Bernie Sanders wants universal health care. Canada shows why that’s a bad idea. - Pacific Research Institute

Bernie Sanders wants universal health care. Canada shows why that’s a bad idea.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders would do well to look at what’s happening across our northern border before he tries to advance legislation that would import Canada’s single-payer health care system, where the government is the only insurer. The new chairman of the influential Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he’s made clear that he’ll use his position to make the case for “universal health care.”

The Canadian health care system, which serves just 38 million people, is in crisis. It is no model for the United States (with our 334 million people).

Dozens of Canadian emergency rooms closed their doors last year due to staffing shortages. Those remaining open are so strained that patients routinely spend over 40 hours in the ER before being admitted to the hospital. In Alberta, patients wait for hours on ambulances to be transferred to understaffed emergency rooms.

Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.

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