“Americans who make pine pine for Medicare for everyone in the US should be careful of their Canadians …(+)
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Has Bernie Sanders returned? Earlier this month, the Associated Press declared that Sanders had emerged as one of the leaders of the revived “anti-Trump resistance.” The 83-year-old senator is touring a country that “paints a massive crowd” where he gets to hear him talk about democracy, education and healthcare.
To be fair, Vermont socialists really aren't going anywhere. However, after the 2016 Rebel Presidential Campaign, he retreated primarily to his role as one of the Senate's most senior members. He has recently been co-chair of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (Help) Committee during the Biden administration.
Sanders was the most prominent advocate for adopting Canadian-style socialized healthcare in the United States. You could even call him a single payer “pied piper.” Eliminating private insurance and replacing it with a government-run single payer system was his presidential election tent pole. He has remained a celebrity of his cause ever since.
But single payer healthcare is nothing but stupid. The Canadian system taxes people heavily for the “privilege” of waiting for low quality care forever. Doctors and nurses are overworked and burned out, preventing sick Canadians from accessing cutting-edge treatments and timely appointments.
Crossing borders to a single payer would be a disaster.
The appeal of government-guaranteed health insurance is simple. No matter your income level or employment status, you can get free insurance, regardless of your insurance that promises the medical procedures you need.
But that's not how it works. You can start by distributing the idea that single payer health care is “free.”
People may not have to pay from their pocket for care at hospitals or doctors' offices, nor do they have to send monthly premiums to their insurance companies. However, they face sudden taxes to fund their health insurance. Last year, four typical Canadian families paid $18,000 in hidden taxes on health care, according to the Fraser Institute. It has increased by more than 85% since 1997.
These taxes do not buy the highest quality care. Consider the disparities in outcomes for cancer patients. Canada has 197 cancer deaths per 100,000 people compared to 183 in the US.
This disparity is partly due to the fact that Canada's health care system (like all single payment systems) reduces low costs by limiting the supply of care.
Canada has only 14 CT scanners per million residents, while the US has 42 per million people. Things get even worse when it comes to cutting-edge drugs. As of October 2022, American patients had access to 85% of all drugs fired between 2012 and 2021. Canadians had access to 45% of the drugs fired during the same period.
It's not just cutting-edge medicines that Canadian patients have to wait. According to the Fraser Institute, Canadian patients faced a median 30-week wait in 2024 for treatment from professionals following referral by a general practitioner. That was just over 27 weeks in 2023, an increase of 222% since 1993.
At the point of service, care is free, so demand is unlimited. Supply was inevitably limited, and more was created by the artificial cap on government health spending. This is a result of shortages and long waits.
Everyone waiting has real human costs. For the first six months of 2024, St. Paul Hospital in British Columbia cancelled more than 100 cardiac surgeries due to a shortage of staff. It's no wonder that around 75% of Canadians believe their health care system is in danger.
Still, Canadian politicians can't see what their constituents were forced to understand. Canada's newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney emerges from the gates protecting Canada's single payer system, saying, “Healthcare is a big company in America. That's right in Canada.”
But what are the healthcare rights if it means that patients are waiting for treatment that may never come? As former Canadian Supreme Court Chief Justice Prime Minister Beverly McLachlin wrote in a case that challenged the government's monopoly on insurance coverage provisions, “access to waiting lists is not access to health care.”
She was a spot. Americans who pine for Medicare for everyone in the US should be aware that their Canadian peers are almost dying waiting for care.
