Canada Doesn't Get It

Barack Obama has scheduled a play date this month with Canada’s NDP (New Democratic Party) leader, Jack Layton. President Obama plans to sit down with Canada’s premier socialist “expert” on how to best nationalize our healthcare system.

Layton, who is known in his homeland for trying to imitate Obama’s feel good speeches, and Obama’s state-of-the-art suit ensembles, will now be urging Obama to imitate his party’s healthcare principles. Layton will spend three days this month bragging to Americans about Canada-Care, delivering speeches and meeting with Democrats.

When Brad Lavinge, the National Director of Canada’s NDP, was asked about the upcoming appointment, he stated, "We would go down there to not only defend Canada's health-care system -- but encourage them to adopt similar features."

Lavinge went on to say, “"[Medicare] is one of the greatest connections we have to each other. Regardless of your economic status, if you get sick, you will get care.”

Lavinge is right of course. If Canadians get sick, they do get care. He just fails to mention how long it may take depending on your ailment.

According to a recent study published in Health Affairs it could take a Canadian cancer patient up to 3 months to receive treatment. It was found that you were most likely to wait more than 1 month for elective surgery, 6 days or longer to see a doctor when ill…the list goes on.

The American Medicare System is the best case-study for demonstrating the failures of socialized medicine.

MIT economist Amy Finkelstein found terrible consequences which emerged in just the first five years of Medicare. U.S. hospital spending soared 37 percent without a "discernible impact on elderly mortality". Spending soared because individuals were getting services for next to nothing, encouraging individuals to abuse the system.

Since Medicare was implemented, the list of items covered by the health plan has grown each year. The monthly costs for this expanding list of coverage is much more than taxpayers can afford.

Today, Medicare consumes 15 percent of the federal budget and consumes similar shares of most state budgets.

You can be sure now that Obama and the Democrats are pushing a Medicare-like insurance policy for all, coverage will be even more measureless. “Necessary” procedures like abortion and sex change operations will soon be provided on the backs of taxpayers.

Since any logical person can surmise that health care is never free, how does Medicare offer such affordable care? Well to keep Medicare prices affordable, the government charges less for the medical procedures than the market price, forcing tax payers to make up the difference. This means health care isn’t going to be affordable for the next generation due to this philosophy of tax-care-coverage.

In other words, when the government makes something “affordable” or “free” it simply means the taxpayer is responsible for whatever plan-of-action the government decides is best for all.

From the Post Office to the DMV, it’s hard to try and think of an effective machine that the Government operates. Medicare is no different. Any Doctor can tell you about the massive amount of paper work that accompanies each Medicare transaction. In fact, in many states we are seeing more and more doctors REFUSING to accept Medicare patients.

In Seattle, the percentage of doctors who accept new Medicare patients fell from 71 percent to 55 percent in four years, according to the Washington-based Center for Studying Health System Change.

More to the point, we see in further studies conducted by the Center for Studying Health System Change that our Medicare system now closely parallels the beloved Canadian-run Medicare system. One such parallel is the increased refusal for treatment.

Gaining access to doctors, particularly specialists, has become increasingly difficult for seniors with Medicare.

Medicare controls its costs by setting artificially low fee schedules for the services it does cover. Nearly every year Medicare unilaterally cuts physician payments. And doctors, who have seen their operating costs increased radically over the years won't take the economic blows much longer. Our best and brightest in America will soon realize that under a system like Medicare, they’d be better off becoming trail lawyers suing doctors.

Just look at Canada, students there who are considering a medical career are giving it a second thought. Once the home of one of the developed world's highest physician-to-population ratios, Canada now ranks a sad 26th among 28 developed nations that maintain universal approaches to health care. Of course government restrictions are to blame. One such restriction is the increased difficulty in receiving physician training. Canada's physician-to-population ratio will continue to fall in coming years unless they look to other countries for help.

It’s clear that Obama and the Democrats are being pressured by our neighboring socialists to become more like them. More like them? A large percent of Canadians with cancer seek immediate aid from specialists in America. Who wouldn’t? The life expectancy in America is 30% more for a cancer patient than it is in Canada.

Americans have created a multi-faceted problem within the tangled web of health insurance problems, but our legislature would be well advised to look away from more government control and intervention for their solutions.

Let’s put possible solutions in the hands of Americans, who in the exercise of their freedom and creativity produce the best possible outcomes. After all, this is why America has a record of unparalleled inventiveness and a vast record of world changing development…not Canada.