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The Consequences of Health Care Reform in Canada
August 24, 2010
Every year, about 40,000 Canadians come to America for medical treatments. Why? Because 50 years ago, the Canadian government instituted reforms similar to the ones the Democrats passed earlier this year, and those reforms quickly gave way to socialized medicine.
The “remarkable similarities” between ObamaCare and the beginnings of the Canadian health care reform effort are reason for concern, according to Sally Pipes, former Canadian and president of the non-profit Pacific Research Institute.
A widely-regarded health care expert, Pipes has written a new piece for Real Clear Politics stressing the importance of stopping these “incremental reforms of the sort advanced by Obamacare” before they result in a “full government takeover.”
In “Why ObamaCare Must Be Repealed,” Pipes outlines the history of Canadian health care reform, pointing out the parallels between its origins and those of ObamaCare. What started out as “government-funded hospital insurance” for one province rapidly evolved into hospital insurance for the entire county. Soon after, the government passed legislation providing money to each province to fund insurance for all residents. This, says Pipes, had dire consequences:
“With health care now effectively ‘free’ -- that is, paid for by other taxpayers -- Canadians began visiting the doctor twice as much. Exploding demand drove up costs. To keep spending under control, the federal government simply reduced how much it sent to provinces to run the system. Provinces in turn cut payments to doctors and covered fewer services and cutting-edge treatments.” (Emphasis added.)
Pipes writes in the San Francisco Chronicle that this Canadian system now has three major problems – problems experts have already forecast for the US if ObamaCare stands:
1. Canada suffers a physician shortage, with 11% of its doctors coming to the US to practice. “Physicians salaries are set at artificially low levels by provincial authorities: The average Canadian doctor makes just 42 percent of what an American physician does.”
2. Canadian patients face extraordinary wait times for procedures, nearly four months on average for medical or therapeutic treatment. “Nearly 700,000 Canadians are on a waiting list for surgery or other treatments.”
3. Canadians lack access to advanced medical technology and new drugs. “Publicly insured Canadians have access to half as many drugs as their countrymen with private insurance – and must wait a year longer to gain access to the few new drugs that become available.”
Despite these problems, this Canadian system is the blueprint for President Obama’s reforms… it also offers a glimpse into our future. In Canada, the reforms began in one province: Saskatchewan. Here in the US, “[t]he Massachusetts experiment was the template for ObamaCare.”
ObamaCare promises to expand coverage just as Massachusetts and Canada did. “Canadian officials learned 30 years ago… the only way to control costs inside a government-directed health care system is to cut doctors’ pay, transfer patients into managed care, and introduce arbitrary spending caps and price controls.” (Emphasis added.)
Massachusetts officials are learning that very lesson now as costs spiral out-of-control. In 2011, the state senate will introduce legislation to pay health care providers not per procedure, but rather with a flat fee per patient.
When costs skyrocket at a national level, “American officials will likely double-down on their bets and seize ever-greater control of the healthcare system.”
Eventually, Canada “banned the private delivery of medicine in response to runaway costs.” This scenario could easily play out in the US as government-run, subsidized health plans like Medicare are expanded at great cost to taxpayers. With pressure to control spending, shore up the deficit, and keep Medicare solvent, the Democrats will have no choice but to limit care options and providers.
Pipes says there is only one way to stop this: repeal. “Republicans can stop this march back to the future if they win control of the House and Senate this fall, take the presidency in 2012, and commit to repealing Obamacare quickly and completely. Anything less will consign the United States to repeat Canada’s 50-year journey toward socialized medicine.”
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