1) Canadian health care IS socialized medicine with wage and price controls, the argument that it is not because it is managed by one insurer is a total lie.
2) As in most socialized systems, there IS longer wait times for most Canadians for all sorts of procedures and that is why it is routine for Canadians to take their money and go across the border to get faster necessary service. Notice that there was not one mention of the actual amount of time Canadians wait here.
3) Most new drug discoveries are happening in the US, not in Canada. This makes it harder to get the newer expensive drugs in Canada and I have personally known Canadians to come to the US for treatments for conditions like liver, heart, and kidney disease because Canadians simply do not have the resources a (formerly) free market US health care system has.
Canadian drug coverage is also heavily subsidized by the Canadian tax payer and people routinely rip off Canadians for getting them to subsidize their out of country purchases. So Canadians pay twice. Once for their own drugs and once for other people buying theirs.
4) Canadian Doctors are NOT compensated well for their work. I have had personal testimony of Canadians bribing their doctors for service and personally have known Canadian physicians who leave Canada to practice in other countries to supplement their incomes. Another lie.
Canada experienced a “brain drain” in the 90’s, largely doctors seeking greener pastures in the US.
My friend died from a simple melanoma because his oncology appointment took months and months. And he lived in Montreal, Canada’s 2nd largest metropolis, not some prairie backwater.
True, and Americans are paying for the R&D required to make these discoveries (which are then shared with the rest of the world).
For better or worse our refusal to have the government negotiate drug prices means we subsidize all of those countries who do.
The writer identified herself as being with PNHP, which, if it is the same organization I know of, was set up and manned by old and present members of the Communist Party USA and/or its split-off faction, the Committee of Correspondence for Socialism etc.
PNHP was founded by Dr. Quentin Young, Obama’s personal physician and Chicago Communist.
Two other CP-connected people in it were Kimmelstein and a woman whose name I have forgotten.
All the documentation on this group and people can be found at www.keywiki.org, under the name of the organization and by the individual’s name. Bluelinking will connect you from the organization to the individual’s page.
Articles in the Congressional Record about Young revealed not only his CPUSA record (I believe he took the 5th before Congress when asked about his Party membership, Chicago Hearings, HCUA, possibly 1965 - is referenced at KW), but also he role in creating the Marxist-left/radical rioters aiding Medical Committee for Human Rights (at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention).
The woman’s article is interesting but so are some of the rebuttals, including yours’, Nachum.
With U.S. govt-sponsored health insurance centers/organizations failing in state after state, and United HealthCare taking a shellacking to the tune of a reported billion dollar or more loss (and pulling out of key states), I would say that PNHP is not the best source for the truth about a lot of things.
I have lived in both countries, have been on both private and public plans, and for the most part, accept the points made in the article.
Obviously, some of the people spouting talking points and ideological rhetoric didn’t even read the article.