That's right, Unclefester, the money to do all that comes from taxes. So do your roads, your schools, your courts, your government, your power grid, your satellites, your environmental protection agencies, your national and state parks and wildlife preserves, your space program, your police, your army, your border management, and various other necessities of any modern society.

I happen to regard a public national FREE health plan as a necessity of a modern society....and I don't mind one bit paying part of my Canadian taxes to support it. The one thing the Canadian public will NOT see threatened is our national health coverage, because we aren't stupid. Nor are we ignorant about what a national health plan is and what it costs.

Your government, by the way, already spends MORE per capita on your health costs than the Canadian government does on ours! I know that because I looked it up on the Net. And what are you getting for it? Not much. You have one of the worst public health systems in the entire developed world. It's a disgrace.

I have a friend here who was experiencing headaches that wouldn't go away. He went to see his doctor and had an examination. No charge. His doctor was worried and sent him for a catscan. No charge. They discovered a malignant brain tumor and sent him at once to a big city hospital in Toronto. No charge. He spent a week in the hospital under observation and they decided to operate. They cut a crescent shaped opening in his left temple and removed the tumor. The operation was successful, and he's feeling fine now...he healed up very quickly. He's following up the operation with radiation and chemotherapy, just in case...since it was Type 4 cancer and it might not be all gone.

The entire bill for all of that? No charge. And it took 10 days.

Can you guess what that would have cost him in the USA?

I am delighted to pay a part of my yearly taxes so that my friend and other people like him can get fast medical help and not be rendered penniless in the process...and so it will be there if I need it too.

You have no idea what you're missing in the USA...and it's not even costing you any less than it is me to live with your disgraceful excuse for a modern health system.

You've been lied to all your life, man. You just haven't realized it yet, that's all.