Palin’s Family Snuck Across the Border for Socialized Medicine. Or Did They?
In an address given in Calgary this weekend, former governor turned Facebook blogger Sarah Palin connected with her audience about Alaska’s “Trans Canada” pipeline project, and also had an interesting Canadian story to tell about her family’s choice of health care options when she was a child.
Here’s the story:
“My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse. Believe it or not – this was in the ’60s – we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn’t that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada.”
Yes. Ironic, indeed. And it’s a good thing that “little kid accident things” were not, in this case, subject to the dreaded socialist Death Panel that she warns us about, if we model our own health care system after that of the Canadians. We can’t quite call Palin a hypocrite on this one, though, since she was only a small child at the time. Her parents apparently thought that Canadian socialized healthcare was good enough for their children, but we don’t know what Palin herself would do as an adult if one of her children was burned near the border. We shouldn’t just jump to conclusions.
But it’s worthy of note that it continues to be “kind of ironic” that since Todd Palin is part Alaska Native, that Sarah Palin while pregnant with his children, Todd, his mother, the Palin’s children and her grandson are all eligible for ongoing coverage from Alaska’s own (very successful) version of socialized medicine through Indian Health Services. Again, no death panel worries.
But the Calgary Herald, who covered the event this weekend was curious about these stealth trips across the border from Skagway to Whitehorse, and found this little tidbit from Skagwaynews.com. Remember that Alaska’s capital, Juneau is not accessible by road, and can only be reached by the state ferry sytem, private boat, or plane.
She said new DOT Commissioner Leo von Scheben is committed to a strong ferry system. She added that “a lot of politics were played in the past, and that is why we changed characters,” bringing in sound transportation minds to figure out “how people who are reliant on the ferry system can get from point A to point B with a reliable schedule and service.”
Palin drew from her Skagway past to illustrate her point. Her brother burned his foot badly jumping through a fire, and her mother had to take him down to Juneau on the ferry to the hospital. “All these years later, that’s still what people have to rely on here in some instances,” she said.
So, what about that “Point B” anyway? Was “Point B” Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory via stealth border crossing, or was “Point B” Juneau, Alaska via the Alaska state ferry system? Inquiring minds want to know.
Is it possible that young Chuck Heath, Jr. had not one, but TWO “little kid accident things” that involved burns of the ankle and foot? Or, perhaps the story was simply tweaked to tell people what they want to hear, while utilzing the perennial “I’m one of you” meme – a great way to “connect to the audience” while skirting those pesky things known as “facts.”
I’m so-o-o confused……
“We used to hustle over the border for healthcare we received in Canada,” she said, according to Medicine Hat News (via Dave Weigel.) “And I think now, ‘Isn’t that ironic?’ ”
It’s ironic, of course, because Palin and other Republicans have argued that Democratic healthcare reform will put the U.S. on the path toward Canada’s “socialized” healthcare system.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/85435-palin-i-snuck-across-canadian-border-for-heatlhcare
Just another example of Palin lying so her audience hears what they want to hear and she can continue to make money off them. Sickening.
My head hurts. When is someone going to give Palin the best advice: get help? She is really going off the deep end. It is almost like she can’t not lie. When you readily fabricate stories, little lies, even about trivial things, there is something seriously wrong with this woman.
Way funny.
“IT Came From Wasilla” just can’t keep her stories straight.
It is really getting eaiser and more simple to report on her lies. It is a given, every time she chooses to speak.
Hypocritical for her to mention our Canadian healthcare and how useful it was when she was all for criticizing it during her book tour (punked by Canadian comedian Mary Walsh). She so irritates me.
No, no, as a commentor on HuffPo pointed out, SP, it’s not “ironic”, it’s “hypocritical”. Happy to clear that up for you, dearie, bless your heart.
Interesting use of the word “hustle”
The incident must have occurred no later than 1970, right?
I read a commenter who said this was before Canada enacted their socialized healthcare system. Anyone know?
Palin will never stop lying because she does not know how to tell the truth.
@Rob in Ca
Our Canadian healthcare system went into effect in 1961 when all ten provinces were onboard.
Thanks hdtracy!
Well, it is probably OK, also too because next she’ll tell us if God was around he’d probably get free health care in Canada too.
hdtracy–were the territories onboard by then too?
So Palin received Canadian health care before the age of 6 and this is newsworthy? People are projecting their hate on a situation that happened before she was old enough to finish Kindergarten?
