(If you’re just joining this series, feel free to read the previous installments.) Or click here to read Part 1 of the Health Care series.
Check Your Health Care Premises (Part 5)
I had planned to end the series on Health Care after Part 4 but felt compelled to add the following because it’s so important an issue that I believe if there’s one more point; one more example that will help educate us all to realize that the path to Socialized Medicine is contrary to both our individual and national health, then it needs to be made. And, the following might or might not be it.
Health care is simply a microcosm of everything else and operates under the same basic principles, both economic and life.
As a general rule, with government programs, the following statement holds true: “The product is worse, the expense is higher, inefficiency is the rule, and everything is typically ‘up for sale’ to the highest special interest bidder via their lobbyists.” This has proven true with medicine so far as it has become more and more socialized in the U.S., and will most likely only accelerate should we actually get Universal Healthcare in our country.
The above rule also conforms with the immutable law of economics that says, “Nobody spends someone else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.
One of the most poignant stories I’ve ever read, heard, or (in this case) seen about the inherent danger of Single-Pay insurance programs was on the online service YouTube.com from a filmaker/political commentator by the name of Stuart Browning. He has – in my opinion – simply “hit the nail on the head” regarding this topic. It’s 5:37 in length and worth every second to watch.
In this video, entitled, “A Short Course in Brain Surgery” he tells the not uncommon-enough story of a Canadian citizen who, despite being totally covered by Canadian’s provincial government for all medical procedures, couldn’t get an appointment to see what’s wrong with him…in this case, even though it was suspected that he had a brain tumor! It would be four months before he could get an MRI!!!!!
Well, brain tumors don’t necessarily wait that long to be diagnosed before they kill, so Mr. McCreith, a retiree on a limited budget, and his wife, Sandra, decided they would rather pay out of their own pocket and get it taken care of. The government said no. (The government said no. Think about that; a body of politicians and bureaucrats actually have the “right” to hold the fate of one of their citizens in their hands – which is bad enough – but they also told him, “no”).
The McCreiths eventually went south of the border to the U.S. where, fortunately, we have not yet (yet) sunk to Socialized Health Care (yet, please make no mistake – we are very far from our once excellent free-market based system). He was able to get the MRI. It was indeed a brain tumor. He had it operated on, again in the U.S.
He was also out $28,000. (Remember, he also pays lots of taxes to the Canadian Government so he certainly expected services for his payments.) But he had no choice because, unless he headed south, he wasn’t going to get checked out – and then operated – in time to save his life.
You see, in Canada (as in every country that has Socialized Medicine), while everyone supposedly has a right to “free” healthcare coverage, what they really have is a right to join a waiting list.
Please note – this is so important: Basic economics tells us that when something is free or of a price that’s so low it is well under market value, it will create a demand; A demand that typically cannot be covered. The only way to decrease demand would be to raise prices but – with Universal Health Care – where the government is the only legal provider – that can’t be done.
So, the average citizen simply has to leave his or her health (thus, their very fate) up to the system; a system run by bureaucrats without a vested interest in making sure the individual is happy. After all, in a “socialistic” system, by its very nature, the individual is not as important as the collective.
This system has caused a backlog in Canadian healthcare that has been nearly catastrophic, such as was nearly the case with Mr. Lindsay McCreith, This should not happen in a country as great and civilized as Canada, nor should it happen anywhere else. Let’s not allow this to happen in the U.S.
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*Before any of my many Canadian friends email me that I’m picking on Canada, please know that, personally, I love Canada, enjoy visiting on business and constantly brag to my American friends how wonderfully hospitable you all are (and how delicious Tim Horton’s coffee is). 🙂 I’m also not trying to tell you how to run your country. I would never do that. I’m only pointing out something I feel very strongly about in that I don’t want my beloved country, The U.S.A., going the Single-Payer route as you have north of the border.
And, if you do write, please don’t point out how inefficient our “free-market” healthcare system is. Before you do that, please read the previous four parts of this series and see that I clearly make the case that we have not had a free-market health-care system here in the U.S. for over 50 years.
Socialism is never the answer. Liberty is the answer.
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Well written, my friend! Very well written!
Pamela
Bob. The privilege of getting on a waiting list was a phrase I hadn’t heard or analyzed before however it is deadly accurate. The story you relate of the gentleman with a brain tumor is very common here in Canada. Keep up the informative articles. I intend to forward them on to my MP in the hopes someone with some common sense will attempt to fix the mess our Canadian Universal Health Care System is in.
Thanks. Enjoyed every one of your articles.
Joyce Penner
On the other hand, I have personally witnessed via Socialized Medicine in the country of Sweden a boy who had to have emergency knee surgery due to a sports injury which happened in that country. His surgery was very well performed, heeled in record time, and in addition although he was an American Citizen was treated with outstanding promptness and courtesy.
Elena
That’s very nice, Elena. I’m glad that young man had a good experience. I’m sure that happens quite a bit and we can go into every country in which there is socialized medicine and find nice stories like that, as well. We can also find tragedies *because* of socialized medicine (and, since writing these articles, I’m hearing more and more of them from those whose loved ones were affected). That’s not the question. I’m concerned with the fact that, with socialized medicine many of the things happen as per the articles, not to many we are creating a situation where there will be less doctors and other healthcare professionals (I speak with them all the time here; more good medical talent is leaving the professional than you can imagine), demand will increase, waiting lists will grow dramatically, quality will fall off, and the expense incurred to all the taxpayers will be enormous. And…choice will be taken away.
