[Dean's World] Dean: Against CanadaCare

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Posted by Dean:
Against CanadaCare
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1141897033.shtml


   Ezra Klein, who's usually got something good to say, is a liberal who
   isn't afraid to say [1]Canada's health-care system isn't the world's
   greatest and shouldn't be a model for the U.S.. Good. We need more
   progressives saying so.

   Those of us who want to see health coverage reform in the U.S. need to
   get rid of the idea of "single payer," especially if by "single payer"
   we mean the government is the only insurance provider. That won't
   sell, not to the vested interests NOR to the average citizen who is
   happy with her private insurance (and many, many people are).

   I've long thought the best way to go is to make every state its own
   medical group, require insurers to offer the same coverage to everyone
   in a state or no one at all in that state, and to have the government
   pick up the tab for a basic 80/20 plan with a maximum out-of-pocket.
   If people want to pay for more insurance, they can. Get it away from
   employers, which is a costly burden many of them are struggling to
   afford anyway (and which leave many employees frightened of leaving
   even jobs they hate), but leave room for competition. Fund it through
   block grants to the states, just like the interstate highway funds.
   Let the states do most of the administration.

   I've known more than one Canadian who wished he could fire the
   Canadian health insurance system. And of course there are lots who do
   fire it, by either leaving Canada for a job in the States, or, by
   running across the border to get health care. (Here in the Detroit
   area, which borders on Windsor in Canada, there are clinics that go
   out of their way to advertise to Canadians, saying that if they've got
   cash they can skip the waiting lines and see a doctor immediately.) If
   you offer everyone a basic insurance plan but let them have the choice
   of private plans, and still require some out-of-pocket expenses you
   have the best of both worlds (and you still have room for charitable
   hospitals and such).

   The funny thing is, as Klein and others note, most other Western
   nations are following this basic path. Almost all the European nations
   gave up having pure socialized medicine some time ago and now allow
   for private insurance and other private options. Canada's actually the
   oddball of the Western world that it still won't do this. So why are
   some American progressives so hellbent on adopting a system just like
   theirs?

References

   1. http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2006/03/against_canadac.html