Rational discussion of health care for Canadians has been made almost impossible by the sloganeering and propaganda that surround the issue.
Defenders of socialist-style health-care like to pretend that Canada has “the best system in the world.” We don’t.
In fact, Canadians are suffering-and even dying-because of our blind allegiance to a system that most closely resembles Cuba or North Korea.
Socialists defend Canada’s system by saying, “Well, at least we don’t have millions without health insurance, like the Americans.” The truth is that Americans who cannot afford insurance are covered by Medicaid; those who are not covered are mostly those who choose not to be insured.
Meanwhile, many Canadians must go to the United States for treatment. Either the most up-to-date treatments are not available here, or wait times are intolerable. Some Canadians who go to the USA can have their bills paid by the Canadian system; others have to bear the cost themselves because the bureaucratic hoops in our Canadian system create delays as intolerable as Canada’s waiting lists. Many Canadians go to the USA for treatment at their own expense, simply because treatment is better and faster.
I know a man whose aggressive cancer threatened to end his life in a matter of weeks. The wait for treatment in Canada was four months, so he went to an American clinic. The bill was $17,000. Medicare in Canada wouldn’t cover his bill, because he hadn’t obtained prior approval. But the approval process was also estimated at four months.
When Tommy Douglas pushed a reluctant Lester Pearson to bring universal health care to Canada half a century ago, they used the British National Health Service as their model. But Britain was already having problems: doctors were leaving the UK rather than become civil servants.
Britain and Europe have since made drastic changes. But Canada is still stuck in the Fifties.
Now our Supreme Court has ruled that Canadians should have the right to purchase health care and insurance; and it’s absurd that doctors should be threatened with jail if they privately sell their skills to willing patients.
It’s long past time for an overhaul of Canada’s antiquated health care system. And the first thing to be jettisoned should be the socialist idea that only the Almighty State is capable of deciding how patients should be treated.
That socialist dogma collapsed with the Berlin Wall!