Franklin López<p>About 20 years ago, I moved to Canada. I joked with my friends that I was coming to take advantage of the socialized health care system. They thought I was just escaping Cheney's second term. Truthfully, I just wanted a change of scenery—but that’s another story.</p><p>For a short time in the U.S., I had Kaiser Permanente insurance. Holy shit, what a rip-off. If I got sick, I had to drag myself to their shopping-mall-looking building in suburban Atlanta, see their doctor, and then pay again on top of it. So I quit.</p><p>Not long after, I had two trips to the emergency room that racked up a ton of debt. On the second visit, I was in so much pain I was screaming my guts out for five hours before a kind nurse finally shot me up with morphine.</p><p>Fast-forward to Canada: the system here isn’t perfect, but if I need to see a doctor, I just... go. My meds are dirt cheap. I’ve been to the hospital a few times—for myself or friends—and we’ve always been taken care of. My partner and I even accessed the fertility clinic in Quebec when we were trying to have a kid—now we have a kid!</p><p>Yeah, I pay high taxes. Yeah, the system has flaws. But the peace of mind I have knowing that as I get older, or as a parent, my people are covered and I’m not gonna go broke paying for medical bills? That’s fucking priceless.</p><p>I get it—there’s a contradiction in an anarchist praising a state-run system. And yeah, my Canadian anarchist friends love to complain about long waits. But compared to the nightmare down south? It’s no contest.</p><p>I do wonder, though—how would anarchists organize socialized health care? What would a non-state model look like? Would love to hear what <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://kolektiva.social/@PeterGelderloos" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>PeterGelderloos</span></a></span> thinks about this.</p><p>Given the current national conversation about health care in the U.S., it seems like most folks are fed up too. Anywho, just wanted to share my two cents.</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HealthcareForAll" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HealthcareForAll</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MedicareForAll" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MedicareForAll</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HealthInsuranceScam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HealthInsuranceScam</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UniversalHealthCare" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UniversalHealthCare</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EndMedicalDebt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EndMedicalDebt</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AnarchistThoughts" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AnarchistThoughts</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HealthCareCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HealthCareCrisis</span></a></p>