X Marks the Spot

I watched the Michael Moore documentary Sicko a couple of months ago. The movie compared the U.S. health care system to the Canadian system, the British system, and the French system.

Moore romanticized each system as a contrast to the horror of the U.S. system.

In France, he found that for the first few months after a woman gives birth, a health care worker drops by the house a couple of hours a day to help the new mother prepare meals, or vacuum, or do laundry.

Sounds like heaven.

The Liberals are picking up on such services, not for new mothers but for senior citizens.

We are now going to go to the homes of senior citizens and cook their meals. We'll drive them around and do their shopping for them.

We'll even shovel their driveways and sidewalks for them.

In fact, there appears to be very little we'll not be doing for senior citizens.

Which is fine, I suppose.

But wouldn't it make more sense to centralize these services? Isn't that the philosophy we've been working on for a long time now?

No one has ever thought of sending teachers out to students' houses, to teach them one at a time, and it has been an awfully long time since doctors came to the house instead of you going to a hospital or doctor's office.

It is kind of the way things work - you go to where the services you need are.

That being the case, perhaps we could erect buildings in which old people that need extra help can congregate and get services together, homes for old people, old age homes. What a dramatic concept that would be. Then, all the services a senior could want can be available, and be more affordable.

If seniors want to stay at home, that's fine. No one's going to force them out. But if someone is having trouble at home, and wants services that aren't available at home, then they can go to a magical place where those services are offered.