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| EST. READ TIME 2 MIN.California Dreaming: The Fantasy of a Canadian-Style Health Insurance Monopoly in the United States
The purpose of this paper is to warn Americans about the dangerous ideas contained in the Universal Health Insurance bill (SB-840) that was recently passed by the Democratic Party majority in the California state legislature and Senate, but which was later vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. The bill has now been resurrected and submitted again to the State legislature for another vote. Proponents of the bill want to impose a government-run, health insurance monopoly in California similar to the one that Canada has. But, the Canadian experience shows that this is a seriously misguided proposal that will harm the quality and availability of medical care in the United States. Americans might be concerned about escalating costs and gaps in health insurance coverage at home but, for different reasons, the Canadian system is in many ways much worse.
Despite the fact that Canadians spend less of their national income on health care than Americans, the evidence is clear that the Canadian health insurance system is still among the most expensive in the world and does not return good value for money spent. Health care appears to cost less in Canada than in the United States largely because Canadian public health insurance does not cover many advanced medical treatments and technologies that are commonly available to Americans. Canadian patients do not get the same quality or quantity of care as American patients. On a comparable basis, Canadians have fewer doctors, less high-tech equipment, older hospitals, and get fewer advanced medicines than Americans. If Canadians had access to the same quality and quantity of health care resources that American patients enjoy, the Canadian health insurance monopoly would cost a lot more than it currently does.
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Brett J. Skinner
Brett J. Skinner Dr. Brett J. Skinner was the Fraser Institutes Director of Health Policy Research (2004 to 2012) andwas also the Institutes President and CEO (2010 and 2012). Dr. Skinner has a B.A. from the University of Windsor, an M.A. through joint studies between the University of Windsor and Wayne State University in Detroit (Michigan), and a Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario, where he has lectured in both the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Department of Political Science. Dr. Skinner has authored or co-authored approximately 50 major original pieces of applied economics and public policy research. In 2003 he was a co-winner of the Atlas Economic Research Foundations Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Award for innovative projects in public policy. Dr. Skinners book, Canadian Health Policy Failures: Whats wrong? Who gets hurt? Why nothing changes, was a finalist for Atlas 2009 Fisher book prize. His research has been published through several think-tanks including the Fraser Institute (Vancouver), the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (Halifax), the Pacific Research Institute (San Francisco), the American Enterprise Institute (Washington, D.C.) and the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research (Israel). His work has also been published in several academic journals including Economic Affairs, Pharmacoeconomics and Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Dr. Skinner appears and is cited frequently as an expert in the Canadian, American, and global media. He has presented his research at conferences and events around the world, including testifying before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health in Ottawa, and briefing bi-partisan Congressional policy staff at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.… Read more Read Less… -
Mark Rovere
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