Still, if you believe in Socialized Medicine, that is certainly your right. What *isn’t* your right is to force others to participate along with you. We as citizens of a free society must all respect each others’ right to live and decide as we choose, providing we don’t force our will on others.
Agree with Joyce re: the privilege of getting on a waiting list..certainly well put..you must go thru your gp first (if you have one..many don’t and use the er ) to get a referral which then takes months. Asked for a dermatologist appt in Jan .one scheduled in April..had to be re-scheduled..now for August. And:
Allow me to relate my story:
My husband who had leukemia decided to go route of BMT and blood count was ok to go ahead but at his last blood work before scheduling they said no count had gone up and therefore disqualified..because didn’t meet the “criteria””…his Princess Margaret doctor wrote a letter on his behalf ..to no avail. We offered to pay for it..said then we could at least stay in Ontario..NO. We went to Boston…paid..My son and I drove back and forth Thursday to Sundays….for two months…He actually came thru and was outpatient then …kidney failure…GVH…died .
Ambulances are often on redirect…full er…so people get taken to another town…maybe only half hour away but still..
not all that people think it is for sure….
Dear Bob.. I am a licensed board certified family physician practicing in south Florida
for the past 12 years and things gave definitely changed.
I have a practice in Jupiter, Florida that I opened 18 months ago.
After spending 10 years seeing 30 patients a day and relying on
third party payers for .2 cents on the dollar; I opened a “concierge”
membership practice. I now take care of 250 wonderful patients and am able to practice
medicine again and enjoy being a doctor. Never in my wildest dreams did I think
I would “charge” patients to be there doctor, but in life you get what you pay
for, and speaking from experience.. In medicine.. Depending on what country you live
in, you also get what you “pay” for.
My uncle died at age 60, six years ago.. A citizen of Ontario, Canada,
a citizen with “universal” health care coverage.
He waited three months to see a urologist, another 2 months to get an MRI,
2 more months to get in with an oncologist, and three more months to start treatment for bladder
cancer. He died four months later at age 60.
In America, and our current healthcare system, I could have
gotten the MRI on thevdsy he called me, had it read that night; seen
by a urologist the next morning and started treatment that same day.
You tell me which system is better?? If this country, goes to universal healthcare,
I’m packing up my shingle and opening a vineyard in the South of France; at least
I won’t have to tell someone’s nephew their uncle died because of a ” waiting list”!!!
I enjoyed your article very much… Thank you!!
Dr. Stitsky
y
Jodie, thank you for sharing your story. I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine anyone reading this and still putting any kind of trust in government to take care of their (or their loved ones’) important health matters. My heart goes out to you and your son.
Dr. Stitsky, my heart goes out to you for your loss as it does for Jodie. And, as it does for the many I hear from and read about under a system of Socialized Medicine. As you described, it simply doesn’t work, if by “work” one means being able to do the optimum job possible. Every time I hear a story such as yours, I just ask myself how anyone could actually be “for” the kind of system that leaves so many at a loss for good, quality care. The only answer I can come up with is that, because they mistakenly believe we (the U.S.) currently have a market-based healthcare system – which we don’t – that doesn’t work, they are willing to try anything, hoping it will be an improvement. The improvement will come only from once again having the market-based healtcare system that we the people of the U.S. (and all other countries) deserve to have.
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/668161
Hi Bob
Thought you might be interested in this article and especially the comments posted against it…lots of angry Canadians for all those pleased ones… if you have never had anything major happen I can see how you might feel differently. The Star is a very liberal Toronto paper as compared to The National Post say. However, The Star is the paper that most Ontarians read and absorb. FYI only
Hi Jodie,
I did read the article and was astounded by the numerous contradictions by Mr. Campbell. It did, however, make me feel good to know that your politicians are just as duplicitious as are ours. On the other hand, I truly don’t believe most of them (ours or yours) even realize how duplicitous they are; definitely self-delusion comes into play. 🙂
Without going too deep into the content of the article, it seems that while he’s telling us how wonderful Socialized health care is, he also says:
#1 “In our system, wait times have been the largest complaint but SOME (emphasis mine) progress is being made.
#2 “…urgent cases MOSTLY (emphasis mine) get treated in a timely fashion…” {Bob: I’m sure that is very re-assuring to the many families who’ve lost loved ones do those whose life-threatening illnesses were *not* treated in a timely fashion.}
#3 “But there never are sufficient revenues for an open-ended system. This is why we struggle with scarcity of staff and equipment.” {Bob: Yes, that is exactly why.}
#4 “Increasing taxes is not recommended as Canadians are already overtaxed” {Bob: This one needs no commentary.}
#5 “When the government is the only payer, it rules out market signals that improve service and efficiency” {Bob: Yes!}
#6 “We provide free coverage for minor services so we don’t always have enough resources for timely major services” {Bob: I am amazed and astounded. Does this guy realize what he is saying?!}
#7 “A more sensible system, while excluding no one, would include co-payments for front-end cost…” {Bob: What?? Is he now suggesting people should…pay something?}
With all respect to former Deputy Minister of Health and Deputy Minister of Treasury and Economics for Ontario, Campbell, I don’t think any more needs to be said.