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But I've been without insurance when I was younger and it's a nightmare! They throw you out no matter what your problem and the attitude is really, really insulting. You can be working a job and working many hours but if you don't have insurance provided for you, the doctors and hospitals look down upon you. Doctors don't want to treat you and the ER is the only place you can go! THIS, by the way, is what illegals here in Arizona go.
If you are lucky enough to qualify for help from the government, only the lower rated doctors see you. No good doctors take medical assistance for those who are unemployed or don't make enough money and when they treat, they, too, have an attitude that you are worthless. I've seen it in person!
I feel badly for those with insurance unlike mine too! They are so limited as to what procedures are covered! It's hard, it really is. I have a sister who is very sick and because her job does not provide insurance through some loop hole, I honestly will lose her soon to disease.
dancer9

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Perhaps you might want to try a different colour instead of red, dancer. For some of us, it's a colour hard to read if a whole block of text is in red. Red should be used judiciously for words /phrases only on computer screens. (My rant for people who may not understand the impact of colour for text legibility and pyschology impact on reader. I had to assess research software programs for purchasing purposes as part of my jobs for usability.)

What is a "lower rated" doctor in relation to the health care system? Similar to the legal aid lawyers who often have less profile in the legal world???....some who are incredibly smart and caring, but get paid far lower than corporate lawyers. THese lawyers probably know far more about family law compared to your regular small firm lawyer.

I have a sister who is a (Canadian) doctor and would LOVE to bounce off your impressions, dancer, to her.

AFter reading enough on these U.S. dominant forums about some women who don't want to divorce because they want to be insured for health care under their hubby's work benfits,...I find this just deplorable that your health care system creates this type of thinking...and in a way, binds some women, who need to move on in their lives if divorce is a necessary step for them that they have been seriously considering/working towards for several years.

I should add that our Canadian socialized health care system does NOT include dental care. I don't think it ever did.

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I do not want to argue this point again so let me tell you the truth of my week this week. I live in an upscale, gated community. This week, two cars had their tires stolen and one car was brought to an area in front of my balconey and striped professionally and quickly by three illegals. It was frightening to watch them drive a car into where I live, watch three men strip it's tires, it's insides, including all the screens in those upper line SUV's and make a get away in the car one of them followed in all in a manner of min.! How do I know they were illegals? The police told me. I had to give a witness report.
Last night, three Hispanic youths jumped our fence and were moving in and out of the homes on the sidewalks. They were noisy so many of us looked out of our blinds. We called the police, and it was a neighbor that called them, and we were told they, too, were illegal.
This is my life.
I have a big life, Orchid. I have been all over the world with my career and traveling. I do not want to hurt Hispanic people! I want the Hispanic gangs to stop. I want the violence to stop. I have seen far to many instances like those I described above but two of them involved murder.
One young hispanic illegal wanted to join a gang. In order to qualify, he had to steal a car by car-jacking it. He took an older man's car and hit the freeway which is near my home. He was needing to get rid of the man so he pushed him out of the car while driving about 30 miles an hour. This man died of a heart attack on the road.
The young Mexican man was sobbing we were told, in jail, because he "only wanted to steal the car and now I'm up for murder"

Again, to argue is not my strong point, I am an artist and I am third generation so far as art and my family. I've been an artist since I appeared on television at 5. But I know what I see and I talk to many people. I'm sure a more intellectual type can find the articles and studies you are seeking to prove the problem we have.

But human rights are one of the things I've spent my life trying to bring attention to. OUR human rights are being violated.

Not a flag waver,
dancer9

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I would never choose to live in a gated community, dancer. At most, when living solo it's good to have security system/24 hr. security guard. That's good enough for me. A gated community already is a visible target and invites enough problems/temptations to the envious "outsiders". All of my 5 siblings own and live their respective homes...in Toronto. None of them live in gated communities. Some live in lower income areas, while others in mixed income, mixed ethnicities.

I bought and lived in a home for 14 years in Toronto (over 2 million people) neighbourhood that had drug dealing, shoot-outs, some thefts. Yes the area did have a certain percentage of visible minorities. I never cared to figure out the %.

But I was never a victim during that time at all...of anything. Although some visible minorities do get busted/killed/hurt. My skin colour is no protection... anywhere. I just chose to live a modest life, took ordinary precautions. I lived solo...even when I knew my partner.

before that home, I rented and lived in place for 10 years, in predominantly Portuguese and Italian area also with drug dealing, robberies and occasional shooting.

I spoke with my real estate agent who sold my home..she confirmed that enough clients would check the high rise directories for "foreign" sounding names. Pretty racist in my opinion but I guess freedom of choice in investing is the name of the game here.

We currently live in a wonderful area that does have some wealthy people. But still there are thefts, whatever. There was even a marajuana grow-op in our new building. And the homeless are scattered about...just 5 blocks away. But no one is running around here wanting to live in gated community. There are actually MORE wealthier people moving into our area.

By the way, I sold my home to divorced, boomer white woman ....who is a manager for a national advocacy organization ----for female prisoners. A very gracious person. I thought that was pretty neat, since she and I both have worked in the justice/legal system for a long time.

Yea, well my parents got robbed of minor stuff from their car parked in Chinatown. Did that stop them from shopping there? Nope. They just viewed it as a stupid act of someone criminal. Period. Life goes on.

Whenever there is the occasional shooting,...it still doesn't stop anyone I know of going into those areas.

I would like to comment when I do see some whites in certain neighbourhoods where it's SO CLEAR from their body language that they are not comfortable /familiar being in predominantly Asian/black etc. neighbourhood. My advice: stop looking too clueless and surprised at the things that you've never seen before.

Maybe my attitude seems a bit hard-assed but I think the moment of truth was I heard from my nephew and his sister that they found the university town that she chose 400 kms. away from Toronto, just too suffocatingly "white" for each of them. These adult children ....are half-Chinese. I must confess, it is refreshing to hear THAT, a wonderful testament, that they embrace their background, their upbringing in highly mixed ethnic city... (Toronto's population has 120 languages. There are 300,000 people alone of Chinese descent. It also has the largest black population in Canada. Vancouver by contrast, has very few blacks but high percentage of Asians and East Indian descent.)

this is my world, dancer... Highly mixed and global to me by just being in large, metropolitan Canadian cities.

And part of my world..everyday when commuting to work which is partially by bus...I board a bus, with alot of working people since all of us are heading to work in an industrial suburban area. Why is it some of these white guys....look and sound so rough/filthy? Look at this, from my perspective. Got high crime in this area too, theft of equipment and construction materials is common in this area..often unpoliced.....in many commuities in North America.

But most of us in that area temporarily probably live ordinary, honest lives.