Doug...everybody pays for NHS, through taxes. Obviously.

Just like everybody pays for highways, schools, a police force, public libraries, public transit, a court system, a governmental system, a legal system, the mint, the fire department, and the other essential services that one must have in a modern society.

It's all paid for by taxes, and everyone pays (unless they're homeless or in jail or something, in which case they obviously don't have the means to).

Why do you not get this, Doug? Can't you see that if everyone in an entire nation shares the cost of medical services equally, then everyone can easily afford them when they themselves need them?

Can't you see the sense in spreading the cost of national around so that a specific family or individual is not blindsided and bankrupted when a medical emergency arises? That's why we spread the cost of police services around, Doug....so the police will come and help you when you need it, and they won't ask you to pay them $30,000 for the privilege of giving you help when your house is broken into or you get mugged or something. That's why we spread the cost of a fire department around, so the firemen won't send you a bill for $25,000 after your house catches on fire!

It's the same thing, for God's sake. Medical aid is an essential public service and it should be paid for by taxes, not turned into a profit-driven operation which drives citizens into bankruptcy when they get sick.

Doug, I have told you before and I'll tell you again...I pay a bit less than $1,000 Canadian dollars in taxes each year for my right to medical care with no additional charge at all. Can you match that in the USA? I know you can't. The reason you can't is because you're at the mercy of rapacious private health insurance companies who charge you WAY more for your health coverage than I will ever pay in taxes for my health coverage. WAY more. That's because my health coverage is publicly insured by the entire populace through taxes...and NOT for profit! Because it's an essential public service and a civil right of every Canadian.

How can you keep hiding your head in the sand on this issue, Doug?