General

Palin criticized over use of Canadian health care system

Critics slam right-wing icon for relying on Canadian system in her youth

On a recent trip to Calgary, her first visit to Canada, former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin admitted her family used the Canadian health care system while growing up in Alaska, sparking criticism from several quarters. “My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse,” Palin said during a speech, the National Post reports. “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.” Given her past warnings about government role in health care, American commenters reacted sometimes virulently to the claim. On the Daily Kos website, a post called “Sarah ‘The Death Panel Queen’ Palin Went to Canada for Health Care,” called her “opportunistic” and “hypocritical.” Palin has previously called on Canada to dismantle its public health care system and suggested a move to nationalize the U.S. health care system would create “death panels” with the power to choose if Americans live or die.

National Post

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