Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sawboneses for single-payer
It's disappointing to learn that doctors are now climbing aboard the single-payer healthcare bandwagon. More accurately described as a government system, the single-payer concept has few virtues and is laden with problems.
The idea that a single-payer system will be less of a financial burden on Americans is patently ludicrous. Consider Canada's system of government-run healthcare. The high taxes needed to finance the massive system have pushed the average Canadian's tax burden to 50 percent of income.
It's a given that rationing follows any attempt to provide "free" universal healthcare. According to Vancouver's Fraser Institute, the median waiting time for angioplasty in British Columbia is 12 weeks; it takes eight weeks to receive radiation for breast cancer in Ontario; and it takes 12 weeks, on average, to undergo prostate surgery in Quebec. One would think Canada's system would have improved over the years; but the average waiting times have increased from 9.3 weeks in 1993 to 14 weeks in 2000. Who can blame Canadians for heading south to pay for prompt treatment in U.S. hospitals?
Finally, it's been suggested that market-based reforms of the U.S. healthcare system have failed. The sad fact is that free-market solutions have been watered down or dismissed outright by statist legislators (see medical savings accounts). The U.S. system remains a patchwork of third-party arrangements and government aid.
Instead of lurching toward socialism, doctors should be in favor of enacting a health-care system that gives American's choice and control over their healthcare.
The idea that a single-payer system will be less of a financial burden on Americans is patently ludicrous. Consider Canada's system of government-run healthcare. The high taxes needed to finance the massive system have pushed the average Canadian's tax burden to 50 percent of income.
It's a given that rationing follows any attempt to provide "free" universal healthcare. According to Vancouver's Fraser Institute, the median waiting time for angioplasty in British Columbia is 12 weeks; it takes eight weeks to receive radiation for breast cancer in Ontario; and it takes 12 weeks, on average, to undergo prostate surgery in Quebec. One would think Canada's system would have improved over the years; but the average waiting times have increased from 9.3 weeks in 1993 to 14 weeks in 2000. Who can blame Canadians for heading south to pay for prompt treatment in U.S. hospitals?
Finally, it's been suggested that market-based reforms of the U.S. healthcare system have failed. The sad fact is that free-market solutions have been watered down or dismissed outright by statist legislators (see medical savings accounts). The U.S. system remains a patchwork of third-party arrangements and government aid.
Instead of lurching toward socialism, doctors should be in favor of enacting a health-care system that gives American's choice and control over their healthcare.
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Tuesday, September 25, 2007 
