Galen Institute, February 26, 2010

INTERNATIONAL HEALTH SYSTEMS

Why Canadian Premier Seeks Health Care in U.S.

Sally C. Pipes, Pacific Research Institute
San Francisco Chronicle, 02/25/10

Danny Williams, the premier of the Canadian province of Newfoundland, traveled to the U.S. earlier this month to undergo heart valve surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. With his trip, Williams joined a long list of Canadians who have decided that they prefer American medicine to their own country's government-run health system when their lives are on the line, Pipes writes. "I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics," Williams said. Lawmakers should take Williams' case to heart, Pipes writes. Canada's experience shows that government health care leads to waiting lists, rationing and lower quality of care. Expanding government control over the U.S. health care system will diminish outcomes for American patients -- as well as the occasional Canadian visitor.