Did you actually read the article or are you just one of those people who go around pasting the same response on all the articles you can find with this subject matter? Just wondering. AKM
If it turns out to be true that the Palins did in fact recieve socialized Candian health care, then, as U.S. citizens, didn’t the Palins steal from all Canadians and are now bragging about it?
So far as Todd’s native Eskimo heritage he is 1/8th Yup’ik which would make Bristol 1/16th and baby Tripp 1/32th Yup’ik. Levi Johnston claims in his deposition regarding child maintenance payments that Tripp is eligible for native healthcare. At what point in ancestry does one no longer qualify for tribal medical care? In the Old South one drop of African American blood made one African American. It appears that anyone who has lived in Alaska for more than 3 generations will eventually have some Native American blood and therefore eligible for free medical care.
Unfortunately Native Americans in the lower 48 don’t fare nearly so well as their northern cousins.
“Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix’d with baser matter”
Palin would say if it’s good enough for Hamlet, it’s good enough for her, but the truth is, she can’t keep her lies straight and she really resents that the elite, media types should be fact checking every little thing…
She may have left the town of Skagway behind, but she has always embraced the skag way of life, youbetcha!
Huh, I wonder why Sarah didn’t have her favorite special needs prop on this trip outside the country?
It’s a classic dilemma with a predictable outcome:
Was she lying then (Juneau/Ferry story) or is she lying now (Whitehorse/train)?
She lies.
Thanks for posting this.
I don’t know what she means Ironic in this instance.
Is it ironic that her family had to go to another country to use socialized medicine and now she opposed to it?
Is it ironic that AK at that time likely had so few “private” doctors that her family had to use a “socialized” doctor?
Is it ironic that her brother was seen by a socialized doctor and survived?
Or is it ironic that she used this same anecdote for a different story and now can’t remember which one is the truth?
I thought I read somewhere that she wrote about this in her book. Anyone who has the book, would you please check? There may be a mention around page 7. I tried reading on Amazon.com but they had that section blocked.
Thanks, Jennifer
I’d be willing to bet she knew exactly what she was saying. If the only way to to gain attention is to be a hypocrite so be it. She is so mentally unstable these days that she will say or do anything to stay in the limelight. She knows she’s past her expiration date and is attempting to milk every last dime out of it.
Palin realized that Tri-G’s hands are too small and uncoordinated to handle much swag, so he was dropped from recent events, so someone with basketball-player sized hands could help with scooping up the freebies…
HuffPo is wild with comments regarding her statement.
I believe this wwould have been the former half term gov. first personal experience with socialized medicine and death panels.
The Canadian Drs told her parents when she was a young child that there was no hope for her black as coal & sin scarred heart. They should just pray.
How did the train come into play?
Is the ferry a car ferry?
So her parents taught her how to steal and cheat. A real American, like Cheney if you will.
I’m guessing there are at least two Chuck Heath Jrs. It kind of runs in the family.
From one of the posts at HuffPo:
“However, as the Washington Post reports, in her speech, she says that her family took her brother to Whitehorse when he burned his ankle; in the Skagway News archives, she’s quoted in a speech in Skagway in May of 2007 as saying that her family took her brother to Juneau by ferry when he burned his ankle. The remark was intended to illustrate her understanding of how important the ferry system is for the communities in southeast Alaska, where there a few roads. ”
He burned his ankle twice?
Just wondering if her brother had to face a death panel?
Or how about proving he was a canadian citizen?
Does her brother still have both feet?
chascates @ 28
He may very well have jumped into a fire twice – he is Sarah’s brother.
It’s possible her brother never burned his ankle, and the whole story is a lie fabricated to serve her needs at a given time, or maybe only part of it is true. I think it is wise to maintain a healthy skepticism regarding SP’s stories.
Oh-oh, there you go now with that opposition research (i.e. the truth). It’s like I’ve been saying, she’s going to get herself all tripped up in her lies and mandations. $P is going to do herself in, just let her keep talking and get out of the way, because when she falls it’s going to be quite a tumble.
Sarah lies about everything including tiny details that don’t need any embellishments. I’d say that’s a sign of a pathalogical liar.
@inJuneau
As far as I can tell, they were onboard at the same time. To be sure though, I will do some digging and see if anything comes up that contradicts what I say.
I can’t think of anything funny to say…I will leave it at *oh my.*
It’s tired and it’s old…but worth repeating again!
How can you tell Palin is lying? Her lips are moving.
Gaaaa….She cannot keep to the simple truth of anything!
