The Problem With the Palin Hypocrisy Angle on Healthcare
March 8, 2010 · By Matthew Campbell
Tonight the US is abuzz with the revelation that former GOP Veep candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin had traveled across the Alaska-Yukon border to utilize the Canadian health care system in the fine northwestern territory. We Canadians have long understood that many of our home-grown journalists get snatched by the big American media so it’s a bit surprising to see that there wasn’t a Canadian around in the newsroom to explain what any Canuck who knows his history would immediately see in this story: if Palin’s family did travel in the mid-1960s, they would not have used the same state-run system that Canada uses today. In fact, quite a bit has changed since Lester Person’s government passed the medicare system into law during it’s brief time in office from 1963-1968, with the legal prohibition of private health care coming in during 1984 and the capping of salaries for doctors later in the 1980s. The system that Palin’s family would have used over 40 years ago would have been only mildly different from the US system at the time, with user fees and private clinics still operating. While it’s fair to guess as to why the family would cross a national border to access health care, one sees a reasonable argument for bad weather as this is Alaska and even the most pessimistic Al Gore devotee would have to admit that global warming hadn’t really taken off in the 1960s yet!
Matthew Campbell writes for The Politic and is webmaster of Election Target, an online election prediction community.
You’re talking logic, Matt. It has no place in the health care debate. /sarc :)
I’d also suggest that anyone who believes consumers should have choice when it comes to medical care wouldn’t have much of an issue with this.
Maybe they were from a small town and a Canadian city with better doctors and facilties was closer than an American city? Plus they probably paid for the service and didn’t cheat.
People don’t need to descend to petty politics make Palin look bad. They need only listen to her to realize she lacks a certain amount of depth on important issues.
To quote Bill O’Reiley: “she needs to go to college”.
This type of tit-for-tat political game only plays to her advantage because she’s a master class at playing the victim. It seems nobody takes the high road anymore.
Clinton cheats on wife.
Bush has DUI and mug shot.
Obama was (insert political attack here).
Sarah Palin used Canadian healthcare. Who cares??? I’m critical of Canadian healthcare and I use it regularly.
There are enough real reasons to debate Palin. People don’t need to a) attack her for this or b) defend her over this. Who cares if it was private of public at the time. She was a child and not making medical decisions for her family.