Posted on 12/29/2023 6:23:44 AM PST by MtnClimber
For decades, Americans have been told that the only humane, decent health care system is one run by the government. The oft-uttered complaint is that it’s a shame that the richest country in the world doesn’t have universal medical care. The reality is that the universal systems in other wealthy nations are cruel, cold bureaucracies.
If there are any doubts that this is true, look northward, to Canada, where waiting lists for treatment are leaving “patients frozen in line,” Pacific Research Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Sally Pipes recently wrote in Forbes.
“When everyone within a country is trapped in a public health insurance system,” says Pipes, patients suffer through a median waiting time “for medically necessary treatment from a specialist after being referred by a general practitioner” for an average of 27.7 weeks.
“That’s over six months – the longest ever recorded,” she adds.
Pipes cites data from Canada’s Fraser Institute, which in its most recent health care report found:
- The waiting time from a referral by a general practitioner to consultation with a specialist “increased from 12.6 weeks in 2022 to 14.6 weeks in 2023.”
- That while the “waiting time from the consultation with a specialist to the point at which the patient receives treatment” actually decreased “from 14.8 weeks in 2022 to 13.1 weeks this year,” it “is still 133% longer than in 1993 when it was 5.6 weeks.”
- The “waiting time from the consultation with a specialist to the point at which the patient receives treatment” is still 4.6 weeks longer than what physicians consider to be clinically ‘reasonable.’”
The American version of government medicine is no great achievement, either. Pipes points out that patients covered by our country’s “free” care – Medicaid – wait “1.3 days longer than commercially insured ones” to see primary physicians.
At the same time, it’s been determined that Medicaid beneficiaries are “1.6 times less likely to successfully schedule a primary care appointment than those with primary insurance – and 3.3 times less likely to secure an appointment with a specialist.”
Though he didn’t launch Canada’s failing system – it was established in 1984 during the final term of his prime minister father Pierre, who “duped Canadians into taking pride in their substandard health-care system” – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defends the indefensible as many before him have. To his credit, he admits “our health care system isn’t living up to” the “promise that no matter where you live, or what you earn, you will always be able to get the medical care you need.” Yet he believes that all it needs is more money – nearly $200 billion more.
Clearly Canada needs to put a sharper focus on the mental health of its “leaders,” since they’ve been exhibiting signs of insanity by constantly making the same poor decisions over and over and expecting a different result.
The left loves to ration everything and make people wait in line. Why do people vote for that?
They're wrong.
We have extended family that live in Cobalt, Ontario which is NE of Michigan.
Both the Matriarch and the Patriarch of that branch of the family died on the operating table up there. One for a kidney issue, one for a simple hernia operation.
No love from me to Canada and their Socialized ‘medicine.’ :(
.
Maybe someone should do a study on why Canadians are coming across the border to the USA,
and pay their own way here in the States to have medical care at their own expense.
Ya think ?
Many US doctors have set up shop in Mexico for people who pay in cash. I hear that Singapore is also a popular place for people to get healthcare for reasonable prices without waiting lines.
You beat me to it… That’s what I was going to say.
And the truth of it, even $2 trillion won’t be adequate it will cost even more.
Justin has Zero qualifications to be Prime Minister his party picked him because of his last name
I think it goes without saying, but for those who do not understand the implications of long time until treatment. The clock on your illness is ticking, we don’t know which will come first, your appointment with either the doctor or death. But if it’s the latter, then the public medical systems saves money! Imagine that… 🧐
I needed heart surgery, replacement of ascending aorta and the aortic valve. Ten days after the decision that surgery was necessary it was done. I do not live in Canada. I am retired and on Medicare but also have private insurance. My bill was zero.
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