Madsen omits health facts

Sue Lani Madsen “Canada’s health care system big mess too” column (Aug. 13) insinuates that Canada’s national health care system is as dysfunctional as our Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She offers only cynicism toward government and no solutions.

Omitted are some salient facts: Canadians spend half per capita on health care than the U.S. and cover everyone. Over 30 million Americans are still uninsured. Canadians have higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality than Americans. Canadian cost control rationing (long wait times) occur mostly for elective procedures. U.S rationing occurs by wealth. No money, no health care.

Canada’s “tangled mess” stems largely from following the U.S. model of cobbled together collections of decentralized systems with for-profit and nonprofit providers while gifting private insurers gaps in coverage. Obamacare suffers from the same inefficient and expensive mistake of catering to greed and profit.

Health care can be better but only through more government, not less. The United Kingdom, for example, has even lower costs and better outcomes through its socialized National Healthcare System. I have yet to meet a Canadian of average means who would trade their system for ours.

Please relegate Madsen “conservative” anti-government editorials to the Opinion page.

Edward Duhaime

Spokane