An Imperfect Health Care System, Eh?
Moving back to the U.S. as an adult after a decade in Canada didn’t cause much culture shock. I’d had easy access to American TV shows, fashions were the same, and I was able to do quick temperature conversions from metric to U.S. standard units – ensuring I didn’t wear shorts on a 32 degree day in Washington. What caused my biggest case of culture shock was trying to choose a health insurance plan.
Deciding between HMOs and PPOs was nearly mind boggling. But not as boggling as recognizing that I was lucky simply because I had a choice, while many millions of Americans have none. I have been thinking quite a lot about this in light of the state-wide health care initiative launched by Rabbi Eric Yoffie at the recent URJ Biennial. If the federal government is going to continue taking a pass on health care, it’s time for states to step into the breach.
Canada has made a decision to provide health coverage that is universal, comprehensive, and portable among provinces. Changing jobs or moving across the country? No problem. Need an x-ray or a well-visit check up? It’s guaranteed.
Are there problems with the Canadian health care system? Tons. I have on more than 1 occasion seen my grandmother spend the night on a hospital gurney in a hallway, receiving treatment but without a modicum of privacy. I know people who have waited several months to start radiation therapy for breast cancer. And it is true that Canadians who can afford it will sometimes pay for care in private clinics or cross the border into the U.S. for the same.
It is shameful that the U.S. (along with South Africa) is one of two western, industrialized countries that do not provide all its citizens with health insurance. Yesterday’s report that the U.S. Ranks Worst In Preventable Deaths Among 19 Industrialized Nations is just 1 indication of the ill-effects of our inadequate health care policies.
No health care system is perfect, Canada included. But there is something fundamentally more respectful of humanity in a health care system that starts from a premise of guaranteed coverage for all than one that leaves 47 million people to fend for themselves.