El Ojo del Lago

THUNDER ON THE RIGHT

By Paul Jackson

It has now been five decades since Liberal Prime Minister Lester Pearson bribed or diplomatically bullied Canadian provinces to accept a universal health care system in which every resident is covered through the regular federal and provincial taxation.

No, it doesn’t include cosmetic surgery unless such surgery is needed due to a birth defect or industrial accident, yet it does cover both abortions and vasectomies, but neither does it cover dental care, eye care or prescription drugs unless an individual is 65 years of age. Actually, it has covered sex change operations when a psychiatrist has convinced a medical panel such a change is psychologially necessary, even for a prison inmate.

Now, did Pearson—the man President Lyndon Johnson once grabbed by the lapels and shouted a nasty profanity in his face—make any errors when he instituted universal health care and his successors, both Liberal and Conservative ‘enhanced’ it?

Well, yes, they did. I bring this up following last month’s column detailing Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean’s all-out support for Canada’s system, and my own individual positive experiences under it.

Nevertheless, here are some faults:
Pearson promised the bulk of the costs would be borne by the federal government but over the years the bulk of the costs has been downloaded to the provinces and now are beginning to take up almost 50% of provincial budgets, hamstringing the provinces to fund other needed non-medical services.
Pearson also basically outlawed private medicare which has resulted in wealthy Canadians who want to jump the line-up for elective surgery such as knee and hip replacements - covered under the universal system in Canada, but with waiting lists of two years and more - going to the USA for these treatments. If we had allowed like Britain —a two-tier system, in which everyone has to pay for ‘government’ medicare but could also buy private insurance - the wealthy would spend their dollars in Canada rather than go south.

Initially, too, everyone had to pay monthly premiums directly to their provincial governments but those were eventually judged an unfair tax - a burden for anyone making low or average wages , but nothing to those making more than $100,000 a year, so those were phased out. Hence, people now think medicare is ‘free’ when it isn’t. The heavy tax system kills that idea. Also, initially, there were ‘deterrent user fee’ payments of $5 or $10 to discourage frivolous visits to doctors or hospital emergency rooms. Those were later abolished on the same unfair tax system basis, and in the first 18 months after being abolished visits to doctors and hospital emergency rooms jumped some 200%. Ailments previously considered menial were now seen as almost deadly serious.

Add to this, in an attempt to control skyrocketing health care costs the Liberal government of Prime Minister Jean Chretien restricted entrance to medical schools, so now Canada is short of roughly 17,000 doctors - on a population basis, that’s basically the equivalent of California being short of 17,000 doctors.

This said, so-called ‘death panels’ in Canada used as propaganda in the U.S. are just nonsense. But if at 80 years-of-age you expect a heart or liver transplant, forget it. Give it to the 28-year-old instead, a philosophy I agree with completely.
The errors noted above, and the disgrace of underpaid and overworked doctors and nurses apart, have a heart attack, an industrial accident, get cancer and you will get top-notch treatment overnight. Bottom line: Even as a Conservative, I say heads-up to Howard Dean, and his assessment, “If you are going to get sick anywhere in North America, then get sick in Canada.”
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