Posted on 05/26/2002 11:28:10 AM PDT by LarryLied
Rather than force uninsured Americans into a flawed program that puts bureaucrats in charge of health-care decisions, President Bush has suggested a way to help these families get affordable insurance that meets their needs. His solution: refundable health-care tax credits.
Simple is usually better, right?
So it's not surprising to hear some members of Congress agreeing with syndicated columnist Molly Ivins on how to reduce the number of Americans without health insurance. "The answer is universal health insurance, a single-payer system," she writes. "Every other industrialized nation manages to do this better than we do."
Tell that to Ralph Smith. The 57-year-old Canadian suffers from prostate cancer, a condition that can prove fatal if it's not treated promptly. He's doing better now, but no thanks to "the answer." After waiting nine months for treatment in Canada's single-payer system, he went out and found his own care, at his own expense.
Smith's case isn't an exception, either. Lengthy lines for healthcare are common in Canada. A September 2001 report from the Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based think tank, found that the average waiting time for surgery in Canada (between a doctor's referral and treatment) rose from over three months in 1999 to four months in 2000-2001.
Things are worse for the people stuck waiting for care in Britain's National Health Service. A recent report published by the London-based Adam Smith Institute notes that some 1 million are on NHS waiting lists. "One in four cardiac patients die while waiting, and one in five lung cancer patients wait so long they go from being treatable to untreatable," notes London's Guardian newspaper.
At least British patients can opt to pay for private care (if they can afford it). Most Canadian provinces have made it illegal for patients to pay out of their own pockets for medical services that are covered by the government-run system. As Mark Steyn, a columnist for Canada's National Post, wryly notes, Canada's got "all the coerciveness of the Cuban system..."
Fortunately for Ralph Smith, he had the means to help himself. But many in Canada -- and other countries with single-payer systems -- don't. And neither do the millions of Americans who would, under various proposals being considered by Congress, be forced into Medicaid, the federal government's own "single-payer" health-care program for poor people.
The fact is, Medicaid's ailing -- and adding the estimated 40 million Americans who lack health insurance at any given time would make matters worse.
State-run Medicaid programs are in big trouble. Last year, 37 states spent more on Medicaid than they had budgeted -- $410 million in Indiana alone -- and 20 states anticipate shortfalls in this year's spending.
If Medicaid rolls expand, the federal contribution grows, but so does the state contribution. To many, spending more on Medicaid means less for education, law enforcement or a variety of state services. States have begun responding to these financial shortcomings by making cuts to Medicaid. They limit services, cut back on medication, curb treatment options and reduce payments to doctors.
The result, of course, is substandard care. Take breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute reports that women on Medicaid are three times more likely to die from it than women who aren't on Medicaid. The Institute also found that women on Medicaid were 41 percent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer "at a late stage" and 44 percent less likely to receive radiation treatment.
Rather than force uninsured Americans into a flawed program that puts bureaucrats in charge of health-care decisions, President Bush has suggested a way to help these families get affordable insurance that meets their needs. His solution: refundable health-care tax credits.
He proposes that low-income uninsured families and individuals who don't have employer-based coverage receive a subsidy worth up to $3,000 a year for families and $1,000 for individuals to help cover premiums. Providing these subsidies through refundable tax credits will give these families and individuals the credit "up front" when payments are due, not make them wait for reimbursement at year's end. Under such a system, even those who owe no taxes would get the help they need.
Perhaps most importantly, it would put uninsured Americans in charge of their own healthcare -- a claim neither Medicaid nor the Canadian system can make. Is it worth it? Ask Ralph Smith. The fact that he's alive today may have everything to do with the fact that he gave up on "single-payer" in time and did what all Americans could do under President Bush's plan -- take control of their own health care.
-- Nina Owcharenko is a health-care policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based public policy institute.
Difficult to evaluate that claim without further information. Anyone know more?
"Warning: Socialized medicine may be hardardous to your health. Potential side effects include - death."
Not mine. In most of Canada taxes are far higher than the US. Ontario has the second-lowest taxes in Canada but the marginal rate on income starts at 22% on an income of $9,000 per year, a middle-income factory worker will pay close to 40%. In addition we pay 15% sales tax. What do we get for it? Our military is underfunded and it takes two years to get medical treatment in our "free" health-care system.