I’m reminded of the story she told regarding the scrape on her hand during the campaign that she actually received when she stumbled and fell while boarding a plane but she told the press that she tripped and fell while jogging. It’s just pathetic that she lies about nothing also…too.
19 FW Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 12:58 PM
Huh, I wonder why Sarah didn’t have her favorite special needs prop on this trip outside the country?
_____________________________________________________________
Probably because she would have needed to show a birth certificate.
I would be very careful before assuming that the Yukon Territory had a full-fledged socialized medical system in the 1960s. I am still looking for relevant law. The territories were pretty much fully federally administered back then, and provincial governments have always been responsible for administering health care.
I personally have not liked her since the very beginning of the failed v-presidential run. I have an uncanny knack for reading people and I didn’t like her from day #1. She is a conniving, lying, self-important biatch that would say whatever she had to in order to “relate” to the average person. She has a pretty face, (which is why she is so appealing to most republican men) however, has no class or couth. Be careful drinking her koolaid, it is most likely poisoned!
Has anyone asked her brother if he ever burned his foot as a child. I doubt he would forget such an incident.
Joie @25:
In the 60s early 70s, the only way to get from Skagway to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada was by narrow gauge train. Today there is a road.
The only way to get from Skagway to Juneau, Alaska (the state capitol) is still by the Alaska Marine Highway (ferry). The ferry ride from Skagway to Juneau (at that time) took about 6-8 hours with a stop in Haines. If it could have gone direct, it would have been about 4-5 hours.
The ferries all are car/passenger ferries and some have berths (small rooms) in which there are beds and some have private toilet facilities. Other berths just have the beds and you use the common facilities available to all. The ferries connect all major towns of Southeast Alaska and also connect to either Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada or to Bellingham, Washington (north of Seattle).
To see information about the ferries you can go to http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs
Thanks, PC….I have been looking without success for clarification on this. Commenters on two sites have corrected me with precisely contradictory answers, and of course without any links.
We really should have this information in every news story and blog post – seems like journalism 101 to me – before waving the ’socialism’ flag that we so despise when the right wings waves it at us….
And even if the Yukon had a full-fledged socialized medical system (which is open to question), she would have had to provide a valid health card to have had the services paid for, and you can only get a health card if you are a Canadian citizen or have landed immigrant status.
@the problem child: I don’t know about the sixties, but the federal government still administers health care for many segments of the population including First Nations, Inuit and members of the armed forces. There are several mechanisms for accomplishing it including running their own facilities, contribution agreements, and paying for service at private facilities.
More from Canada:
http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/canada/2010/03/08/13158156.html
And this one quotes Mudflats!
Imagine when Carlito Palinez and family does this from Mexico to Texas… They are spending our hard earned tax money. I wonder if any US political person with a Mexican origin would dare brag about this.
I am inclined to agree with the post that suggested that the whole story about the brother getting burned is just that a story. A story made up to fit the moment or monents.
Anyone in Skagway remember the Heaths? Somebody should. Skagway is not that big! An injury serious enough for Mrs. Heath to take the kid to the hospital must have made the local paper.
She suffers from CMS–Convenient Memory Syndrome making her the perfect candidate for her followers who have CBSS–Convenient Blind Spot Syndrome.
I can see healthcare from my house!
Palin lies so easily it almost scarey. And I doubt that she knows that she is doing it. Which means she has successfully supressed any sence of guilt or responsibility for the lie or its reprecussions.
46 sjk from the belly of the plane Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 2:34 PM
I can see healthcare from my house!
For three years I lived close enough to the Canadian border to almost see it from my house too, also.
I had posted this article on the open thread but in case you missed it:
http://www.adn.com/2010/03/08/1173743/god-supports-writing-notes-on.html?commentSort=RecommendationsDescending&pageNum=1
The first part is about her hand writing, the second is about her Canadian health care yarn.
I’m convince one day we’re going to discover all her “memories” are really TV episodes she co-oped for her own life.
42 OMG Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 2:25 PM
More from Canada:
http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/canada/2010/03/08/13158156.html
And this one quotes Mudflats!
Thanks for that link. Interesting stuff about the number of cross border occurances
Love it … the comments are great. I love that article in Canada that references Mudflats. DesertMudPup: good one. I’d probably jump into a fire twice if I were her brother.
Hey! All entertainers play to their audience-nothing wrong with that!
Besides, hasn’t she made it abundantly clear that members of the Press, as well as all Nosey Parkers, are not to quote from any of the yarns she spins-it breaks “the spell”, and worse still, it’s bad for business!
