Michael Burgess: “within the past few weeks the Canadian Supreme Court has issued an opinion that it is unconstitutional for the State of…”

“within the past few weeks the Canadian Supreme Court has issued an opinion that it is unconstitutional for the State of Quebec to outlaw the private practice of medicine and private health care in the State of Quebec. This is an interesting development because we are frequently told that our neighbor to the north has solved their health care problems, while the United States languishes behind. In an editorial yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, they point out that the Canadian Supreme Court found that access to a waiting list is not the same as access to care, and, in fact, for surgery across the board, no matter what type of surgery, the waiting time is over 18 weeks in Canada, and it would be longer if the United States were not just to the south of Canada. Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit probably takes a lot of the problems of the waiting lists in Toronto. Surely, those clamoring for a single payer system in this country must now rethink their position. The Wall Street Journal points out that there are two ways to allocate goods and services. One is by price and a market-driven economy, and one is by placing people in waiting lines as in a government-run system. Mr. Speaker, a doctor I knew from Cuba several years ago told me, sure, we have equality in our medical system in Cuba; unfortunately, that equality is absolutely at the bottom. We do not need to duplicate that here in the United States. ____________________”