Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Responsiveness of Government-Run Health Care

On a lighter note on the day before Thanksgiving comes this cautionary note from north of the border about the perils of an unresponsive government-run health care system.  When exiting a meeting about long emergency room waiting times, the head of Alberta’s health service was approached by reporters and asked what he was doing to shorten the waiting lists.  The head of the health service responded by saying he couldn’t be disturbed, because he was eating a cookie.  No, seriously; watch the exchange yourself.

This amazing-but-true incident typifies the problems with government-run health care, where bureaucrats can afford to be flippant with the public, because the public has no other choice of health care options. (For the record, in Alberta private health insurance is prohibited to compete with the government-run health system in offering the basic benefit package.)  The same predicament will face the estimated 18 million individuals dumped into the Medicaid program as a result of the health care law – individuals who will NOT have the choice of health care plans, and will instead be forced into a government-run program with significant access difficulties and waiting times (just like those in Canada).

Having seen the responsiveness of the Canadian health care system in full bloom, do you think that American bureaucrats wouldn’t ignore similar questions from reporters about the government restricting patients’ access to care?  Think again…