Has “creeping socialism” come to this? (During “Oscar week”, no less!).
@Rob in CA, I’m not exactly sure what you are looking for, but this might help:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/pubs/system-regime/2005-hcs-sss/time-chron-eng.php
In 1961 Yukon (where Whitehorse is) created a hospital insurance plan with federal cost sharing.
They then incorporated into a federal medical plan in 1972.
Jennifer
Oh and guess what! She wore one of the RNC jackets to the Calgary speech.
38 Goalie in NM Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 2:09 PM
but she told the press that she tripped and fell while jogging. It’s just pathetic that she lies about nothing also…too
Anybody who has ever jogged knows that when you trip jogging you end up with at least one shredded knee and elbow and usually the heels of both hands. And if you try to save your knees by rolling, you lawn dart a trochanter into the ground and get a huge gorgeous black, green and yellow bruise.
Since both feet are in the air, if you catch your trailing toe you go down totally and hard.
But aside from whether Canada or Yukon territory or Whitehorse had socialized health care, SHE TOLD TWO DIFFERENT STORIES. Well, the same story just tweaked in the most important part for our purposes.
Jennifer
39 Freakout in Kansas Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 2:10 PM
19 FW Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 12:58 PM
Huh, I wonder why Sarah didn’t have her favorite special needs prop on this trip outside the country?
_____________________________________________________________
Probably because she would have needed to show a birth certificate.
Interesting, do babys need passports to get out or back in?
BearWoman–thanks for clearing that up; I read your comment just before I was going to post.
Marnie–Here is info from the State Dept.’s website (bolding mine):
ALL PERSONS traveling by land and sea outside of the United States are required to present a passport book/card, or other valid travel documents to enter or re-enter the United States.
The following summarizes information available on the Department of Homeland Security’s website:
Effective June 1, 2009, all U.S. citizens are now required to present a passport book, passport card, or WHTI-compliant document when entering the United States.
Please Note: Children under age 16 will be able to continue crossing land and sea borders using only a U.S. birth certificate (or other form of U.S. citizenship such as a naturalization certificate.). The original birth certificate or a copy may be used. See the Department of Homeland Security’s Ready, Set.. Go! for more information on the changing travel requirements.
Seagull Junker Palin… I’d love to see that picture. Do you have the link by chance?
Jennifer, that’s exactly the kind of reliable information I’ve been looking for. Thanks!
Excerpts:
1960
Yukon creates hospital insurance plan with federal cost sharing, July 1.
1972
Yukon creates medical insurance plans with federal cost sharing, April 1.
Important here is the word “hospital”. Earlier version of medicare only covered emergency treatment. Later, things like regular medical checkups were added.
I’m not sure whether the entire cost of a hospital stay would have been covered, but it likely would have been — for a Canadian.
Likely a foreigner would have been billed for services provided, although back in the day there was probably a lot of charity, especially for people who lived out in the bush and might not otherwise get emergency health care.
A lot of Alaskans still go to Whitehorse for care, especially dental care. The costs are so much more affordable than in Alaska.
The S’error freak show continues.
InJuneau, He would still need a certified copy of his birth certificate to enter Canada.
63 InJuneau Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 3:23 PM
Thanks.
As Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh In. “Veddy inter-es-sting. Veddy inter-es-sting indeed.”
And to get the Passport you need a ——
All together children.
“A Birth Certificate.”
Very good.
So children doesn’t that mean that since President Obama traveled to several countries, before he became President, that he had a Pass port.
And Children that means he had a valid American—–
“Birth Certificate.”
Very good children.
Geeze the Birthers are duuuuuuuumb.
I just had a brain storm!!! Maybe Sarah is writing another book (of lies) to use as a referance . She can then check to see what she has “lied” about on certain subjects. I don’t know anything about the healthcare system in Canada, but do know for a fact—-We save more than $1020.00 on an 8 month supply for one of the meds my husband will be taking for the rest of his life. I know that people have to be extremely careful when choosing a Canadian pharmacy. We have been fortunate to have located a legitimate pharmacy in BC that requires a perscription from our Doctor–and also some medical questions have to be answered. —–I received a call recently from a person doing a survey on health care, hospital care and etc.
