Palin Used to Cross Canadian Border for Health Care
Former Alaska Governor and GOP vice presidential candidate has done a lot to warn of the supposed danger looming in the Democrats´ efforts to reform the U.S. health care system, hyping a "big-government takeover" of the system.
Over the weekend, she confessed that she and her family used to routinely take advantage of just such a system. "We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada," Palin admitted. "And I think now, isn´t that ironic?"
Up to the age of six, Palin and her family lived in a remote area of Alaska near the Canadian city of Whitehorse. Hospital officials there refused to disclose information on patients they treated.
... realizes she also just admitted that she and her family defrauded the Canadian government, which is a crime. You´re not supposed to leach off the Canadian health care system, though I´ve heard that if you´re traveling in Canada and get sick, you get practically free health care.
What do you know -- people don´t die waiting in line for Canadian health care, and of all people, Sarah Palin is living proof.
I am as big a u.s. hater as anybody on this board, but in this case the bi*ch was only 6 years old. So in that case she did not have the mental capacity to really understand her acts. Yea, her parents are guilty, but it is a real leap to say she is guilty of fraud.
Everything in Canada is free which is good. And that is the way is should be for everybody. Take the profit out of medical companies, like Cuba did and you will have enough money to support the system for hundreds of years, just like Cuba. A fact Michael Moore discovered several years ago.
Nevertheless, this sort of "big government health care" took care of her as a child, and she knows it. The fact that she would deny the sort of care that her family took advantage of to other poor families like hers that can´t afford health care makes her a hypocrite.
Also, so what if the Huffington Post reported it? Are you saying Palin didn´t admit to this? Did Huffington Post just make this up?
“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."
This was supposedly i the late 60´s, early 70´s. Canada had single payer starting in 1949 and was well on their way to their present system by the time Sara saw Canadian doctors.
Rush Limbaugh saw doctors in Hawaii last summer and had nothing but praise until he found out Hawaii has state single payer for the last 40 years.
All this means that these two actually used the systems they swear does not work, and had excellent care. The same care anyone would have had.
come down Ben, Huffington post is biased just like Fox. look at how they edited the quote Back in the early 60´s Canada didnt have the health care system they have now. Have you ever been to AK or Canada? I was in Akutan AK in Nov of ´09 I waited for days for a plane to land, and no boats were leaving because the weather was so bad. Finally a boat big enough decided to leave for Dutch. My point, this was 2009, can you imagine what it was in the ´60´s. If you look deeper into this, you will find that this happened to her brother, not her. and that the weather was too bad for them to take a ferry or plane to a AK city the only thing they had was a train to Canada. and if you look further you will find that they had to pay for it as her dads insurance didn´t cover it. There are valid reasons to dislike this person, but blaming her for going to Canada in the 60´s to treat her brother for a burn, when she was only five...
"Palin´s father said Monday they had little choice, given their location in Skagway.
"There was no road out of there at that time," said retired teacher Chuck Heath, reached by phone in Wasilla. "The ferry schedule was very erratic. We had no doctor in Skagway. The plane schedule was very erratic. The winds dictated whether the planes could come in or not."
....
Palin´s father said his family probably boarded the train for the Whitehorse hospital only twice — once when a daughter had rheumatic fever, and once when his son, also named Chuck, severely burned his leg and an infection set in.
"We much preferred to use our facilities because my insurance didn´t cover anything in Whitehorse. And even though they have socialized medicine, I still had to pay the bill, being an American citizen," Heath said.
Heath worked part-time for the White Pass & Yukon Railroad and had a pass allowing him and his family to ride for free.
The train in the 1960s often was the only option for getting to a doctor, Skagway Mayor Tom Cochran said.
(So this does suggest that either her brother had two accidents, or Sarah Palin was fibbing to the Skagway News a few years ago.)"
This is a big nothing, and you guys are blowing it out of proportion. Shes a moron there is no doubt about it, she cant put together a coherent sentence, and is a nut case.
Is there no limit to the lies she spreads to strike fear in the public opinion? I´m canadian and the free health care only applies to it´s own citizen. Anyone else will either get billed or have travel insurance to cover it.
However, Canadians hospitals will treat people without money or insurance if their condition is serious, just like most hospitals in the world would do. Get shot, stabbed, run over by a truck and you´ll get treated first and billed later.
