The other, more restrictive, side of the Canadian healthcare coin

Mr. Luther’s letter (Cheney Free Press, Nov. 3) left a lot unsaid. Example: “two Democratic senators” helped Republicans kill a public option for Obamacare. Omitted was a third non-Republican pseudo-Democrat Lieberman. Those three would not agree to cloture. Harry Reid and Democrats, not Republicans, killed the option.

Public option is the first step toward a single-payer system. Recently, Democrats Kaine, Tester and McCaskill refused to sign a Senate resolution supporting the public option.

Single payer, a.k.a, a complete government-owned health insurance system covering everyone (without private competition). Public option — federally-owned insurance company in competition with private firms.

Approximately 75 percent of Canadians have private insurance to cover prescriptions, home-care, long-term care, vision, emergency and ambulance services. Physicians regularly threaten strikes.

Within the Canadian system, private medical care is illegal. Under 1994’s proposed Hillarycare, providing services outside the “system” was to have carried criminal penalties.

Approximately 45,000 Canadians go abroad every year for surgery, healthcare, avoiding wait lines and criminal charges. Chinese officials are amazed that Canadians cannot spend their own money for care, even if a doctor agrees. It’s more restrictive than healthcare in Communist China.

A popular example is socialist Sweden. For a half-century Sweden had a single-payer system controlling costs, hospitals and pharmacies. By the 1990s, increased costs and reduced productivity led to rationing in healthcare and wait lines. In 2003 more than half of surgery patients waited over three months. How to avoid wait lines? “Pay to play.” Sweden then began privatization and it has fewer citizens than California.

Equal access or restricted access; making everything equal makes everything equally mediocre.

Consider “Medicare for all.” Medicare, like Social Security, is a Ponzi scheme — most dollars come from those who are too young to qualify. Even their money is not enough. What happens if everyone becomes eligible? Take a guess!

Neither deficit spending, one million jobs lost, lost tax revenue or increased size of government resonates with supporters. Payments are insufficient to cover healthcare providers’ costs and entire sectors of the economy get destroyed.

Newsflash — healthcare is not a “right” guaranteed by the Constitution.

Remember Ronald Reagan’s famous fear, “Greetings. I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

Joseph Edington

Spokane