No questions were asked about perscription drugs. I made a remark, that if Drug companies would cut out 99% of the ads as seen on TV, that they could lower the cost of their drugs.—I am not about to ask my Dr. to prescribe what I see on TV. That is why I go to my Doctor—–he is the professional that knows what I need or do not need.
the problem child–I know; I was answering Marnie’s question as to whether he needed a passport. The State Dept’s website clearly says that a minor under 16 would not, but that they would need a birth certificate. That was my point.
Marnie–yup, veddy, veddy inter-es-sting! yeah, birthers just don’t get it, do they?
Jennifer @58
Thanks…finally some concrete info showing that hospital care WAS in fact socialized in 1961 – well before Palin’s brother was treated. Guess the death panels just weren’t working very well at that point, so he survived…
Sorry, InJuneau, I was referring to Canadian requirements. Gotta go both ways (unless he got lost in luggage handling).
Anyone else notice the other lie in the above $P quote?
“My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska”. Guess she doesn’t count the first two years of life she lived in Idaho.
Freud is playing with her head. There are any number of words she could have used and she chose “hustle”. Hello!
It does appear that she trying to ingratiate herself to her audience. “I’m one of you” is her big schtick. Maybe saying “hustle” is her way of “talkin country” to the just plain folk of Canada.
Isn’t it funny how she gets in hot water every time she speaks and never notices the temperature? Left to her own devices she will jump in that pot and never notice the temperature is rising and will end up being “cooked” just like the frog in the story.
Of course she will be her own undoing. Everyone is lavishing rope on her, giving her as much as she needs…”here — speak on TV, here — be a comic, here — fluff on FAUX news.”
“Given enough rope ( poor dear) she will hang herself”, so to speak.
We are all in rapt attention so we will be there to see it, everyone will remember that moment…”Where were you when you heard the news that Sarah Palin went down?”
Ahhh, fame.
Have your ever noticed that Sarah’s kinfolk don’t come running to Sister’s defense? This whole whoop over Chuckie Jr’s injury could be clarified quite quickly by at least 3 folks in the Heath Clan.
Seems they’ve been silent quite a bit.
72 the problem child Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 4:15 PM
Sorry, InJuneau, I was referring to Canadian requirements. Gotta go both ways (unless he got lost in luggage handling).
Anyone else notice the other lie in the above $P quote?
“My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska”. Guess she doesn’t count the first two years of life she lived in Idaho.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Actually, it was three months in Sand Point.
http://www.sandpointonline.com/cgi-script/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=SO-Stories.db&command=viewone&id=261
But you are correct. She glossed that over.
Send sarah to Shutter Island. Saw the movie and that really is where she needs to be.
R’ip – if you are still here:
Here’s the HuffPo story on the clothes – it’s the white one she is pulling at.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/21/rnc-has-spent-over-150000_n_136736.html
The photos of her @ the Calgary speech you can find a few stories down @ P-Gates.
Look closely at blown up shots of the jackets. One and the same.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100308/health/health_us_cda_palin_health
mudflats is quoted!
Unabashed ad for Alaska: the White Pass and Yukon Railway, from Skagway to Whitehorse, is perhaps the most spectacular rail ride in the world. It’s a tourist trip now and doesn’t go all the way to Whitehorse, but well worth the trip. Likewise the AK ferries, in addition to being the “highway” among coastal communities, is sort of a poor mans cruise line. See the glaciers, wildlife, mountains and ports of call same as holland America, but without the on-board casino, at 1/4 the cost.
The Alaska State Ferry system was not in operation until January 1963 so if the
burned ankle was prior to that date they would have had to fly to Juneau or use
the White Pass railroad to Whitehorse. The current road system had not been
built at that time.
The Heaths moved to Alaska from Idaho in 1964, so it would have been after that time. AKM
Seagull 76.
Now, you know that doesn’t count about the jacket. She was in a foreign country. Silly thing.
On Countdown , Lawrence just pimp slapped sarah like the dirty little b^*ch she is.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#35771706
On Larry King’s show tonight—Jesse Ventura–former Gov. of Minn, had some choice words for Sarah Palin. The show will be repeated later tonight.
she is a constant misfire, isn’t she?…wow…something is consistently wrong with her!
…and why, with her history, would anybody believe anything coming out her mouth?!?
pretty soon, the people that love her will put the pieces together and discover that she says a lot of conflicting things…even if they don’t read the paper or have cable tv. ;=)
As well as OMG earlier link to the Winnipeg Sun …..
42 OMG Says: March 8th, 2010 at 2:25 PM
The CTV News is posting basically the same word for word story on their webpage. I sort of assume that CTV might have a larger audience.
