Many Americans have railed for years that U.S. health care reform should try to achieve the lofty heights of the Canadian health care system. Canadians purportedly pay less and get more, everybody is covered equally, and upgrades are available for meager additional fees.

Moose poo.

In the States, when I started passing a kidney stone, I saw a specialist within the day. Here in Canada, I have to make an appointment, which is commonly 2-4 months hence.

Let me point out that a kidney stone passes NOW. The pain is NOW, not 4 months from now. Why would I want to see a urologist 4 months later?

To laugh about what fun it was writhing in pain while their receptionist booked me to come in months after I needed them? To strategize how to avoid another such interminable lag between medical need and proper care? To chat about what “should be done” about this pathetic heath care system?

Actually, no. Because the Canadian government only pays a pittance for each patient a doctor sees, and therefore I am shunted out of the office faster than you can say “government-sponsored medical malpractice” so that the doctor can see the other five patients booked that hour in order to make enough money to afford bus fare home each night.

The Canadian form of socialized medicine does not address immediate needs. Pregnant women are regularly sent over the border to the US to get timely treatment. Delayed treatment creates medical emergencies that jam the ERs of an ever-diminishing number of hospitals. Timely health care only comes to those who pay US-level fees to see private doctors.

The truth is that Canadians pay more in taxes for less health care, that the rich get faster and better health care, and that the poor and unemployed are relegated to overcrowded, under-staffed, ill-supplied clinics.

It sounds to me like the U.S. isn’t the only country that needs serious health care reform.

Jim Lawter

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