Recently, I have been researching the content of the proposed universal healthcare bill, and the possible benefits and/or negative ramifications it would have on the health of Americans. A couple things stand out in my research. A provision in the bill states that members of Congress would be exempt from having to participate personally, in a government-run healthcare system. In other words, they get to continue receiving private healthcare. If the government plan would be an improvement in what we have, why wouldn’t Congress members want to be on it?

Also, why are people in countries with free healthcare, currently coming to the United States in droves for their medical treatment, under our private system? If the public healthcare systems in European countries are so good, why do virtually all of the diplomats and VIPs in those countries, come to America for their major healthcare treatments and procedures?

The answer to all of these questions is because the quality of the U.S. private healthcare system is far superior to universal healthcare in other countries. Evidence of this can be seen in these cancer survival rates in the private U.S. system vs. the free/public systems of Canada and Europe.

Obviously, improvements can and probably should be made to the current system, which seems to protect insurance companies to the detriment of patients, at times. But if people think insurance companies put up financial limits and barriers to which treatments they can get, consider that the government would have to implement even more procedure and treatment limitations, in order to make it affordable. What does that mean for you and me? Here are some examples of treatment scenarios that frustrate Canadians, and cause many of them to cross the border into the U.S. to get treatment:

If you want an elective knee surgery in a timely manner, you may wait years. You may not get it paid for at all, if the government doesn’t deem it necessary.

If you want a quick diagnosis for symptoms you are having, you may not get to see a doctor for several months.

If you are considered too old, or your disease too terminal, you may be told that it’s not worth the cost to treat you.

Perhaps there is a reason that the U.S. system is “six times more expensive” than the nationalized plans of other industrialized nations. Because quality products generally cost more.