THE HIDDEN COSTS OF SINGLE PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE

Canada\'s government monopoly, single-payer health care system is one of the worst ways to achieve universal health insurance coverage and Americans should avoid adopting a similar system, concludes a new study from the Fraser Institute.

Researchers found that health care in Canada appears to cost less because relative to the United States, Canadian public health insurance does not cover many advanced medical treatments and technologies, common medical resources are in short supply, and access to health care is often severely delayed.:

• Government data shows an estimated 1.7 million Canadians (aged 12 and older) were unable to access a regular family physician in 2007.
• The actual number of "effectively" uninsured Americans is less than half of the figure usually reported and that being uninsured is usually only a temporary condition.
• On average, Americans spend more of their incomes on health care but they get better access to superior medical resources, and the United States outscored Canada on key indicators of available health care resources.

The study concludes that both Canada and the United States should look to countries such as Switzerland or the Netherlands, where the government is not in the business of providing health or drug insurance at all.

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