U.S. Lawmakers Should Not Look To Canadian Health System for Reform Ideas, Editorial Says

Although some U.S. policy makers have advocated the "virtues" of Canada's publicly funded, universal health care system, the results of a new report examining the system "ought to send anyone who still harbors that illusion into the hospital, but only if it's a U.S. hospital," according to a Wall Street Journal editorial. The report, conducted by the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, found that Canada ranks 18th out of countries worldwide that have similar health care systems in patient access to MRIs, 17th in access to CT scanners and eighth in access to radiation machines. All of the health systems that scored higher than Canada's are based on "parallel systems of private health insurance and care delivery operating alongside the government system," the Journal notes. Canada's system scores poorly in part because it does not contain the "market mechanisms" necessary to adjust to patient demand or changes in technology, resulting in "doctor and equipment shortages, long waiting lists for certain procedures and insufficient investment in new treatments," the Journal says. Despite the findings, the Journal notes that many U.S. government officials and advocacy groups "continue to push ... toward the same Canadian socialist model." The Journal criticizes Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) for "insist[ing]" that a Medicare prescription drug benefit be provided by the government. In addition, the Journal says that "liberal opposition" to reforms such as "relief from costly insurance mandates or equalizing the tax treatment of employer-provided and patient-purchased [insurance] policies" prevents changes that "would actually do something about Americans who lack health insurance." The Journal concludes, "Americans receive the best health care in the world, and any reforms designed to control rising ... costs need to keep that in mind" (Wall Street Journal, 9/3).