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In his book, America Alone, Merk Steyn offers the following quip about Canada’s system of socialized medicine:
They’re now pioneering the ultimate expression of government health care: the ten-month waiting list for the maternity ward.
He goes on to tell the story of a woman who was forced to have her baby in Alberta because there were no maternity beds available where she lives in British Columbia. Well, it appears that the wondrous Canadian health care system has now perfected its ten-month strategy.
It turns out that the rare identical quadruplets recently born in Montana were delivered in the U.S. because the Canadian health care system had (you guessed it) no available maternity beds. The AP describes what the parents had to go through in order to find a hospital bed:
The Jepps drove 325 miles to Great Falls for the births because hospitals in Calgary were at capacity.
This is like being forced to drive from Boston to Philadelphia to find a hospital bed! Are there really people out there who actually believe it would be a good idea for the U.S. to emulate such a system?
4 comments
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+ May 2007
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:33 pm
It is true that the Jepps had to drive to Great Falls to get the babies delivered, but Dave failed to point out a number of factors of why.
1st off, Calgary has had a huge population explosion the last 2 years due to the oil industry. Extremely poor planning by the provincial government, in particular the Premier (like a state govenor) Ralph Kline, has meant a shortage in hospital beds during busy times. If these quads would have been born in let’s say Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or any other major city, or small one for that matter, there would have been plenty of room.
2nd, although the Jepps had to go to Great Falls temporarily for their care, their hospital stay would be covered by the provincial program since no room was available at that time in Alberta.
What gets me is that Americans will actually believe that it is a common occurance for women to have to travel to the states to have their babies. This is purely false.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:33 am
[…] 24th, 2007 Free Market Cure reports on the wonders of Canadian health care: It turns out that the rare identical quadruplets recently born in Montana were delivered in the […]
August 27th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Re: Pierre Bertrand @ #1:
Explaining WHY the socialized system sucks does not equate with arguing that it DOESNT suck.
1st off, Calgary has had a huge population explosion the last 2 years due to the oil industry. Extremely poor planning by the provincial government, in particular the Premier (like a state govenor) Ralph Kline, has meant a shortage in hospital beds during busy times.
Okay, so basically you are admitting that the government and central planning cannot provide services as efficiently or in sufficient quantities compared to the private free market, especially during times of quick increases in demand.
If these quads would have been born in let’s say Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or any other major city, or small one for that matter, there would have been plenty of room.
Probably too much room, right? Because with central planning, services and goods tend to be over-produced or under-produced. So in some cities you will have 1000 empty beds, and in other cities you will have 1000 patients with NO beds.
2nd, although the Jepps had to go to Great Falls temporarily for their care, their hospital stay would be covered by the provincial program since no room was available at that time in Alberta.
Its always refreshing to know that the taxpayers wil still foot the bill when the government royally screws up. Government makes mistakes, citizens pay the price. Business as usual up there it seems.
What gets me is that Americans will actually believe that it is a common occurance for women to have to travel to the states to have their babies. This is purely false.
No, its just that Americans believe (rightly so) that all centrally planned and monopolized services tend to have supply and efficiency problems. And Canada is no exception.
August 28th, 2007 at 12:20 am
“Okay, so basically you are admitting that the government and central planning cannot provide services as efficiently or in sufficient quantities compared to the private free market, especially during times of quick increases in demand.”
Yes, and no privately run hospital in the U.S. has ever turned patients away. I suggest you check out Stanford Hospital, a premier university hospital, turned away 200 sick children in 2005 alone because they didn’t have enough beds for them. Get off your high horse and get a grip. This particular government, conservative I might add, did a lousy job at planning. The premier admitted after stepping down to retire. There is a shortage of everything right in Calgary now due to the oil boon, except jobs. Its as simple as that. Those quads barely spent a couple of days in Great Falls and were airlifted back to Calgary where they will spend up to 6 weeks in hospital until they reach the proper weight. Cost to the Jepps…..$0.00. Why don’t you ask them if they like our system.
“Probably too much room, right? Because with central planning, services and goods tend to be over-produced or under-produced. So in some cities you will have 1000 empty beds, and in other cities you will have 1000 patients with NO beds.”
Calgary’s Children’s hospital tries to run at 85% capacity to be efficient. It was a freak situation that a rash of premature babies were born and took up almost all of the 16 neo-natal beds right before the Jepps had plan their C-section. The decision was made, and rightly so, to have the babies together in one hospital. You cannot fly a woman pregnant with quads 4 hours to Toronto or Montreal, etc. Great Falls was the obvious choice. Cripe, look at a map!
“Its always refreshing to know that the taxpayers wil still foot the bill when the government royally screws up. Government makes mistakes, citizens pay the price. Business as usual up there it seems.”
Like I said before, hospitals throughout N.America have turned away patients before. This is not the first time nor will be the last on either side of the border. The difference being that our system will cover finding another hospital. Let’s see an HMO do what Alberta health did for the Jepps, let alone one of the 40+ million who have no insurance in the U.S. I can also guarantee you that even though more beds should be available to lesson chances of this happening again, the Alberta tax payer and people were more than happy to support this family.
“No, its just that Americans believe (rightly so) that all centrally planned and monopolized services tend to have supply and efficiency problems. And Canada is no exception.”
Although not a single payer, the U.S. system can also have its supply/demand problems as well. And although I admit in a nationalized health care system that is the number one issue, despite of that, nearly 90% of Canadians prefer it over U.S. style coverage.