Medicare for All Means Medicare for No One: Cautionary Tales from Abroad


By Sally C. Pipes

Cheryl Gilarski has had enough health problems to last a lifetime.

Her troubles began two decades ago, when doctors diagnosed her with an atrial flutter, a condition that causes the heart to beat rapidly and irregularly. Years ago, she received a procedure called a cardiac ablation that restored her heart's normal rhythm. When the flutter came back, her cardiac specialist prescribed a second ablation but told her she'd have to wait 16 months.

While she waited, Ms. Gilarski was forced to make frequent trips to the hospital to have her heart shocked back to a normal rhythm. On one of those visits, she waited 11 hours for treatment. The next day, she suffered a stroke, which left her ineligible for the ablation procedure.

Stories like these are unfortunately common in Canada's government-run healthcare system. They are exactly why U.S. patients should resist attempts by progressives to eliminate private insurance and import Canadian-style Medicare for All to this country.

Long waits are unavoidable in single-payer systems like Canada's. By making health care free, single-payer stokes demand for care. To contain costs, governments cut payments to doctors and hospitals. That leads to staff shortages and closures. Rationing of care is inevitable.

Last year, Canadian patients waited a median of 19.8 weeks to receive treatment from a specialist after getting a referral from a general practitioner. That's more than double the median wait in 1993. In some specialties, patients can wait the better part of a year for care. The median wait for elective orthopedic surgery last year, for example, was 39 weeks from referral.

Wait times are particularly bad for the elderly. More than 2 million Canadians 55 and older report "significant barriers when accessing the health care system." One-third of elderly patients waited more than six months for surgery, while close to one-quarter waited that long to see a specialist.

Manitoba -- Gilarski's home province -- has some of the worst waits in the country.

The waitlist for cardiac surgery in Manitoba nearly doubled between late 2018 and early 2019, according to the CBC. During a single week in February, doctors cancelled 75 percent of scheduled heart surgeries in the province because of staff shortages.

Other countries with single-payer healthcare systems force their patients to endure similar waits. In England, nearly 4.5 million people were waiting for hospital care at the end of June. This past July, 275,000 emergency room patients waited more than four hours to be seen. That marks a 32 percent jump from the same time last year.

Even getting an appointment with a family doctor can be a hassle. Last October, one in five Brits waited over two weeks to see a general practitioner.

As in Canada, Britain's National Health Service is plagued by a shortage of doctors and nurses. Low pay and long hours are driving practitioners out of medicine, and the NHS can't recruit a suitable number of replacements. In fact, the number of fully-qualified GPs practicing in March was down from a year before.

The experiences of patients in Canada and the United Kingdom provide plenty of evidence for skepticism of a government takeover of the U.S. health insurance system. Just because the government promises free, quality care doesn't mean they can deliver it.

Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is The False Promise of Single-Payer Health Care (Encounter). Follow her on Twitter @sallypipes. This piece originally ran in Detroit News.

More Resources


03/28/2024
The Democrats' Abundance Problem Revisited
Last week, I started revisiting my "Three Point Plan to Fix the Democrats and Their Coalition" from October of 2022. A brisk tour of the polling and political data suggested the Democrats are still in need of serious reform and that the three point plan is as relevant as ever. Here's the very short version of the plan:

more info


03/28/2024
Are Democrats Still Stuck With Biden?
Voters don't think much of the president but also remain wary of the obvious replacement.

more info


03/28/2024
What the Polls Say: RFK Jr. Hurting Biden, Helping Trump
In October, when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abandoned his primary challenge to Joe Biden and instead launched an independent candidacy, the initial conventional wisdom was that he might hurt Donald Trump more than Biden.

more info


03/28/2024
The Twilight of the Republican 'McLeadership'
The Trump team is steadily purging the Republican leadership of holdovers from past decades. The departure of McCarthy, McDaniel, and McConnell is part of exorcising the legacy of a more important Mc whose influence is still felt in the U.S. Senate: John McCain.

more info


03/28/2024
The Funniest Media Story of the Year?
The following three things were obvious before MSNBC puked on itself in its public divorce with former RNC chief Ronna McDaniel, but aren't we glad the network didn't notice? More later, but briefly:

more info


03/28/2024
Abridging, Not Coercing, Is First Amendment's Yardstick
Under the First Amendment, the government may not abridge the freedom of speech, whether that abridging is done by coercing internet platforms or by getting them to cooperate in government efforts to censor the public.

more info


03/28/2024
Trade Cheaters Are Killing Aluminum Industry Jobs
Aluminum industry workers stand ready to do their part to move the nation forward. They just need the federal government to enforce trade laws.

more info


03/28/2024
It's Time for an Immigration Moratorium
An effective freeze on immigration could revitalize our national culture, politics, and economy before it's too late.

more info


03/28/2024
U.N. Gaza Resolution Could Lead to Lasting Cease-Fire
After 171 days of a relentless Israeli assault on Gaza, the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the United States abstaining. It's a breakthrough that must be built upon.

