A Minnesotan Reports on the Canadian National Health Experience

by L.A.S.

When Minnesotan Bob McIntosh moved to Victoria, British Columbia, two years ago, he expected long waits for medical attention. But to his surprise, he was shown to a doctor's office after only 20 minutes in the waiting room of a local walk-in clinic.

Service was not only fast but friendly. The building is less imposing than most facilities in the U.S., and clinic rooms might be described as spartan. Yet patients can depend on everything that counts where medical services are concerned, and so it merits serious consideration as a basis for an American plan.

Contrary to what most sources would have you believe, the coverage is not exactly free and excludes some allied health services.
Mr. McIntosh reports that Canadians there pay a monthly premium of just $100. That premium is waived for those who cannot afford it. The national health plan, called Medicare, does include clinic visits, annual checkups, and most lab work. Not covered are a PSA test ($30), eyeglasses, dental care, acupuncture, physiotherapy, massage, chiropractic, non-surgical podiatry, and the like.

The Medicare program is administered by the provinces. That means if a resident of British Columbia travels to another province or country, he needs supplemental insurance. McIntosh found such a plan for another $88 a month, but many people get such coverage provided by their employers.

Why can't the powers-that-be in this country accept the irresistible logic of a national healthcare plan? Perhaps they like seeing huge, luxurious hospital wings with their names on a plaque up front. And they like even better the large inflow of money each month from insurance policyholders and annual bonuses for denying medical care to those who need it.