> >
> > "People line up for care, some of them die. That's what happens," says
> Canadian
> > doctor David Gratzer, author of The Cure. He liked Canada's government health
> > care until he started treating patients.
> >
> > "The more time I spent in the Canadian system, the more I came across people
> > waiting for radiation therapy, waiting for the knee replacement so they could
> > finally walk up to the second floor of their house." "You want to see your
> > neurologist because of your stress headache? No problem! Just wait six months.
> > You want an MRI? No problem! Free as the air! Just wait six months."
> >
> > Polls show most Canadians like their free health care, but most people aren't
> > sick when the poll-taker calls. Canadian doctors told us the system is
> cracking.
> > One complained that he can't get heart-attack victims into the ICU.
> >
> > In America, people wait in emergency rooms, too, but it's much worse in
> Canada.
> > If you're sick enough to be admitted, the average wait is 23 hours.
> >
> > "We can't send these patients to other hospitals. Dr. Eric Letovsky told us.
> > "Every other emergency department in the country is just as packed as we are."
> >
> > More than a million and a half Canadians say they can't find a family doctor.
> > Some towns hold lotteries to determine who gets a doctor. In Norwood, Ontario,
> > 20/20 videotaped a town clerk pulling the names of the lucky winners out of a
> > lottery box. The losers must wait to see a doctor.
> >
> > Shirley Healy, like many sick Canadians, came to America for surgery. Her
> doctor
> > in British Columbia told her she had only a few weeks to live because a
> blocked
> > artery kept her from digesting food. Yet Canadian officials called her surgery
> > "elective."
> >
> > "The only thing elective about this surgery was I elected to live," she said.
> >
> > It's true that America's partly profit-driven, partly bureaucratic system is
> > expensive, and sometimes wasteful, but the pursuit of profit reduces waste and
> > costs and gives the world the improvements in medicine that ease pain and save
> > lives.
> >
> > "[America] is the country of medical innovation. This is where people come
> when
> > they need treatment," Dr. Gratzer says.
> >
> > "Literally we're surrounded by medical miracles. Death by cardiovascular
> disease
> > has dropped by two-thirds in the last 50 years. You've got to pay a price for
> > that type of advancement."
> >
> > Canada and England don't pay the price because they freeload off American
> > innovation. If America adopted their systems, we could worry less about paying
> > for health care, but we'd get 2009-level care—forever. Government monopolies
> > don't innovate. Profit seekers do.
> >
> > We saw this in Canada, where we did find one area of medicine that offers easy
> > access to cutting-edge technology—CT scan, endoscopy, thoracoscopy,
> laparoscopy,
> > etc. It was open 24/7. Patients didn't have to wait.
> >
> > But you have to bark or meow to get that kind of treatment. Animal care is the
> > one area of medicine that hasn't been taken over by the government. Dogs can
> get
> > a CT scan in one day. For people, the waiting list is a month.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>