The Blue Board

I don't have proof, but many successful Canadian Olympic athlete's and world champions make shit all. Sara Burke was essentially a nobody, she certainly wasn't making significant endorsement money in Canada.

Excellent point. But don't let facts get in the way of this writer's attempt at guilt tripping us into throwing away more of our liberties and feeling good about doing it. After all, government run programs are the answer to all of our problems...

Not directly on point, but interesting.

Hockey player? Womens hockey players are not even on the same playing field as skiiers. Skiing is a worldwide sport. Also, in 2008 the prize purse for winter x games was 3 mill. I'm sure the winner of womens super pipe made a decent clip that year.

Also, X Game is where its at in terms of these sports. Not relevant that its not in the olympics.

Downhill skiing is a huge sport. Especially in Europe.

She wouldn't have been skiing.

So I have a Canadian neighbor here on a work visa married to an Aussie. They put out their Maple Leaf flag when she died. So there you have it.....his feelings cancel out yours or vice versa. The fact remains that winter sports are Canada's equivalent of football (American style).

And to another poster's point about the article using this exception as an argument for health care.....here's another take. Crazy how things can be spun.

Burke's agent Michael Spencer had launched a $550,000 US fundraising effort to help cover the freestyle skier's outstanding medical costs and other related expenses, following her death in Utah on Thursday, raising speculation the family was facing a massive bill for her hospitalization because the skier was not adequately insured.

On Friday afternoon, Spencer released a statement saying the family has not yet received a final bill from the University of Utah Hospital where she was treated, but it is expected to be approximately $200,000.

"Once charges are finalized, the University will work with Health Canada to determine what type of coverage may be available and what their contribution will be, as Sarah is a Canadian citizen," said the statement.

While it remains unclear if Burke was properly insured, the website started by Spencer had raised more than $194,000 by Friday afternoon. The fundraiser's beneficiary is listed as Burke's husband, Rory Bushfield.

Spencer said Burke's family was extremely grateful for the outpouring of support from the public, her sponsors, and the hospital.
Unsanctioned event

Peter Judge, CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Skiing Association, says its athletes have excellent insurance when they are competing for the association, but said Burke was not covered by the program because her accident happened during an unsanctioned event.

"She was in the U.S. taking part in a third-party training opportunity, something that was separate to our program," said Judge.

"The Canadian Snow Sports Association has a very comprehensive policy which covers these kinds of situations, but unfortunately in this instance she was involved in a third party event which was not part of the program and as such was not under the umbrella of coverage," said Judge.

Burke was in Park City training for a superpipe event hosted by Monster Energy, one of her main sponsors, at the time of the accident.

So, in recap......They don't even have a bill yet, don't know if she actually had any coverage, have yet to determine if any coverage is possible, but a US fundraising effort was started and has earned an amount estimated to be well over the eventual bill. The extra money will be used to pay for funeral costs and a memorial fund and her husband, a Canadian citizen and able bodied as well. Canadian Snow Sports DOES have a comprehensive policy but she wasn't covered at this event. She was participating because one of her main sponsors was hosting. Anyone else think that Monster Energy could afford to foot that bill? Only in America.

Because Canadians get theirs for free.

Random American.....lol. No different than a random Canadian.

Hockey is a winter sport last time I checked. It's clearly number one but my point was really to emphasize that skiing and other Alpine events are big whether you knew who Sarah Burke was or not.

Nobody said Canada was weird. I do find this story interesting to say the least. A US fund gets set up to raise money for an as yet undetermined amount, ends up raising more than necessary, and insurance may still be applied even though Canada's sports agency carries coverage for sanctioned events but not this one.......which was sponsored by Sarah's biggest endorsement sponsor, Monster Drinks.

So I guess Sarah was a Canadian who made a living and a dying on the American dime. Not directed at you by any means but perhaps the story writer and OP could acknowledge the gap is between their ears and not in the US health system.

I did just look it up and it appears that TSN will be airing 16 hours of coverage to the Winter X games starting this Thursday and additionally will air 24 hours of consecutive coverage dedicated to the career of Sarah Burke.....not much at all I guess.

Well there would have to be 24 hours of accomplishments to air. It's not like she did much since the accident. And you can spin any way you like but these X games only occur in the Winter months so now you have increased their coverage percentage to almost one full day out of less than one week of competition. 1/7 isn't too shabby for rarely, if ever.

Where are you getting your stats? HALF OF AMERICAN LIVE IN POVERTY? Really?? The actual stats is more like 12%.

I apologize, slightly different wording is necessary.

1/6 Americans lives BELOW the poverty line, but another 1/3 are 'low income' families who make less than $45,000 a year for a family of four.

So this statement would be accurate: half of America is poor.