[hutchibk]

I am not afraid of universal health care. I just don't agree that it is the best and only solution in the US. I am tremendously interested and concerned about how it will be sustained... which Canada, Italy, England, etc etc are facing currently. Much like our failing social security system, (simplistically) more are using than are paying in. Over time, it will require curtailed services or even higher taxes, and many countries will also have to tackle reforming and more aggressively enforcing their taxing system to accomodate their healthcare system. I believe that just because there are aspects to our system that are bad, that the current model used in mentioned countries are NOT necessarily good or the only option or answer. Inside Canada for example, one is not allowed to seek and pay directly for health care outside of the public monopoly. This means that if you would prefer a procedure other than that offered by your Nat'l health doctor (and approved/mandated by the Nat'l healthsystem), you cannot go to a different Canadian doctor and pay privately. Any Canadian doctor who would agree to it would be breaking the law and would/could be prosecuted. These are the types of controls that make my blood boil.

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Written by a Canadian:

The top ten things many people believe about Canadian Medicare, but shouldn't:

• Number One: Canada has the best health care system in the world.
• Number Two: The Canadian public love Medicare.
• Number Three: Canadian Medicare is sustainable.
• Number Four: Single-payer, Canadian-style coverage, keeps costs under control.
• Number Five: More cash is the solution to Medicare's problems.
• Number Six: Under Medicare, people get the health care services that they need.
• Number Seven: "Free" health care empowers the poor.
• Number Eight: Canadian Medicare is fairer because no one gets better care than anyone else
• Number Nine: Medicare-type spending is the best way to improve health.
• Number Ten: Medicare is an economic competitive advantage for business.

Now, like most Canadians, I believe that our system is superior in many respects to the U.S. system, but it is a system that staggers under the burden of serious design flaws. I am deeply worried about the long-term sustainability of our health care system, and I think that we have much to learn from countries that ranked much higher than either Canada or the U.S. in the World Health Organization rankings.

These countries demonstrate that many of the fears that Canadians have about significant reform to Medicare (to introduce payment for health care, to allow people to pay directly for health care outside the government monopoly, and even breaking up the provision monopoly to allow competition and a greater role for the private sector) are all reforms that can be carried out within a public policy framework that continues to be preoccupied by equity considerations. That gives Canadians better value for the tens of billions of dollars they so patiently and lovingly devote to public health care spending in a repeated triumph of hope over experience.
Brian Lee Crowley is the President of the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/hl856.cfm