The way she´s telling her story, as if they were gathering everyone in the village to go get treated in Canada, suggest to me they were probably pretending to be canadian citizens. She was 6 years many decades ago, so I don´t know how good the verification method in a remote northern city were back then.
All I know is that you wouldn´t be able to do it with our current system. I once cut my hand very badly and didnt have my wallet on me. It was either prove you´re a citizen or leave with a bill.
Not really dear. Hypocritical? You betcha! But if yer a real maverick and a high heal and lipstick wearin´ bulldog ya don´t even need healthcare! Ya just tell those pinko commies to take their socialist whoosywhatsits back to Russia and we´ll keep an eye on em from our backyard.
Even I don´t like Palin, but this is such a non-story, pathetic really. I wouldn´t hold anyone responsible for what they do under the age of six. Beyond that, I don´t even blame her parents for going to Canada, sounds like lots of remote communities cross the border for treatment because it´s the only nearby medical help.
But they did pay for it most likely. I can talk for that specific territory since health care is of provincial ruling. Which means, rules are different in each province and you dont get "free" health care if your from a different province than the one where you live. Your province will pay for your bill IF there was appropriate reason for you to get it elsewere than your own province.
Otherwise, prepare the check, because it doesnt come cheap, not cheap at all.
her parents that took her and her brother there for treatment. at 6 she had no choice. a play on words to say she went to canada for treatment. nothing like twisting things to sound the way one wants.
Sarah Palin never did that. Sarah Heath´s parents did when she was 5 years old because there were few hospitals close to their home in Alaska. How is this news?
As a Canadian, I am proud our services were there to help someone, especially children in need. Aid and compassion doesn´t end at our borders or if you are from the States or anywhere. I can confidently say neither did the medical staff care, that they only saw some kids in need. Politics have no place in a situation like this. Stories like this just make me a prouder Canadian. (climbs off soapbox).
that regardless of whether it was her parents or her own choice, she benefited from the thing she is rallying against now. I would think she might say "Hmmm, it helped me and my family, maybe it isn´t such a bad deal". But no, she is a politician, and a hand-up-the-butt puppet one at that (even more than the rest), so I don´t expect her to actually think rationally.
Her parents had to pay the bill, because there insurance didnt cover them going to Canada and it turns out Canada does not cover you if you are not a citizen.
Not sure if either (or both) of you are blaming Ben for a misleading title (you gave a bad rating, snowman), but the headline at the source is "Palin Crossed Border For Canadian Health Care"
First off, I thank everyone who has shed more light on this. Perhaps if Palin wasn´t so secretive in the first place, there wouldn´t be such confusion.
If you find the information at the source at fault, blame the source article, not me. I summarized the source article as all SN reporters do, and I think I did a good job.
Finally, I find it interesting that Palin´s father claims to have paid a bill for the health care his child or children received in Canada. Of course, you have to take him at his word, though I don´t think he´s lying.
The thing that sticks for me, though, is Palin´s own description of it as "ironic." The only thing that would make it ironic is if her family got free health care from a single-payer system. If her father paid for their health care, I´m not seeing the irony. But maybe she just didn´t know that he paid.
Grayxray: Name calling and using derogatory names isn´t too cool. Michael Moore? His documentaries are totally lopsided towards his side. I would LOVE it if everything he said wasn´t biased and/or taken out of context from others.
...anywaaaay.. Yeah, she was only six years old, so its not her fault (Tho I wish it was! lol).
It would be hilarious if Canada got in an uproar over this.
You joined this forum on 2-27 and you´re claiming to be as big a US hater as anyone on this board?
Yeah, you´re smart.
If you think you´re smart maybe you can explain to me why the date someone joined would also be evidence to how much they hate the US.
anyone without an account can come here and read peoples posts. long before they decide to reply.. at which point they´d have to join.
and FYI, its not about how much you hate, its about what you do with your hatred. do you go out and rally protesters? do you bring awareness to other people? are you gonna go vigilante on everyone!
Hate is just a word and we all hate something, tis what you DO about it that becomes the evidence to say ´yah, you hate it more´
example, we both hate going to work. but i hate it so much i bring a gun and kill everyone.
who hates work more now?
right now, everyone here is still at the vocalizing your feelings and not doing anything about them except playing the role of some armchair hippie.
GTFOUTSIDE and make change happen it wnot happen on a website or from some post osmeone makes if you really haet something, set out to change it. or you dont really hate it, and you need to expand your vocabulary to include words to express your dislike for something but doesnt necessarily make you angry enough to DO something.
