Health Care - the battle continues

I'm sure that you have all seen those commercials opposing health care reform in the United States from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation that includes a clip of Shona Holmes from Canada. In this commercial, Ms. Holmes makes that claim that if she relied on governments in Canada for treatment she would be dead.

There has been much ink spilled on her illness and the treatment she paid for in the US. Some of the opponents of health care reform in the US have used the "socialized" medicine bogeyman to try to defeat the public health option being discussed in Congress. They have said that they do not want to have a government "bureaucrat" decide on treatment. Unless the treatment is not covered by the provincial health plan, the government "bureaucrat" has nothing to say about the treatment prescribed by your physician. In the US, insurance company representatives can refuse treatment or payment after treatment on a number of grounds. The most recent example is of a women with brain tumors who was refused treatment by her insurance company. Read about it here.

There are many studies that show that a single payer system, as in Canada, is much more efficient that multiple payer systems as in the US. This is on top of providing universal coverage to the population. In the US, 50 million people are not insured and a significant number have inadequate coverage. The US spends almost 20% of its GDP on health care and yet have worse health outcomes than Canada and Western European countries who spend much less through universal programs.

Canada's system is by no means perfect and we still have work to do to ensure better efficiency, effectiveness and affordability of our system.