Health Care: A Tale of Two Countries
North of 50 - Fair Comment - September 2009
Don Sawyer
The next time you hear someone comment that Canadians and Americans are essentially alike, you may want to refer them to the current health care fiasco in the US. The modest (by the standards of the civilized world) health reform package advocated by President Obama is being met by a vile campaign of lies, fear mongering, bitter partisanship, manipulation, and appeals to fundamentalist American individualism that is, well, just plain un-Canadian.
The "debate" hit a new low when Sarah Palin, the Republican's former vice-presidential candidate, declared Obama's plans "downright evil," suggesting that her "parents or my baby with Down's syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide… whether they are worthy of healthcare."
Huh? A plan that would leave the private insurance providers intact but has the audacity to guarantee health care to the almost 50 million currently with no insurance whatsoever will lead to "death panels"? A program that is so bold as to require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms, colonoscopies, or eye and foot exams for diabetics is "downright evil"? A plan that would require companies to cover even those with a previous injury or illness and to remove arbitrary caps on the amount of medical services a person can receive in a given year (resulting in medical debts that account for half of all personal bankruptcies in the US) is a "threat to American prosperity"?
And if the absurdity of these arguments isn't enough, organized opponents of health reform in the US (most, such as Conservatives for Patients' Rights and Americans for Prosperity linked to health insurance companies and/or the Republican Party) have had the audacity to trot out unhappy Canadians to demonize the "socialist" health care system we have in Canada.
The facts, always largely irrelevant in US political discourse, suggest Americans should be so lucky. As Diane Francis, herself an American who has lived in Canada for 35 years, summarized in the National Post, Canada's system:
- Uses only 10% of our GDP versus 15% in the US, even though our system takes care of all Canadians
- Operates at a cost that is equal to the profits made by US health care insurers
- Ensures workers can change jobs without worrying about losing insurance due to a pre-existing condition with a new employer
- Results in significantly lower infant mortality rates and longer life expectancy than in the US
- Means no one goes broke because of medical bills
- Means that Canadians can select their own doctors and seek multiple opinions
- Ensures significantly lower drug costs
Produces better outcomes with major illnesses such as cancer and - heart disease
Means that no emergency is neglected in Canada - Covers all 33 million Canadians while 15% of Americans have no insurance whatsoever and millions more have inadequate coverage
Much of the well-orchestrated alarm in the US over the proposed health care reforms is the result of fear, insularity, and that peculiar brand of superficial individualism that makes America what it is. This was brought home to me on a recent visit to Washington. At a farmers' market on Whidbey Island, a group of volunteers was manning a booth trying to disseminate information on the need for health care reform. I walked up to speak with them as a woman was arguing loudly with one of the men.
"My friend says her insurance will be worse!" she insisted.
"No, ma'am," the man responded patiently. "No one will reduce your plan. You will be able to keep the same level of service you have now."
I turned to the woman and shook my head. "But the real point is that the 50 million Americans with no insurance will now be covered."
She looked at me with oddly blank eyes. "That's not my problem," she said, walking off into the crowd.
I turned to the men behind the table. "This just makes no sense. Every other industrialized county in the world has a national health care system. Is there something particularly selfish about Americans that makes them unable to care about the plight of others?"
All three nodded sadly. One man said "We hear it all the time: 'If they want health insurance, let them get a job and pay for it like I do.' They've got it and to hell with those who don't."
While it is true that in the early 60's Tommy Douglas and Woodrow Lloyd faced fierce resistance to the implementation of a comprehensive health care system in Saskatchewan, by 1968 Canada had passed the Medical Care Act that provided universal health care to all Canadians. More than 40 years later, Americans still cannot seem to find the generosity of spirit or sense of community responsibility necessary for a more just and equitable society.
Don Sawyer is a writer, educator and former director of Okanagan College's International Development Centre. He lives with his wife in Salmon Arm.
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