Happy Canada Day to my friends a few miles north.
Yes, my Canadian friends, we in the U.S. have passed a health care reform bill that only our politicians could love. We had a chance at a single-payer system. But, apparently, your Canadian system is so backwards and inefficient we were loathe to adopt it because it smacked of socialism and was not working. Right?
My small business readers have been told your health insurance system in Canada does not work or is somehow socialistic. But, I am conflicted because, in writing about the health insurance debate in the U.S. and trying to keep my personal views as a business owner and voter to myself and remain objective, my research and contacts with Canadians indicate your system makes decidedly more sense than this thing we’ve crafted down here.
So, in honor of Canada Day, I thought I’d quote here one of the best explanations of the Canadian system written by a Canadian for the Denver Post last year:
“It is not a perfect system, but it has its merits. For people like my 55-year-old Aunt Betty, who has been waiting for 14 months for knee-replacement surgery due to a long history of arthritis, it is the superior system. Her $35,000-plus surgery is finally scheduled for next month. She has been in pain, and her quality of life has been compromised. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Aunt Betty — who lives on a fixed income and could never afford private health insurance, much less the cost of the surgery and requisite follow-up care — will soon sport a new, high-tech knee. Waiting 14 months for the procedure is easy when the alternative is living in pain for the rest of your life.”
Or, perhaps this quote from a writer at the Toronto Star:
“For Canadians, the debate highlights a key difference between the two countries: In the U.S., health care is a commodity to be bought and sold for profit; in Canada, it’s considered a human right.”
Your system is one-payer, not socialistic. Your doctors are self-employed, not employees of the government. You pay less taxes and receive more services. You spend 10% of your GDP with 100% coverage. And, there are waits, for elective and specialty care. But, a good deal of that care never gets to most Americans.
With embarrassment, I watch my local politicians put together bus trips for our elderly to visit up north to obtain medicine. I have heard that hordes of you all come down here to get treatment, but I have never met a single Canadian visiting The Cleveland Clinic. I have met many people from rural America who drive here for treatment.
Finally, if my business was in Canada, I withhold and pay my taxes, my employees are covered, and the ridiculous overhead related to my most expensive business insurance cost is eliminated. Perhaps, I hire another employee and grow my business. We stay efficient, my workforce healthy, and labor mobility is assured.
I saved that rant for today. Happy Canada Day!
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