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August 21, 2006
No Health Savings Accounts in Canada
Canadians have to suffer tremendous waits for health care services due to their single-payer healthcare system. Fortunately, Health Savings Accounts will save the U.S. from the same fate. First hand experience of Canada's single-payer system shows why we need to depend more on Health Savings Account plans.
Last week I was vacationing in Banff, Canada, and saw this letter to the editor in the Calgary newspaper:
Re: “woman miscarries in ER”, July 25.
Hospital wait times have become ridiculous. Two weeks ago, my grandpa was taken to Foothills via ambulance complaining of extreme stomach pain and we had to wait 12 hours to see a doctor. This is insane.
Insane – yes, but unexpected – no. Anytime a single-payer system is tried, and competition no longer exists, prices go up, quantity and quality go down. Canada’s single-payer healthcare system has resulted in routinely long waits – sometimes even weeks or months – to receive medical care. A much smarter system is to let doctors and hospitals compete for the consumer’s business, just as happens in every other business.
Because Health Savings Accounts put buying decisions in the consumer’s hands, the natural result will be greater competition by healthcare providers for the consumer’s dollars. The growing use of HSAs should ensure that Americans never have to suffer from the poor healthcare system that has developed in Canada. Let’s hope so.
Learn more about Health Savings Accounts at: http://www.health--savings--accounts.com
Posted by Wiley Long at August 21, 2006 10:30 AM