45 million Americans find themselves without health insurance and while medical care costs skyrocket more and more people put off needed doctor’s visits often delaying needed care for treatable conditions.  In addition to that problem, more people are finding themselves in bankruptcy because of medical bills.  Every time we try to have a discussion about a public single payer option we hear how we shouldn’t have it and Canada as used as an example of how bad public health care options are.  This article debunks the myths surrounding Canadian health care.  I hope you will click on the link and read all of the article.

As a Canadian living in the United States for the past 17 years, I am frequently asked by Americans and Canadians alike to declare one health care system as the better one.

The article continues, debunking myths about Canadian health care:

Myth: Taxes in Canada are extremely high, mostly because of national health care.

In actuality, taxes are nearly equal on both sides of the border. Overall, Canada’s taxes are slightly higher than those in the U.S. However, Canadians are afforded many benefits for their tax dollars, even beyond health care (e.g., tax credits, family allowance, cheaper higher education), so the end result is a wash. At the end of the day, the average after-tax income of Canadian workers is equal to about 82 percent of their gross pay. In the U.S., that average is 81.9 percent.

Myth: Canada’s health care system is a cumbersome bureaucracy.

The U.S. has the most bureaucratic health care system in the world. More than 31 percent of every dollar spent on health care in the U.S. goes to paperwork, overhead, CEO salaries, profits, etc. The provincial single-payer system in Canada operates with just a 1 percent overhead. Think about it. It is not necessary to spend a huge amount of money to decide who gets care and who doesn’t when everybody is covered.

Myth: The Canadian system is significantly more expensive than that of the U.S.Ten percent of Canada’s GDP is spent on health care for 100 percent of the population. The U.S. spends 17 percent of its GDP but 15 percent of its population has no coverage whatsoever and millions of others have inadequate coverage. In essence, the U.S. system is considerably more expensive than Canada’s. Part of the reason for this is uninsured and underinsured people in the U.S. still get sick and eventually seek care. People who cannot afford care wait until advanced stages of an illness to see a doctor and then do so through emergency rooms, which cost considerably more than primary care services.

What the American taxpayer may not realize is that such care costs about $45 billion per year, and someone has to pay it. This is why insurance premiums increase every year for insured patients while co-pays and deductibles also rise rapidly.

To read the debunking of more myths please click  HERE

See the benefits of a single payer system in this 5 minute presentation:

Still not convinced?  You can find more information at the following links:

http://www.pnhp.org/news/articles_of_interest.php

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7186

http://www.grahamazon.com/sp/index.php

http://www.singlepayeraction.org/index.php

You can contact your representative and senators through this website: League of Women Voters

Many of your fellow Americans are suffering needlessly, please get involved in finding a suitable public option for health insurance.