Canadian Health Care: Fact vs. Fiction

As the debate over health care reform heats up in the United States, a sub-debate of increasing significance is that of the Canadian system. Natalie Mehra, a critic of the current health care system in Canada, is an even stronger critic of those Canadians in the US decreeing the failure of the Canadian system, in favor of a privatized one. Mehra shares many of the same criticisms of the Canadian system as these figures like Dr. Brian Day do, but a completely different vision for how to overcome them.

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Comments

[MsCanuck]

In reply to John Graham, the report also states that it was also unclear if those were costs above and beyond the Medicare system or if the bankruptcy was due to income loss due to medical reason or having to quit employment due to caregiving obligations.

Being a Canadian, I have NEVER heard of anyone going bankrupt due to medical bills.

I have inserted the section below for ease of reference:

B. Causes of Bankruptcy
Chart 6 illustrates the causes of bankruptcy over the entire 1,000 sample. Overall, 29% of bankrupts over age 55 reported over-extension of credit as the primary cause of bankruptcy.

15% declared medical reasons the primary cause, although it was unclear from the data whether this was the costs of care over and above the Medicare system or income loss due to medical reasons, or some combination of both.

Elizabeth Warren and Melissa Jacoby, looking at the situation in the United States, have suggested that when medical reasons are cited as a cause of consumer bankruptcy, the normal case is attributable to some combination of causes, specifically, direct health care costs, loss of income due to medical problems or loss of income due to caregiving responsibilities in connection with medical problems14. In the files studied in this project, a number of those citing medical reasons as the principal cause also cited loss of employment income; hence there is likely some linkage there.

[taptaptap]

For-profit health care will always put profits ahead of health care. If a Canadian supports the private insurance system, dig deeper and ask why. I would bet they have a financial gain in supporting the private system. Follow the money. For those who did NOT watch the video, Dr Brian Day owns a private, for-profit hospital. He has also been charged with fraud. Ha! A Canadian Rick Scott! Canada insures all of its citizens. As for medical bankruptcies - non-existent.

[John Graham]

Why do people keep insisting that their is no "medical bankruptcy" in Canada, when it is clearly untrue? The proportion of Canadians (aged 55 and over) who declared bankruptcy due to costs associated with health care is 15% of all personal bankruptcies (A. Redish, J. Sarra, & M. Schabas, "Growing Old Gracefully: An Investigation into the Growing Number of Bankrupt Canadians Over Age 55," Ottawa, Ontario: Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, March 31, 2006).
D. Dranove & M.L. Millinsen "Medical Bankruptcy: Myth Versus Fact," Health Affairs Web Exclusive 25 (February 28, 2006): w74-w83, figure the rate in the U.S. is 12%-13%, slightly lower than in Canada.