Hillary's Dream Will Be Your Nightmare, A Canadian Warns [re:socialized health care]

CNSNews.com ^ | January 24, 2003 | Rachel Marsden

[Stand Watch Listen]

Walk up to a Canadian and ask him what sets his country apart from the USA, and he'll likely reply with one of five things: Gun control; a less hawkish, more diplomatic approach to world affairs; a collective preoccupation with adverse weather patterns; a burning passion for hockey; and a socialized health care system.

Canada's health care system is its touchstone. Canadians are literally brainwashed into believing that Canada wouldn't be the great country it is without its health care program. According to Canadian lore, America is full of people who are paying through the eyeteeth for medical treatment, and if you're not wealthy, you either don't get the treatment you need, or you declare bankruptcy.

Being a Canadian myself, I grew up hearing all about these nightmarish tales of the "evil American health care system". All the while, I was having to go to the doctor three days in a row, only to be turned away each time because the doctor had seen his maximum allowable government-funded quota of patients for the day.

In my home province of British Columbia, 24 people died in one year while waiting for heart surgery. On the other side of the country, kids in desperate need of heart surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto were being sent home. At Moncton Hospital in New Brunswick, patients were being kept in hallways and closets because of a lack of beds. In some cases, ambulance workers spoke of how they would drive dying patients from one emergency room to another in search of available beds or adequate equipment.

Despite all these horror stories, Canadians somehow remain convinced that medical care in Canada is preferable to that in the US. The reality is that socialized medicine is an abysmal failure. Under this system, everyone is supposed to receive equal access to health care, but what really ends up happening is that no one receives any care at all. But at least we're all in the SAME sinking boat, eh?

Under the Canadian system, anyone who wants to escape this disaster of Titanic proportions has no choice but to look elsewhere for health care. This, in effect, creates the two-tier system of which Canadians are so deathly afraid. Those with money are going to the USA for treatment while everyone else is stuck dealing with the inexpensive - but totally ineffective - Canadian system.

Note to Hillary Clinton and others like her who want to bring socialized health care to the USA: When people in a country that has such a program are turning to one that doesn't in order to get the treatment they require, that should be a bit of a hint for you.

A citizen of the USA is twice as likely to have open heart surgery as a Canadian. Seattle, Washington--with a population of roughly half a million people--has more CAT scanners than the entire province of British Columbia, which has a population of 3 million.

There are more MRI scanners in Washington state than in all of Canada. Why such a shortage of diagnostic equipment? Because in Canada, there is only one, single, giant "HMO," and it's run by the government.

The government decides where to allocate resources and where to cut costs. And if you don't like your government-run HMO in Canada, there are no competing HMOs you can turn to in order to obtain better treatment. The only alternatives you have are to whine and complain, or to fork out some money to get treatment in the USA.

Hillary's dream is to have a socialized health care system in the USA, along with a Patient's Bill of Rights that would allow for people to sue their HMO. What you'd effectively have then is people suing the government for not providing them with the care they require.

I hope Hillary has borrowed Al Gore's "lock box" to save up those pennies, because if Canada's socialized health system is any indication, she'd better get ready for the mother of all class action suits against her proposed "government-run HMO."

(Rachel Marsden is a director of the Free Congress Foundation.)

Free Congress Foundation

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Agree. When in Canada, I try to be gentlemanly.

[Redleg Duke]

The Democrat who "reformed welfare" only did it because the Republicans delivered the reform bill to him three times. He "reformed" on the third because it was an election year.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Boink!

[Protagoras]

I agree, but a Republican could have never gotten any consent from Democrats. I never said it was his idea, and I'm of the opinion that he only did it because he perceived it to be politically popular and wanted to garner power from it.

But all this misses my main point.

[Dad was my hero]

Somehow all that abundance of MRI scanners does nothing to improve American's overall health and chances of survival as compared with those of canadians. Maybe somebody should look more carefully into spending all that money on expensive equipment of questionable utility.

You obviously don't know that much about healthcare. MRIs are diagnostic tools, not machines to improve someone's health. Those "expensive tools" as you call them are used to help doctors better diagnose different types of injury. For instance, the size of a tear for cartilage in the knee can be accurately shown and whether or not surgery or just immobility and later physical therapy is needed.

[Pagey]

Well, if Winona Ryder and Courtney Love can get Prescription 'alter my consciousness' Drugs from their Supplier/ Doctor (who just got busted),I imagine it wouldn't matter to them if we had a Socialized Medical System, as you can already acquire any kind of drug, at any moment here in L.A., prescription based or not if you have enough money.And God knows Hollywood is run on Money.

[hattend]

BTTT

[hattend]

You can fight your fights against socialized healthcare any way you like, but leave us Canadians out of it with all your lies. We like our system just fine, thank you.

You do realize a Canadian wrote this article, right? His opinion is just as valid as yours. So, who's right?

[hattend]

His opinion is just as valid as yours.

I apologize to Rachel: HER opinion is just as valid as yours.

[IvanT]

"Unless you are Canadian yourself, you guessed wrong.
Better luck next time. As to posting to american
websites, I am guessing, you are not aware that we
have Internet in Canada too. And we can even post into
US without a visa. Thank god for NAFTA"

Dude, what's your problem? The Americans are allowed to discuss our situation as reference point to their own, are they not???

[Protagoras]

Impossible to tell if you are telling the truth about being Canadian. It's the internet, as you pointed out. You could be from France by the content of your posts. Hard to say which is worse. Oh, maybe French Canadian, the worst of both worlds. LOL

But you still didn't answer my question about why a socialist is posting to this forum. Why not ping Robinson and ask him whether you are welcome to post this trash?

I for one am glad you are here, like I said, it's easy shooting,,,,,,PULL! LOL

[Ditter]

Thanks for this. I just sent it to a few on my email list.

[Squawk 8888]

We like our system just fine, thank you.

Speak for yourself. This canuck is fed up with forking over half his income to a system that does nothing for him. My guess in that you are not really Canadian but and American liberal in disguise.

[Protagoras]

My guess in that you are not really Canadian but and American liberal in disguise.

Bingo

[Snowyman]

Well I'm Canadian and I'm saying Marsden can comment on her own world all she wants. But she should do a little research before she writes such stupid , inaccurate articles about mine . She doesn't know diddly. (I'm trying to be polite).

I'm not taking the time to refute everything she says . But when she says "A citizen of the USA is twice as likely to have open heart surgery as a Canadian." So What? American citizens consume twice the drugs Canadians do. Are Canadians suffering because of their lower consumption? Or could Americans do with less? Is a pill or a knife always the better cure?

As for the number of MRIs and who uses them.


"A 2002 study in Health Affairs estimates that in 1998-99 only 640 Canadians went to Buffalo, Detroit, and Seattle for diagnostic radiology services. Compared to the more than 480,000 MRI procedures performed each year in Ontario's public hospitals, this figure is minuscule. "

The same article says "A study in Radiology of MRI quality in Washington state found that "for-profit centres had quality that was significantly lower than that of non-profit centres," and that, "in-hospital location of the MR Imager was another significant predictor of quality."

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/articles/article356.html

Like it or not, healthcare in Canada is doing somethings right. You're doing you income tax wrong. And Marsden doesn't know diddly.

[Protagoras]

You have to answer the questions if you want to play the game. I asked what a socialist like you was doing on a site like this and no answer was forthcoming.

The debate is really about socialism vs freedom, wanna play comrade?