Canadians Seek “Right” to Care

This is from today's Wall Street Journal:

In Ontario, Lindsay McCreith was suffering from headaches and seizures yet faced a four and a half month wait for an MRI scan in January of 2006. Deciding that the wait was untenable, Mr. McCreith did what a lot of Canadians do: He went south, and paid for an MRI scan across the border in Buffalo. The MRI revealed a malignant brain tumor.

It gets worse. And there are more horror stories. Must reading for everyone who thinks Canada provides universal care. In fact, the victims are taking their case to court. The goal:

To win Canadians the freedom to spend their own money to protect themselves from the inadequacies of the government health-insurance system.

Comments (5)

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  1. Bret says:

    Someone should send this to Uwe Reinhardt. He thinks rationing in Canada is just a minor inconvenience.

  2. clara says:

    On freemarketcure.com, Stuart Browning put together a short video about the experience of Lindsay McCreith.

    There are several other illuminating videos about the pleasantries of the Canadian health care system. And no, I am not affiliated with the site, I just really appreciated what they had to say.

  3. Bart says:

    Four months for an emergency MRI, versus maybe four hours in the U.S.? Although I’m not sure what an uninsured emergency room walk-in could expect in that situation.

  4. Tom H. says:

    It’s not just Uwe who should see this. There’s Commonwealth, RWJ, almost eveyone who works in HHS, 80% of the Democratice staffers on Capitol Hill — the list of people who could profit from this type of information is almost endless.

  5. Bruce says:

    This lawsuit and these cases need to get wide exposure.