Why Americans should not adopt our (Canadian) Health Care Model

So, Obama is intent on using his party's full control of House and Senate to push forward Heath Care reform.

It's made to sound pretty good, right? Compassionate? (Didn't you see him hug that lady?) Giving unfettered medical access to all? Michael MooreMichael Moore and others like him tend to point to places like Canada (where I live) and Cuba as shining examples of a health care system that is infinitely better than the American Model.

I would like to warn my American friends about some of the possible pitfalls of taking that fork in the road.

First, and most obvious, it's pretty well an irrevocable decision. By that I mean, once you grant the public something from public funds, it is VERY difficult to reverse that decision. If it turns out that it is not sustainable, or has detrimental effects on your health care that you did not foresee, it will be nearly impossible to turn back the clock.

Second, much like your insurance providers, there is a finite pool of money for Government providers to draw from, and they will need to adjust what treatments are covered by your plans and what are not without "breaking the bank".

They will face pressure to have very expensive treatments covered. Especially the politically sensitive ones. Just like the Big Three auto makers were some of the principle purchasers of the "little blue pill", people will insist that their medical need is 'special'.

As it is, you alreadyhave American TV commercials advertising motorized scooters and the promise that it won't cost you anything -- they will bill the government for it. (As though that were somehow the same as free.)

Once those expensive treatments are treated, you will find you've quickly run out of money for other matters. You know, trifling things like Chemotherapy.

Did you know that here in Canada (specifically Ontario) you are limited to a certain amount of chemotherapy, after which you pay out of pocket? Did Mr. Moore fail to mention that little detail? That's regardless of whether you are benefiting from treatment.

Check out this quick Google-search of the phrase "Ontario chemotherapy denied" with 440000 hits. Feel free to peruse the list, or try one of your own.

Here is an article by a national newspaper (the Globe and Mail) which says that it is so difficult to qualify for some of the most advanced diagnostic testing (like PET scans for cancer), that experiments on lab animals are occupying the unused machine time. Meanwhile, patients cannot access the few operational machines we have for testing, and their cancers go undiagnosed / untreated much longer than they should.

If a Canadian entrepreneur wanted to invest money, and provide medical diagnostics where people could pay for their own testing, he couldn't. It's forbidden by law, unless you live in Quebec. Sorry. That should read: it is forbidden to have for-profit Medical diagnostic equipment for people. If you want to set one up in your veterinary office, that's cool.

It really comes down to class warfare. Opponents cry "Two Tier health care" meaning "the rich" might somehow get better service if they could pay at a private clinic. Honestly, people already go the USA to do the same thing. Why the objection?

(Our provincial government website states that here in Ottawa, you wait 107 days for an MRI.) To display this info, you will have to select MRI, and type Ottawa as your location. It won't let me link the URL. It also shows the wait times for various surgeries.

And now for an entirely self-serving reason to advocate that you do not adopt our system. Your system is our release valve. Our wealthier citizens go the the USA and bring their money there. They get out of our health care lines, which makes them shorter and go into your clinics. If you switch to our system, that release valve will be gone.

Ask yourself: you already know that we send our tough cases to places like the Mayo clinic and other advanced medical centers, but when is the last time you heard about an American availing himself of the Canadian medical system?

Still not convinced? An American visited us and checked out our medical system. Here's his video.

Caveat Emptor