Why Aren't Canadians Home Eating Turkey?

It is Columbus Day weekend in the US and Canadian Thanksgiving across the border.  We both have a long weekend.  I have observed this weekend that an awful lot of Canadians are not home eating turkey and pumpkin pie.  They have driven into the US and are evident in our stores in large numbers. 

Saturday I had reason to spend 2 hours at a table at the entrance to a department store in the local mall.  I did not keep careful statistics, but I talked to nearly everyone entering the store, and my guess is that about 75% of the customers were Canadian.  Today, I was at a store in one of the plazas near I-81, which runs straight to the Canadian border, and there were many, many Canadian license plates on the cars in the parking lot.

If you talk to these Canadian shoppers, you will learn that they save money by coming into the States to make purchases.  Their sales tax is almost twice as high as ours.  Many of these same Canadians brag about their government provided healthcare coverage.  They do not understand how a civilized society, such as that in the US, can be so negligent in not providing universal coverage.

Hmmm....wait a minute here.  Is it possible that they want universal coverage, but they don't want to pay the price?

As someone who has worked in the healthcare field and who has family members currently on government run programs, here are some things I know:
*the healthcare system in the US is broken.
*it is heart-breaking to meet people who need medical care they can't afford.
*those who are already covered by medical programs in the US frequently take advantage of the services in ways that are more expensive than necessary, because they aren't paying for it themselves..
*people in the US who have no insurance and self-pay, are charged more than those with insurance, since the insurance companies make agreements with healthcare providers.
*Canadians like their health care coverage.
*Canadians don't like their tax rate.

So, here you have plenty of material to start arguing either for or against universal coverage.  But, one thing is clear, if we get universal coverage, and goods and services become more expensive as a result, we won't be able to save money by driving up to Canada to buy things.

And that is why many Canadians are not home eating turkey and pumpkin pie today.