Health Care in Other Countries

I have often said that we don’t need to guess what the impact of certain government policies might be since they have often been implemented in other countries. For example, we don’t have to predict what will happen in states that legalize same-sex marriage because many countries in Europe have already done so.

As Congress begins to consider reform of health care in America, we can likewise learn from other countries. The documentary by Michael Moore made European and Canadian health care look like it was working very well for its citizens. But some current television commercials produced by a patients’ rights group tell a different story.

One ad features prominent health care experts from the UK and Canada talking about long waiting lists and diagnoses that were rendered too late. One of the people featured in the first ad is Dr. Karol Sikora, dean of the Medical School of the University of Buckingham and one of Britain’s leading cancer treatment experts. He talks about what happens to patients when government runs the health care system. “They’ll lose their own choice completely, they’ll basically lose control of their own destiny in the medical system.”

Another expert is Dr. Brian Day, an orthopedic surgeon in Vancouver, British Columbia who recently served as the President of the Canadian Medical Association. He talks about the long wait lists for health care in Canada. “Patients are languishing and suffering on wait lists, our own Supreme Court of Canada has stated that patients are actually dying as they wait for care in Canada.”

The ad also notes that Congress included in the most recent stimulus package funding for a national health board. As I described in a recent commentary, this board will determine which drug and surgical treatments are effective and which ones are too costly and ineffective. This is essentially the first step toward health care rationing.

Before Congress enacts legislation that will overhaul the American health care system, perhaps it should listen to medical experts in other countries. They are trying to warn us and we should listen to them. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.