Part 2

Among the 16% of Americans without health care, nearly a quarter is eligible for some sort of government assisted service such as Medicare or Medicaid, but does not act due to ignorance or torpor. Another fifth is able to afford health care, but simply chooses not to buy any. Indeed, the situation for more half of Americans without health insurance is only a temporary setback in their lives, such as people in between jobs, or changing health insurance policies. This brings the estimated 47 million to a much more manageable 7.8 million.

According to a survey taken by the World Health Organization, the US leads the world in responsiveness to patients. Cancer patients in Canada and England frequently have to wait from three to six months for an MRI treatment. Even minor injuries make patients spend hours in the waiting room. The long lines and waiting lists are forced upon people due to the basic economic law of supply and demand. Since people in those countries do not have to pay, more show up in hospitals, not caring how minor or insignifcant their problem is. They go for brand name drugs and the most expensive, cutting edge procedures, burdening everyone else with taxes and wasted time. Even Claude Castonguay, considered the father of the Canadian health care system, agrees that a socialized system is flawed.

"We thought we could resolve the system's problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it," says Castonguay, "We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."

Private clinics are currently popping up all over Canada at a rate of one per day. The strange thing is, these clinics are technically illegal, and yet people still flock to them, because they provide better treatment, better customer service, and better care.

If you want more evidence, look at the current state of Europe. They've been advocating a socialist health-care system for years. And now, thanks in part because of the subject of this report, their economy is in the gutter. A conservative sweep is flowing across the continent, and the people are voting for less interventionist care because of the toll it has been slowly but surely taking across Europe.