| | More Facts Needed for Health-Policy Debate | |
By Sue Blevins
A west-coast physician phoned me after receiving the latest hardcopy edition of Health Freedom Watch. He wanted to know how to reconcile what he’d read there—that people in countries with universal medical coverage are often denied care—with Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko, which argues that such people are rarely if ever denied care.
I told him that many years ago I worked as a registered nurse in Canada and experienced that country’s medical system first hand. (I also told him I am no longer a registered nurse, but that my past experience is invaluable in comparing health-care systems.) Canadians had to get permission from their family doctors before seeking non-emergency services, and it was illegal to pay privately for health care covered by the government. These policies still exist and continue to infringe on people’s freedom in many Canadian provinces, according to Dr. Jacques Chaoulli, a physician from Quebec. Chaoulli challenged the restriction on private payment in Quebec and won—but only in that province.
Considering the distorted picture given of the world’s health-care systems, it would behoove everyone to look squarely at the facts before making comparisons. As the debate heats up over single-payer health care, IHF will provide facts, with documentation, to help you become better informed. In turn, we hope you’ll inform your state and national policymakers. IHF encourages readers to use our information liberally in writing letters to the editor, op-eds for local and national newspapers, comments on blogs, and in making calls to radio and TV shows. As we’ve said for many years: “We provide you with information about health freedom, and you decide what to do with it!”
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