Fantasies and Fiction

Opponents of universal health care distort the truth about the health care in France, Britain, and Canada, while describing the American health care system in glowing terms. They claim that the uninsured can get all the care they need in emergency rooms and that Americans who have insurance never face long waits for medical care.

Reportedly, Bush will veto a bipartisan plan that would extend health insurance for an estimated 4.1 million currently uninsured children. The bipartisan plan provides for preventive medical care. Bush expects children that don’t have health insurance to go to hospital emergency rooms for preventive care. We give lip service to the importance and value of prevention, but we’re not practicing what we preach.

In Canada, Britain and France three percent of hospital discharges experienced delays in treatment, but they’re all elective surgeries, such as hip and knee replacement.

Canadians wait longer than insured Americans for elective surgery. However, the average Canadian’s access to health care is as good as that of the average insured American. The only way our health care system is able to achieve shorter waiting times for elective surgery than Canada is to leaves 47 million people out of our health care system.

The French manage to provide arguably the best health care in the world, without significant waiting lists of any kind. Furthermore, all medical delays are not equal. In Canada and Britain, delays are caused by doctors trying to devote limited medical resources to the most urgent cases, while in America, they’re often caused by insurance companies trying to save money.

The bottom line is that the opponents of universal health care have run out of honest arguments. They are left with fictional horror stories about health care in other countries, and fantasies about the health care system in America.