Health Care: U.S. vs. Canada

Senator Burke dr. Martin in your testimony you know that Canadian doctors exiting the public system for the private sector has had the effect of increasing increasing waiting lists for patients seeking public health care why are doctors exiting the public system in Canada thank you for your question senator I if I didn't express myself in a way that make myself understood I apologize there are no doctors exiting the public system in Canada and in fact we see a net influx of physicians from the United States into the Canadian system over the last number of years what I did say was that the solution to the wait time challenge that we have in Canada which we do have a difficult time with waits for elective medical procedures does not lie in moving away from our single-payer system towards a multi payor system and that's borne out by the experience of Australia so Australia used to have a single tier system and in the 1990s moved to a multiple payer system where private insurance was permitted and a very well known study by Duckett @al was tracked what took place in terms of wait times in Australia as the multi payer system was put in place and what they found was in those areas of Australia where private insurance was being taken up and utilised weights in the public system became longer what do you say to a elected official who goes to Florida and not the Canadian system to have a heart valve replaced it's actually interesting because in fact the the people who are the pioneers of that particular surgery which premier Williams had and had the best health outcomes in the world for that surgery are in Toronto at the at the Peter Munk Cardiac Center just down the street from where I work so what I say is that sometimes sometimes people have a perception and I believe that actually this is fueled in part by media discourse that going to wear something where you pay more for something that that necessarily makes it better but it's not actually borne out by the evidence on outcomes I wanna kind of believe many people prefer their system because they know consciously they pay more no I think it's because they judge quality and they judge innovation pipes in your testimony you noted that more than 42,000 Canadians come to the United States each year for health care why is that because they find that they're on a waiting list in Canada for too long a period and they feel that their health is at stake so a lot of people in Canada come to the US for MRIs CT scans there are many examples in the media of people like Brian Makris who came to the u.s. because he was told by his primary care doctor that he might have a brain tumor but the wait for an MRI was very long he spent the thousand dollars came to the u.s. paid out of pocket you will see advertisements in Canadian newspapers for MRIs nervous there's pretty fertile ground to to market in right dr. Martin in your testimony you state that the focus should be on reducing waiting times in a way that's equitable to for all what length of time do you consider to be equitable when waiting for care well in fact the wait time Alliance in Canada sir has established benchmarks across a variety of different diagnoses for what's a reasonable period to wait and what we've we found is that actually working within the single-payer system we can reorganize things you know I waited more than 30 minutes at the security line to get into this building today and when I arrived in the lobby I noticed across the hall that there was a second entry point with no lineup whatsoever sometimes it's not actually about the amount of resources that you have but rather about how you organize people in order to use your cues most effectively and that's what we're working to do because we believe that when you try to address wait times you should do it in a way that benefits everyone not just people who can afford to pay on average how many Canadian patients on a waiting list die each year do you know I don't sir but I know that there are 45,000 in America who die waiting because they don't have insurance at all I live one hour away from the Canadian border Canadians watch American television Canadians are very familiar with how a political system probably know more about politics in American the most American stuff uh doctor is your prime minister a socialist no sir our prime minister is quite conservative he's lethal so obviously as a conservative he once to implement the American healthcare system that the Canadians are very aware of I gather that was probably the first thing he did when he took powers all right not exactly why not support for single-payer medicare in in Canada is it goes across all political stripes stripes quite famously we had the leader of the most right-wing party in a Canadian federal debate on television hold up a sign in the middle of the debate on which he'd written in marker no two-tier as a means of trying to reassure the Canadian public that if elected he would not dismantle this in other words you have a nation bordering on the United States two nations that are probably is closed together in so many respects as any two nations in the world a conservative prime minister and yet there is no effort to move to an American health care system I would say to my colleagues there's not a better example of maybe how people feel about two systems they know the American system they have a conservative prime minister they can move in our direction but for whatever reason and I think sensible reasons they understand that a system that guarantees health care to all of their people in a cost-effective way is the way that they want to stay this pipes let me ask you that question why do the Canadians not come to the American health care system well as I mentioned in my testimony about 42,000 Canadians every year come to the US and pay out of pocket for assist wasn't my question no I just made that I didn't want to make that point first second the Canadian government and the provinces who administer the Canadian health care system this started in 1974 a lot of people in Canada have no idea of an alternative sense oh my goodness they live an hour away from me in Burlington Vermont they watch American television they read American newspapers they have no idea of what goes on in the United States of America that is a little bit hard to believe I would say that Canadian people are very very nice people they're not impatient like Americans my mother said to me I hope you're not becoming an impatient Americans I am an impatient American Americans do not want to wait Canadians are very well I think says and then the second is life so I have a limited time yes I I think the the the answer is pretty clear the Canadians have seen the American system they prefer their one

Channel: Senator Bernie Sanders

Views: 1,755,591

Rating: 4.8421259 out of 5

Keywords: Health Care In The United States (Film Subject), United States Of America (Country), Senate (Governmental Body), Bernie Sanders (U.S. Congressperson), Richard Burr (U.S. Congressperson)

Id: iYOf6hXGx6M

Length: 6min 51sec (411 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 12 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/paperturtlex]

A lot of those 42,000 Canadians that go to America 'for' the healthcare are tourists in emergency situations, or elective surgeries that aren't covered.

[u/arshonagon]

Ya, Sanders knocked it out the park there. That Ms. Pipes lady just sounds ignorant.

[u/rjksn]

I agree with him: I don't want the US system.

What is this from?

[u/Bandhanana]

I loved the line of questioning that Sanders took there. Well done

[u/[deleted]]

Honestly, you should all watch the full video. Yes it is 1h 40 mins, but it damn interesting.

What the US Health Care System Can Learn from Other Countries

[u/dont_forget_canada]

Does anyone in Canada want the American system?

[u/[deleted]]

Is it just me, or does anyone else want to punch Senator Burr in the fucking head? I mean, just look at that smug bastard.

.....Okay, now that I've vented, way to go to Dr. Martin and Sen. Sanders. Very rational and clear-headed arguments. Great job.

[u/Hormisdas]

As an American, I am beginning to envy y'all's health care system more and more!

[u/newretiree]

Just out of interest, how many Americans without insurance die because of wait times which are essentially eternal?