America's sleazy, distorted attack on medicare

May 21, 2009 04:30 AM

BOB HEPBURN

Some 20 years ago when I was the Star's bureau chief in Washington, I was forced at 6 a.m. one day to write a cheque for $600 before I could enter a hospital for a scheduled outpatient test.

By the time I left four hours later, my medical bill had hit nearly $2,600. I was told I could pay it by cheque or use my Visa card. The reason I had to fork over a cheque or credit card at the door was that I had no U.S. health insurance.

If I hadn't paid the money up front, the hospital would have refused to admit me. Fortunately for me, the Star paid all my medical bills once I submitted the receipts.

But the experience drove home to me the fact that health care in the U.S. is big business and it made me deeply appreciate Canada's universal medicare system.

It also made me wonder just how the 37 million Americans who at that time had no insurance coped when they became sick – and why the U.S. did nothing about it.

Last week I recalled that hospital visit when I listened to President Barack Obama declare a breakthrough in health-care reform after meeting with a consortium of hospitals, private insurance companies, drug makers and doctors.

He called the pledge to cut $2 trillion in costs over the next decade a "watershed event" on the road to finding a solution to the millions of uninsured Americans. "I will not rest until the dream of health-care reform is achieved," Obama said.

Sadly, while his intentions are noble, Obama is doomed to failure.

That's because for the past 60 years, presidents Truman, Ford, Carter, Bush Sr. and Clinton all proposed health-care reform – and all failed miserably.

Now it will be Obama's turn.

The previous presidents have all been defeated by the very group that wants now to be seen as working with Obama. This group is the rich medical establishment, which preys on Americans' fears of "socialized medicine" in which patients allegedly lose their freedom and right of choice.

So influential is this group that while Obama may favour Canadian-style medicare, he won't even speak of "universal health care."

Today, 20 years after my hospital visit, the number of uninsured Americans has soared to 50 million, or about one in every six residents. Millions of other people are grossly underinsured.

Newspapers are again filled with horror stories about millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and their health-care coverage. Workers without company plans often pay more than $2,000 a month for a family of four.

By Canadian terms, Obama's reforms are timid. For the U.S. health-care industry, they're radical. He wants to boost health coverage by cutting medical costs, providing mandatory coverage for all kids and giving financial help to people who can't afford insurance.

Leading the charge against Obama is Conservatives for Patients' Rights, a wealthy lobby group that talks of the U.S. government wanting to create a "nanny state" that favours government over individuals. To promote its cause, it has unleashed a sleazy, distorted attack on Canada's medicare claiming our system is in shambles.

Headlining the campaign is Dr. Brian Day, the past president of the Canadian Medical Association who founded a private surgical clinic in Vancouver. He appears in the group's ads airing on American networks in which he charges that Canadians are "languishing and suffering on wait lists."

On its website, the group profiles several Canadians, described as "real-life victims of government-run health care," who tell of long waits for treatment here at home.

Of course, the lobbyists never mention that millions of Americans can't even afford to see a doctor in order to get on a waiting list, or that "the right of choice" is fine only for those Americans with enough money to choose in which world-class hospital they would like to have their next operation.

A false and misleading attack on Canada's medicare might seem wise to the private U.S. medical industry wanting to protect its turf.

But for 50 million Americans, the real issue is: when will Congress and the White House put the rights of ordinary Americans over those of the health-care industry and lobbyists, such as Conservatives for Patients' Rights?

Bob Hepburn's column appears Thursdays. bhepburn@thestar.ca

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