Monday, May 24, 2004
Canadian Prime Minister enjoys benefits of private health care
[Mary Anastasia O'Grady, "In Canadian Health Care - Some Are More Equal Than Others," The Wall Street Journal, 21 May 2004.]
Politicians have a way of knowing what's best for you...even when they don't choose to follow their own advice. As Canada's single-payer health system implodes, it is interesting to note that one of its biggest defenders takes advantage of private alternatives:
Ring up Canada's Medisys Health Group in Montreal to inquire about a comprehensive medical exam and you will be told that the cost for such a service ranges between $595 and $1,050. You can pay by check, cash, debit or credit card but you may not use your government medical card to pay for your annual physical at the private clinic. That's because check-ups are considered "preventive" and are therefore not covered by Medicare in Quebec.
If this sounds like a two-tier health-care system, with some folks going to clinics that take Medicare and others going to private clinics where they pay their own way, that's because it is. Medisys reported a first quarter revenue increase of 43%, suggesting that while Canadians pledge allegiance to their traditional, single-tier government monopoly, their revealed preferences seem increasingly to be for choice.
A case in point is Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Canada's most powerful and hard-line advocate of a monopoly government system and also a patient at Medisys. If the prime minister were living by the one-size-fits-all system he swears by, he, of course, could not go to Medisys since his Medicare card wouldn't cover his visit.
The prime minister's office insists that he never pays his own medical bills -- this being something to brag about in Canada. For "anything not insured under Medicare he relies on his medical benefit provided to him as an employee of the government of Canada," his office told me.
Yet this hardly absolves Mr. Martin from the charge that he is a consumer operating on a different tier than most of the rest of Canada. After all, it is government privilege that lets him into Medisys. Ordinary Canadians would either need to carry private insurance -- only allowed for nonessential services -- or pay out of their own pockets. As it turns out, even in egalitarian Canada, some are more equal than others.
Touted as Nirvana for decades by America's left, Canada's official monopoly, single-tier system -- the only one in the world save Cuba -- is breaking down badly.
[Dr. Brian Lee Crowley of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies recently delivered a speech at a Flint Hills event entitled, "The Top Ten Things People Believe About Canadian Health Care, But Shouldn’t."]
Thanks to Benjamin Pratt for this story.
[Mary Anastasia O'Grady, "In Canadian Health Care - Some Are More Equal Than Others," The Wall Street Journal, 21 May 2004.]
Politicians have a way of knowing what's best for you...even when they don't choose to follow their own advice. As Canada's single-payer health system implodes, it is interesting to note that one of its biggest defenders takes advantage of private alternatives:
Ring up Canada's Medisys Health Group in Montreal to inquire about a comprehensive medical exam and you will be told that the cost for such a service ranges between $595 and $1,050. You can pay by check, cash, debit or credit card but you may not use your government medical card to pay for your annual physical at the private clinic. That's because check-ups are considered "preventive" and are therefore not covered by Medicare in Quebec.
If this sounds like a two-tier health-care system, with some folks going to clinics that take Medicare and others going to private clinics where they pay their own way, that's because it is. Medisys reported a first quarter revenue increase of 43%, suggesting that while Canadians pledge allegiance to their traditional, single-tier government monopoly, their revealed preferences seem increasingly to be for choice.
A case in point is Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Canada's most powerful and hard-line advocate of a monopoly government system and also a patient at Medisys. If the prime minister were living by the one-size-fits-all system he swears by, he, of course, could not go to Medisys since his Medicare card wouldn't cover his visit.
The prime minister's office insists that he never pays his own medical bills -- this being something to brag about in Canada. For "anything not insured under Medicare he relies on his medical benefit provided to him as an employee of the government of Canada," his office told me.
Yet this hardly absolves Mr. Martin from the charge that he is a consumer operating on a different tier than most of the rest of Canada. After all, it is government privilege that lets him into Medisys. Ordinary Canadians would either need to carry private insurance -- only allowed for nonessential services -- or pay out of their own pockets. As it turns out, even in egalitarian Canada, some are more equal than others.
Touted as Nirvana for decades by America's left, Canada's official monopoly, single-tier system -- the only one in the world save Cuba -- is breaking down badly.
[Dr. Brian Lee Crowley of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies recently delivered a speech at a Flint Hills event entitled, "The Top Ten Things People Believe About Canadian Health Care, But Shouldn’t."]
Thanks to Benjamin Pratt for this story.
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