Longer wait-times, more government price controls, and less innovation. This is what happens under single-payer health care systems in countries like Denmark and Canada. This is what Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders wants for America. Here’s what Sally Pipes, Canadian native and president of the Pacific Research Institute, has to say about ‘Medicare For All’:
Take Canada. As someone who was born there, I can tell you firsthand that Canada’s single-payer health system is the last thing the United States needs.
Canadians looking for treatment must wait for care, even if they’re in desperate need. Alberta Health Services, for example, reports that 90 percent of patients who need back surgery have to wait up to almost nine months. Hundreds have fled to clinics in the United States to get treatments that their government health programs have been denying them.
The Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank, calculates that residents of our northern neighbor have to wait an average of two months to get an MRI — and almost a year if they need orthopedic surgery. One in three is waiting to see a primary care doctor.