unless it’s because you are wealthy enough to pay top dollar for health insurance and don’t care what happens to the 95% who (that?) aren’t so fortunate. If, having read Carroll’s analysis, you persist in favoring the American system, I would like to know why. Canadians may ration health care by availability, he says, but Americans ration by cost. Well, Aaron Carroll isn’t a Canadian, has no personal connection to Tommy Douglas, and he has read the relevant studies in great detail–it’s his job. So, when people start with the horror stories I don’t put up much resistance. I admit that my personal experience is anecdotal (and dated) and that I have never made a careful comparison of the American and Canadian health care systems. Having inherited five books by and about Douglas from my dad, I can’t claim to be entirely objective. Secondly, Tommy Douglas, the Father of Canadian Medicare, was my father’s pastor, Sunday school teacher and political hero. First, I am a Canadian with three children birthed under the Canadian system and my experience was entirely positive. I resent anything that disparages Canadian medicare for a couple of reasons. Argue that Obamacare, while an improvement on the status quo, is inferior to a single payer, Canadian-style, system and the horror stories start coming.
This post, originally published in the AARP Newsletter, addresses a series of claims that inevitably arise when the Affordable Care Act comes up for discussion. He is particularly interested in the health care debate and works to dispel the fuzzy facts that commonly obscure the subject. Aaron Carroll teaches at Indiana University and blogs at The Incidental Economist.
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