On the U.S. side and all along the U.S. Canadian border, medical facilities have thrived in no small part due to the influx of Canadian medical refugees. Tired of waiting in line for care or desperate to receive timely life-saving care, Canadians, blessed by their wonderful cradle to grave national health care system, stream across the border for medical care they are more than happy to pay for, rather than not receive the “free” care in their own country.
I can understand why someone here in Oklahoma might not be able to completely wrap their mind around the spectacle of sick Canadians lined up at the border crossing or families of these poor people in a coffee shop across the street from a hospital where their loved one, denied care in Canada due to their vicious rationing scheme, is having surgery. What I cannot understand is how someone living and writing in Wisconsin can fail to see this. This article by the editor emeritus of a Wisconsin newspaper shows how far we still have to go in educating people in the U.S. about what is wrong with health care here, why it is so expensive and what to do about it. Mr. Zweifel’s article recommends giving another tequila shot to an alcoholic. Government is the problem, not the solution. The very presence of Medicare and Medicaid in the health care market has created a distortion in the market and a mal-investment pattern that has caused the price of care to skyrocket. This, in turn, created a previously unnecessary niche market and demand for private health insurance. The idea that government can ride to the rescue for this problem or any other is either stupid or evil. Haven’t we seen enough? The unaccountability of government, the lack of discipline that the harsh market inflicts on failure results in the department of motor vehicles mentality, not the attitude you want your nurse or surgeon to have. Government actually incentivizes failure, the failed program obviously not having received adequate funding initially….right?
Mr. Zweifel and those like him that believe that a single payor system is the way to go, should receive their care at the local VA hospital or at an Indian hospital nearby to get a feel for what it is they are advocating. People from Canada are coming to Oklahoma City to our facility to receive surgery. What other evidence of failure of the “single payor” scheme does someone need? Don’t see many in the U.S. going to Canada for their care, do you?
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
Three American institutes which see a lot of Canadian patients – the Mayo Clinic, The Cleveland Clinic and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. A lot of Americans told me Canadians go to the US to get treatment, which is true. Americans may come to buy brand name drugs in Canada – but generics on the other hand are more expensive here in Canada. by the way, what did you mean by Spawn of Rain Man?
Comment by Kartik — November 3, 2011 @ 12:28 pm
Many Canadian patients are forced to leave Canada’s single-payer, government-run health care system to seek the medical care they so desperately need. The option of accessing medical care in the United States has always served as a beacon of hope for these patients. It’s nice to know that hope still lives in Oklahoma!
Comment by The Patient Factor — November 12, 2011 @ 12:56 pm