more info


03/28/2024
Biden's War Against the Jews
Biden claims he is a lifelong friend of the Jewish people and a Zionist, but these empty words are cover for a decades-long antipathy

more info


03/28/2024
'Fairness Initiative' Tackles Too-High Government Pay
Governments at every level ought to cap public-sector wages and benefits at private-sector comparables.

more info


03/28/2024
My Friend Joe
I write now, in the worst pain and shock, with news of my friend Joe Lieberman's death just moments ago. I write because I know what his critics will be quick to write, what news reports have already re-circulated.

more info


03/28/2024
Why I'm Resigning From the Biden State Department
Since Hamas' attack on October 7, Israel has used American bombs in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 32,000 people - 13,000 of them children - with countless others buried under the rubble, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel is credibly accused of starving the 2 million people who remain, according to the UN special rapporteur on the right to food; a group of charity leaders warns that without adequate aid, hundreds of thousands more will soon likely join the dead.

more info


03/28/2024
Gaza: Truths Behind All the Lies
From civilian casualties, the use of disproportionate force, and international biases, the mainstream narrative of the Gaza conflict often obfuscates the truth behind lies.

more info


03/28/2024
Obama, Fearing Biden Loss to Trump, Is On Phone To Strategize
As the election approaches, President Joe Biden is making regular calls to former President Barack Obama to catch up on the race or to talk about family. But Obama is making calls of his own to Jeffrey Zients, the White House chief of staff, and to top aides at the Biden campaign to strategize and relay advice.

more info



Custom Search

More Politics Articles:

Related Articles

Senate Drug Plan Helps Government, Hurts Patients


Nancy Pelosi has a plan to lower drug prices. The Speaker of the House just released a new bill that would impose a slew of new taxes and allow the government to meddle with private businesses.

So-Called Methane Regulation "Rollbacks" Actually Reduce Emissions


President Trump just proposed a small update to methane-emission regulations. But judging by the Democratic candidates' hyperbolic reactions, you'd think he personally assaulted Mother Earth.

A Time of Civility Needed Again


Tonight, President Donald Trump will visit Minneapolis. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stated, "While there is no legal mechanism to prevent the president from visiting, his message of hatred will never be welcome in Minneapolis." For those too young to remember, the United States in 1963 was divided deeply over the growing civil rights movement—a division that later widened with the war in Vietnam.

Betsy Ross Recall is a Cheap Moral Stand


Nike courted controversy when it cancelled a new line of Betsy Ross flag-stitched sneakers just before the Fourth of July. The American shoemaker, valued at over $130 billion, pulled the shoes after former NFL quarterback and company spokesperson Colin Kaepernick worried on Twitter that the flag was a racist symbol.

Jordan B. Peterson: A Sign of the End Times?


It is not often that a clinical psychologist becomes the cultural equivalent of a rock star, but Canadian academic Jordan B. Peterson has done just that. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, as the old saying goes, and Dr. Peterson is surely a man who has found his time. And all indications are that, behind his characteristically serious (if not slightly puzzled) expression, he quite enjoys the irritation and annoyance that his forthright statements on our current cultural climate cause the self-appointed members of contemporary Committees of Public Safety. Like Camille Paglia (who provided a jacket commendation for his latest book) he preaches that most unpopular of gospels in this age of victimhood: personal responsibility.

Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising Benefits Companies, but Patients Even More


Analysts at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently scored Speaker Nancy Pelosi's drug pricing bill, H.R. 3.

Sharp Cuts to Research Funding Would Deprive Patients of Hope


Congress is poised to pass two separate bills designed to bring down drug prices.

America Shows How to Fight Climate Change Without Regulation


Speaking at the United Nations in December, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi drew cheers by saying the United States was "still in" the Paris Climate Agreement.

Trump's New Drug Pricing Plan Isn't "The Best Deal" For Patients


President Trump will soon unveil a new plan to reduce drug prices.

The Smart and Practical Way to Address Climate Change


Lawmakers want to fight climate change, but many of them are taking the wrong approach. Proposals to abandon fossil fuels entirely, like the Green New Deal, are both impractical and expensive.

Expansion of "Buy America" Rules Would Slow Development of Coronavirus Vaccine


Federal policymakers are considering laws that would force federal agencies to rely solely on medicines made in the United States.

Costs At the PHarmacy are Spiraling, But Price Controls Are the Wrong Solution


Congress is considering two plans to reduce high drug prices. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have spent the past several months promoting their Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act. Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) is pushing his alternative, the Lower Costs, More Cures Act.

U.S.-Canada Trade Must Prevail Amid Pandemic


The United States-Canada border has been closed to cross-border tourism and other non-essential travel for more than three months.

Summer 2020 COVID-19 Data in Pennsylvania: What We Don't Know


The COVID-19 coronavirus is a novel virus, and everybody who claims they have it figured out is living under an illusion. Our knowledge is growing, but it is still very fragmented. Our local politicians have been cautious because of the vast unknown; we have never been here before.

The World Can Thank President Trump for the Oil Deal


In the midst of a pandemic, President Trump was able to convince the second and third largest crude oil producing countries to voluntarily cut production. In so doing he may have saved global financial markets, the U.S. energy industry -- and the U.S. economy.