The Canadian Collapse

"The collapse of the Soviet Union dealt the real death-blow to the ideal of
socialism. But almost as significant may be the ongoing collapse that seems to
be dominating Canadian politics--long cited as a benevolent example of how much
better the US could be if only it were run by well-meaning socialists.

Well, first we had the giant political scandal in which Canada's liberals were
caught handing in a multi-million dollar graft scheme. And now we have a legal
weakening of Canada's vaunted system of socialized medicine--which, it turns
out, cannot survive if people are allowed to flee into private insurance."

 

-Robert Tracinski, Editor of www.TIADaily.com

Link to article:

http://tinyurl.com/8ygnk

"Canadian Court Chips Away at National Health Care," Clifford Krauss, New York
Times, June 9

"The Canadian Supreme Court struck down a Quebec law banning private medical
insurance today, dealing an acute blow to the publicly financed national health
care system.

 

The court stopped short of striking down the constitutionality of
the country's vaunted nationwide coverage, but legal experts said the ruling
would open the door to a wave of lawsuits challenging the health care system in
other provinces.

 

The system, providing Canadians with free doctor's services
that are paid for by taxes, has generally been supported by the public, and is
broadly identified with the Canadian national character. But in recent years,
patients have been forced to wait longer for diagnostic tests and elective
surgery, while the wealthy and well connected either seek care in the United
States or use influence to jump ahead on waiting lists.

"The court ruled that the waiting lists had become so long that they violated
patients' 'liberty, safety and security' under the Quebec charter, which covers
about one-quarter of Canada's population.

 

'The evidence in this case shows that  delays in the public health care system are widespread and that in some serious cases, patients die as a result of waiting lists for public health care,' the
Supreme Court ruled. 'In sum, the prohibition on obtaining private health
insurance is not constitutional where the public system fails to deliver
reasonable services.'

 

The case was brought to the Supreme Court by a Montreal
family doctor, Jacques Chaoulli, who argued his own case through the courts, and
by a chemical salesman, George Zeliotis, who was forced to wait a year for a hip
replacement while being prohibited from paying privately for surgery."

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