorials are opinions but why put opinions that are going to harm the people that read them? 

 

A quote:  "Ours is the only country in the developed world where some citizens die needlessly for the lack of medical care."

 

     Really?  Can the Banner show one single case of any person that was turned away from a hospital because they didn't have insurance and ended up dead as a result?

 

Another quote:  "Ours is the only country in the developed world where people get rich by deciding who lives or dies."

 

     Really?  People determine who is not going to get care or insurance and make the decision that a person should live or die and this decision is based on profits that make people rich.  Once again can the Banner find any single substantiated case where this has happened? 

 

     The editorial goes on the talk about the Canadian health care system as miles ahead of us and the proof of this..."blows a gaping hole in the argument."  The comparison shows Canada's average life expectancy at 80.4 and the U.S. at 77.8 a whopping 2.6 years longer.  The same with infant mortality in Canada is 5.4 out of 1,000 versus 6.37 out of 1,000 in the U.S.  So do these numbers actually blow a gaping hole in the argument?

 

     What I would like to know is why does the Banner or the Brattleboro Reformer hide or purposely leave out important information.  Information like the fact in Canada 35-40% honest hardworking people's income goes to taxes.  The Fraser Institute in Canada came out with study in 2007 that showed Canada ranked last in access to doctors and the showed the average wait for a hospital service was 18 weeks.  Try waiting 18 weeks for a hip replacement or an MRI. 

 

Another quote:  "Finally, there are nearly 50 million Americans.....who have no medical insurance whatsoever, while no uninsured citizens exist in Canada."

 

     The Department of Health and human services estimates that 9 million of the supposed uninsured are on medicaid.  Economists from the University or Pennsylvania and Stanford estimate three quarters of all those uninsured can actually afford to get health coverage but choose not to and the Urban Institute estimates just over 10 million are eligible but haven't enrolled meaning they can actually get coverage any time.  An interesting side note here is the fact the Globe and Mail article sited above says the number is 40 million.  So who is telling the truth and who is telling a big fib?

 

     Having no health insurance can cause catastrophic problems in our lives if we have a tragedy.  Having no fire insurance, life insurance, accident insurance, etc can be catastrophic so should the government be buying these types of financial products for people who choose to take the risk?  And this would be based on the small percentage of people who have 100% access to emergency care but do not have health insurance for a variety of reasons.

 

     Our healthcare system does not work well for all people and it cost to much.  That's it.  Why can't we come up with a reasonable solution that doesn't involve politics and gets serious about how to make our healthcare system better, more efficient, and how we are going to halt the skyrocketing costs.  Funny we can cure horrible diseases and put people on the moon but we can't figure this one out. 

 

     The Banner and Brattleboro Reformer editorial board should be more honest.  There are a wide variety of people who do not have access to array of information that we do.  Putting out information about something that involves every single person in this country that is grossly misleading is a disservice to Banner readers and the newspaper business overall.  You can do better than this.