Like mentioned before… The story quotes and uses AKM’s lines from her story.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100308/palin_healthcare_100308/20100308?hub=TopStoriesV2
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/palin-says-family-went-to-canada-for-health-care/article1494080/
Hey, Mudflats, you got a great mention in the Globe & Mail, Canada’s best national newspaper. Check it out!
Too bad her Kenyan witch doctor wasn’t available at the time. Nuttier than a fruitcake.
The snuckers sneaked across the border, eh? Figures. Mo-snos.
On second thought….make that bro-snos.
You know AKM, I think it was here on the Mudflats a long time ago, a very long time ago that I first read, posted by you probably, that Sarah Palin lies. It really is as simple as that. It is amazing though is it not the degree to which she lies? In the interviews, the speeches, the book, wow. The book itself is replete with lies and now she is just getting even more blatant in her disregard for truth. I don’t think she knows what is real and what is not.
Hey nice work!
I found your blog via:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/08/palin-canada-health.html.
Laughed very hard at her when I first saw the story. What a piece of work. I would say most Canadians are very perplex by Sarah and her standing in the US and also by the health care debate going on in your country.
Good Luck!!
S’error lies like a rug, daisy. A shame really because she coulda been a contendah; instead, she’s a half-witted pretender.
She coulda, sauerkraut. That still scares me.
It should be pointed out that there are over 80,000 (eighty thousand) Americans living in Calgary (a city of over a million), so very roughly 1 in 13 are American, most of whom are probably linked in some way to the oil business and most of whom are probably staunch republicans of the right-wing mentality as Alberta is the ‘evangelical’ hotbed of Canada and was once refered to as the ‘Alabama of Canada’ by an American. It would stand to reason that the majority of those who went to see and hear the grifter were republican Americans. It was also in Calgary that Dubya made his first out-of-office speech too – the one city in Canada which wouldn’t find either of these two dolts offensive.
A quick question for the Canadian folks — or anyone who is ‘up’ on the Canadian healthcare system — … do ONLY *Canadians* qualify for the ’socialized medicine’ {ptuiiii!!!} in the country, or do ALL residents qualify for it? {Like all the ‘muricans living and working there, too also.}
The reason I ask is: back in the ’80s when my folks [US citizens] were living (and working) in the UK for six-months a year over a 5-year period, my Dad had occasion to use *their* socialized {ptui!!} healthcare system at least once every cold, damp winter. Nary a fee was ever paid nor a bill ever sent for the care; all he did was give his name, tell the intake [people] where he was staying/living, and in he went to see the Dr. After he’d seen the Doc with his initial complaint/illness, he was always given an appt for a follow-up –each time– to make sure he was all cured and healthy. Those follow-ups were also without charge/bill. He was prescribed meds after seeing the Doc each time and picked those up, free, too.
Would it be the same for the USAns living in Canada (and/or the UK, still), does anyone know? Do USAns, *too*, get free ’socialized medicine’ {ptui!!} when *they* get sick in Canada (and/or the UK)? beth.
All the Mudpups who have said that $arah will be the cause of her own demise are right! We see it in the fact that she feels that she has gotten away with it so long that she just keeps doing it. When she is planning on a speech, she initiates her lies into her speech according to audience and thinks inside her demented head, ” They will buy my lies, because they love me”. She is truly delusional and will be tripped in her own lies. Oh, I am not naive to think that her base does not love her unconditionally and blindly, but she thinks the whole world loves her! Sheesh!
i’m reposting this from the last open thread since it’s rather on topic, kinda and too:
hahaha
hubby just sent this to me:
latest sp speech opens the sixth seal:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/latest_sarah_palin_speech_opens?utm_source=EMTF_Onion
at this point, I wouldn’t trust her ‘facts’ as far as I could throw them. I wouldn’t believe her even if she pointed to the sky and told me it was blue.
She’s a balloon head. And incidentally, the next attraction at the venue where she spoke was “Megadeath”…what a fitting follow-up.
Hey, Canadians! Your tax dollars at work providin’ care and death panels to enlightened US’ns with superior health care that they don’t want to use!
And we thought that Americans–real or fake–were the only ones to be grifted by the Heath/Palin clan. Now we find out that Canadians paid for Heath health care with their own hard earned money. Even if the Heaths had to pay some, it wasn’t their taxes that paid for the hospital, now was it!
Oh, they might have gone to Juneau? Frankly, of the two stories, I think it’s far more ikely she pandered to Skagway voters with the Juneau story than to the Canadians. After all, if you want to get Skagway votes, ou draw upon some honest and difficult process they all have in common, not some train trip across the border to grift some health care.