Your statemnt is BS. No one has to wait for what they need. As in the Ralph Smith case only for what they think they need. Not what Doctors know you need.
Ontario has a 8% sales tax plus the Federal GST 7%. Alberta has no sales tax and if one takes the time one finds that in many cases combined US State and Federal income tax rates are higher than those combined Provincial and Federal taxes in Canada. Since 1996 US rates have gained and in many cases passed Canadian ones.We do not have City Income Taxes or as many user fees which are taxes by any name.
ROFLOL!!!I had no idea you are such a comedian, LL! REAL TV stations and newpapers in "OREGON"? Moscow on the Willamette??? I digress. This is a good start: www.larslarson.com (KXL radio, Portland)and www.brainstormNW.com. I've heard there is a viable newspaper giving the Oregonian a run...can't remember the name...Robert, do you know of stories about the Oregon Health plan mess? I understand the Feds are ready to inject another 50 million into it soon. I've complained to my legislators about this being a gigantic waste of tax money. For a time the state was hiring prisoners in the state pen to answer the phones for the OHP. Customer "service" anyone?? I know a bunch of Oregonians who are not CRIMINALS who could use those jobs.
Statistical interpretations such as these really tick me off. Let's face it......people who are on Medicaid are generally not the sharpest knives in the drawer. Women who don't seek diagnosis/treatment until cancer is "at a late stage" are always going to have a higher death rate than those who take responsibility for their own health and seek medical care in a timely fashion. "Substandard care".......GRRRRRRRRRR!!!
All I know about Oregon is that strippers there have a lot of money. Had to bail out of some commerical property in Arizona, needed an unheard of 35% cash down and the manager of a strip club in Oregon had the money in her hot little hands. Your medical plan can't be too bad, she looked very healthy to me :-)
Most Canadian provinces have made it illegal for patients to pay out of their own pockets for medical services that are covered by the government run system.
It's illegal to buy your way to the head of the line for treatment.If you don't think that's fair, tell it to the guy you're trying to step in front of.
Perhaps most importantly, it would put uninsured Americans in charge of their own health care -- a claim neither Medicaid nor the Canadian system can make.
More bs. There is no law that says Canadians can't seek multiple opinions, refuse treatment or go elsewhere. Your Doctor may pick a specialist for you, but you pick your Doctor.
I keep hearing about treatment not being available or sub-standard in Canada yet I know people who have received prompt treatment and survived prostrate cancer, (my 76 year old Dad being one, diagnosed, treated and cured, first with hormones followed by 35 Rad treatments and a 4 month wait ,total time 7 months. ) breast cancer and bowel cancer, who have received replacement hips and knees, who have given birth , in two cases to babies who had problems and all are satisfied with their care. A 77 year old neighbour of mine booked his knee replacement surgery last week. For the last week in July. There is a long list of hospitals in Canada that specialize and are considered amongst the best in the world. The Ottawa Heart Institute is one. I believe there is another in Barrie Ontario that does hernias and some of the hospitals in Toronto are kidney and breast cancer and reconstruction specialists
One needs to remember health care is a billion dollar industry and the status quo will fight tooth and nail to avoid changing. Just imagine all those health insurance premiums no longer needed or being paid and what group would be real PO'd about that.
The Canadian system is not perfect, to claim otherwise would be a lie, but it does work and it's critics often as not, have never needed it.
I have no axe to grind ,no lobby to appease, no political points to gain by using innuendo or half truths to put down a health care system that over the last 30 years has saved my family in excess of a million dollars in health care costs. Twenty-three years ago when my 5 year old son was choking from epiglotitis Ontario health care saved his life. Three years ago when my Father's psa test went off the scale it saved his. I watched a son-in-law suffer from Crohns diesease, be operated on and recover to be a Dad to my Grandsons. I watched a dear friend suffer from congenital heart disease then die of breast cancer brought on by hormone therapy. Not once did a hospital, doctor, nurse or home care let any of them down. I don't need any articles, research, and anecdotal evidence to form an opinion. As for being a pawn. Maybe, but I've never learn how nor have I never met anyone who could pick and choose when they were going to need health care. And as for payng for it, it's never been an issue.
Hello, Mr. guy ahead of me, I have this serious head injury from the car accident I was in and you've only got a slight cold which you caught from your mistress, would you mind letting me cut in front of you or could you go home and make the line shorter for the rest of us with more serious medical problems?
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