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Government-Run Health Care Is Really Wonderful

By January 18, 2025Commentary

In the wake of the cowardly and brutal murder of a US health insurance executive, renewed scrutiny has been given to the US health care system.  And of course, the single-payer, government-run system nuts have been spouting off about how much better that would be.  And if you like waiting forever for health care and then having poor outcomes, those systems are just the thing for you.  A group in Canada has gotten data on waiting lists in that country’s government-run health insurance program.  It found that, as you would expect in anything government does, waiting lists and wait times are long.

The report says that in a one year period ending in March 2023, just in part of Canada 17,000 patients died while waiting for something as basic as a scan or surgery.  Some patients had been on the wait list for over ten years and many of the surgeries were for very serious conditions, like heart problems.  Obviously, some of these people would have died anyway, and direct causation may be hard to demonstrate, but just as obviously, when someone has an identified need for health care, the longer they wait to get treatment, the more likely there will be a bad outcome.  And knowing you need health care and having to wait for it is anxiety-producing which itself can lead to a deterioration in health.    (SS Article)

There can be wait time is private systems as well, as capacity constraints can exist.  But when government is funding health insurance and/or health care, rationing, whether explicit or implicit is a feature of the health system.  Failing to provide adequate funding and capacity leads to wait lists.  The government knows exactly what it is doing–it is limiting spending by making it difficult for people to get the care they need.  Canada underpays providers, so the country has a capacity issue.  The country underpays providers to control how much is spent on health care.  If you think things would be any different in the US under a government system, you are just dead wrong, no pun intended.

Join the discussion 2 Comments

  • John V Wasilchick says:

    Not reported in Canada is the long term effects of delayed treatment. Young athletes or just active people with knee injury wait 6, 8, 10 weeks for corrective surgery and wind up with arthritis in middle age. Prompt treatment yields much better long term outcomes. But this is hard to quantify and if it could it would be embarrassing to the Canadian system. Also, in Canada there is no alternative (except to come to the US and pay out of pocket).

  • Pamela Marie Elbers says:

    Thanks for all the info you provide! If only EVERYONE could/would see it/read it/believe it!

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