I went thought White Horse in 1969 with my family on the way to visit more family in Fairbanks. I thought it was a charming place (and I was a jaded teen at the time). Wonder if the Heaths were in town at the same time, relieving some Canadians of the worry of too much socialized medicine for the home folk!
After reading that Onion piece, I would say that the grifter is not an insightful woman but rather an inciteful B**tch (as in inciting hatred and perhaps more towards the government – is that not leaning towards traitorous?)
Beth, I think even visitors to Canada receive free medical coverage. This does not include prescriptions, though these are generally much cheaper.
The Canadian system is not like the British, the government does not operate hospitals or clinics, they are private.
Major hospitals in Canada get their funding from the Provincial governments. Some smaller clinics ‘may’ be private, but most are government-funded with some donations from the public.
Landed immigrants do get their medical covered – tourists, visitors, etc do not. They must pay their bills. It is funded by the taxpayer, for the taxpayer.
I wonder if she even realizes that she’s constantly telling lies? I seriously believe she has some sort of mental illness.
Well, that is the trouble with telling lies. It makes life complicated when a person has to remember what lie she told to whom. And when that person telling the lies is giving speeches that are recorded and/or reported on, it would have been much simpler if she had just told the truth in the first place. But SP doesn’t seem capable of figuring that one out.
Visitors to Canada “do not” get free medical care. You must buy insurance just as we should if we leave Canada. Each Province has their own Medical Coverage. If we move to a different province we have to apply for coverage there.
Maybe Sarah had family here and they lied and used a relatives card? Say it ain’t so
(Now we have to have our picture on the card -in Ontario anyway-because that was happening)
“In some provinces temporary workers, students and some others in Canada on a temporary basis are also eligible.”
https://secure.vec.bc.ca/health-care-canada.cfm
Hey, she’s just like Eliot Spitzer!
If Sarah was smart enough to remember what she said, she might not need to be a liar. Why pick on North of the 49th.? A week after being paid for her inspirational knowledge in Calgary Alberta, we have the “Donald Trump University” advertising it is coming to Saskatchewan. What have we done to deserve this heap of wisdom? Please, just hustle on down South for the winter and learn to play a Banjo or something.
A good analysis on Huffpo this morning, here is the money quote (to use Andrew Sullivan’s line):
“The informality of Palin’s revelation, and her seeming lack of understanding of what it meant, suggests that for Palin, the right wing populism, while fun and easy, is not really grounded in anything other than the advancement of Sarah Palin. ”
In other words – Sarah Palin will say anything, do anything, endorse anyone, back any ideology as long as it brings her FAME, POWER and $$$$$.
Very interesting that Palin supports hustling across the border to get healthcare because (A) it make her a hypocrite for attacking “death panels” and President Obama’s proposed “socialized” medicine changes.
(B) If this was OK for Palin’s family to do, then it seems that Palin is suggesting that non- US citizens “hustle” across the border to get better/less expensive healthcare in the USA? I want to hear why she believes it’s perfectly acceptable to “hustle” across the border to take advantage of Canada’s healthcare, and how she feels about people who are not “real” American crossing the border to get healthcare paid for by American tax payers.
I think what we are seeing is that some of those “real Americans” have a sense of entitlement – “I’m a real American so I deserve the best, whether it’s in my own country or anywhere else in the world.” They don’t see the hypocracy or even the inconsistency in their words or actions. And that kind of attitude is the reason Americans get a bad name in other places around the world. Sarah Palin and her ilk are the new face of the Ugly American.
They are the kind of people who cause some of us to cross the street when we see them coming when we travel outside the United States.
The whole incident would be utterly laughable if it weren’t for the pure nasty ugliness of her lies about death panels etc.. The whole health care debate is regarded with total astonishment and bewilderment outside of the US. For those of us who have enjoyed the benefits of universal public healthcare for many years in the rest of the industrialized world, this insane debate underlined by Palin’s lunatic statements coupled with all of the other moronic rhetoric from the american right on healthcare prompts many of us to actually fear for the collective mental health of our american cousins. God people get a grip ….. its UNIVERSAL PUBLIC HEALTHCARE NOT SATAN or whatever demonic delusional plot that you fear it to be!!
