quote:

Dear Ms. France Gélinas,

According to the my research, you are the health care critic for the NDP in Ontario and I am therefore wrting to you in that capasity. I am a Canadian citizen, living and working in Mexico where I eventually hope to obtain citizenship. As difficult as life in Mexico can be I recently came to the conclusion that in one very important area I am much better off here and that is the health insurance I have.

My father was recently diagnosed with Cancer. This diagnosis took four months. As a layperson with absolutely no concept of medicine, I am still trying to understand how, after a battery of tests, Ontario doctors could possibly have given my father a clean bill of health last December, only to later discover lung cancer in March. My only conclusion is that although my father is / was a smoker and although they were trying to eliminate the possiblitly of cancer, they never bothered to do a complete test or scan to absolutely eliminate cancer in the lungs. His symptoms were internal bleeding and anemia which are commonly associated with some kind of cancer.

I can only assume that they opted not to do the MOST OBVIOUS tests for a smoker due to the financial impact. By not discovering the Cancer back in December there was never any treatment options whatsoever, the cancer quickly spread into his bones and at this moment he is in Palliative care, waiting to pass on.

While in palliative care, administrators from the Brockville hospital informed my mother that he would have to be moved into long term care. Apparently he just didn't have the good common sense to dia on schedule.

While all this is going on, my sister in law had a new baby. She developed a lump in her breast (thank god not related to cancer in any way) This is suppossedly common in women who are breast feeding. Last week she was operated on. Due to the fact that she is alergic to the anesthia, they operated on her breast without freezing or any pain reduction procedures of any kind. Why she could not be put under was never explained.

In my very personal opinion, to deny citizens the right to choose their level of health care or to have other options only enables the "Welfare Mentality" so prevalent in Canada. Why work hard when it's all taken care of for you? And in the end, hardworking people like my family don't get the care they deserve, even after working and paying taxes theri whole lives.

Thank god I'm in Mexico where I have medical insurance that would allow me access to the best level of Hospitals available. Between paying $1000 deductable and surviving or getting a death wish diagnosis for free, I prefer the former.

Canadian politicians need to do more to reform the system. Although an estimated 87% of Canadians who have been polled state they approve of the Canadian health care system, I'd be willing to bet that a good percentage of them have never had to put the system to the test. And let's also remember that those that the system failed just aren't around to cast their vote.

Thank you for your time, and attention and future work in trying to improve the system.

David Burke