Sorry, I don’t want to overstate things but I thought I better mention the fact that a close personal friend had a heart transplant here in Canada and it didn’t cost him a dime ………. thats right, not a dime …….. and oh yea …. both my children born in our medicare system never cost me a medical dime either ….. I could go on ……. but really just implement universal public healthcare and join the rest of the civilized world! After a few years you won’t be able to imagine a life without it ….. promise!
I have to first weigh in on Canadian Healthcare for “foreigners” – several year ago we were in the US visiting (for you who don’t know me, I’m American, husband is French and we are residents of France) and we drove to spend a few days with friends in Canada outside of Montreal. Our son had a herpes outbreak on his cheek (which happens once or twice a year) and it moved into his eye. If not treated right away this causes blindness. Our friends sent us to their local health clinic. We waited in line most of the day but finally got in to see the doctor. My husband who accompanied our young son in, said the doctor was extremely kind and gentle with our son and an excellent doctor. He prescribed both a cream and drops for him. We paid $20 Canadian then walked out into the hall and found the pharmacy and bought the medecine – for a fairly low price. My husband pointed out that he was happy that this had happened in Canada not in the US because in the US the cost would’ve been too high for both the doctor’s visit and the medecine.
As for Sarah, she lies and cares nothing about getting caught in lies. So, what’s new? She also takes a stance on issues even if her experience points in the opposite direction, but the stances she takes are purely political, so what’s new?
Thanks for info on who is eligible to use the socialized {ptui!} healthcare system in Canada, ‘pups.
The reason I asked the question in the first place (way back @ 97) was that the folks SP Saladed in Calgary seemed to be a mighty friendly audience…and I’d read that many of the audience were USAns working there with the oil/gas industry. That got me to wondering if they [the USAns in the crowd] were also too ‘covered’ by the Canadian system for healthcare.
From the links provided by ‘pups in this thread, I followed on to other links and found that those folks [the USAns] living/working there would have to have permission, a “temporary work permit”, from the Canadian gov’t to do so. [see: http://canadaonline.about.com/od/immigration/ss/work-permits_2.htm ] (Uunfortunately, all the links/connections to Health Ministries of Provinces and Territories are ‘down’ at the moment, so I can’t check to see if, as holders of Temp Work Permits, they’d be included as beneficiaries of the contemptible and damnable spawn of Satan – that great scourge of the earth: socialized {ptui!} medical care.)
Anywho, I just got to wondering: Were the USAn “temporary work permit” holders eligible for the socialized {ptui!} medicine practiced in Canada and did they avail themselves of it? beth.
AP–Sarah Palin, in Texas for the day, recalled a childhood memory and the city’s meaning to her family.
“Ya know, when my brother Chuck was little, he burned his foot jumping over a fire and my dad wanted him to have the best possible medical care. So of course we zoomed right on down to Alaska’s little sister state, and ever since that day Texas has had such a special place in our hearts!”
Beth I would say yes they would get our “socialized”
medical coverage right away in Calgary Alberta.
(snip)
“Yes. Employers must ensure that temporary foreign workers have health insurance coverage from the moment they start working in Alberta.
In Alberta, foreign workers with a work permit valid for 12 months or more are eligible to apply for immediate Alberta Health Care coverage. However, the employer can require the foreign worker to pay for the health insurance.”
http://www.law-faqs.org/wiki/index.php/Temporary_Foreign_Workers/General#If_a_Canadian_employer_hires_a_foreign_worker.2C_is_that_employer_responsible_for_that_worker.E2.80.99s_health_insurance_while_he_or_she_is_in_Canada.3F
She’s an IDIOT. What does it say about Americans, that actually listen to her and thinks shes political material, there IDIOTS also.
Whats the point anymore. Scarah will always be promoting herself, making sure she’s in the spotlight and that the $$$$ keeps rolling in. A totally self-serving, narcissistic individual, who loves the sound of her own voice, her photo shoots and truly thinks people like her. Actually in my opinion the only reason she gets so much attention, except for those neo-con wingnuts, is because watching her perform is like watching a train wreck. She is a self-opening pinata, you just don’t know where the c**p is going to fall.
This Canadian fervently hopes that LYING Sarah Palin will quickly have a complete mental breakdown and disappear from the public view.
If people do not realize Palin is not of sound mind…they should join her in a mental institution.
At the same time I encourage ALL Alaskans not to vote Palin’s clone Sean Parnell back in as Governor…have you not learnt a valuable lesson. The man is following in the footsteps of his friend and sponsor Sarah Palin.
Sincerely,
Eileen C. Tallon { aka EileensHoot }