The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) today launched BigGovHealth.org, a new initiative to expose the consequences of greater government control in health care.
BigGovHealth.org features powerful, first-person video testimonials from patients, health care workers and health policy experts from Canada and the United Kingdom -- two socialized systems often pointed to as models for reform. These candid interviews look at how systems that often deny and ration care impact health and well-being.
"Government-controlled health care isn't free," said CMPI chairman Michael Weber, MD, "It comes at great monetary and human cost in the form of higher taxes, longer wait times and denials of coverage. Europeans and Canadians are paying about 20 percent or more in taxes than Americans, yet when patients with serious conditions look to the government for treatment, they are met with delays and denials. I believe that Americans would find such a system to be totally unacceptable."
"Health care reform must improve medical care. With a government-run system, we'd be getting exactly the opposite," said former United States Senator Don Nickles, a noted health care expert.
"Health care reform should encourage innovation, not discourage it, and should give Americans broad access to the newest and best treatments and cures."
Shona Holmes, a brain tumor survivor from Toronto, Canada who is profiled on BigGovHealth.org was forced to come to the United States for critically-needed care when the Canadian system made her wait months for chemotherapy and surgery.
"If I didn't come to Arizona when I did, I wouldn't be here today, that's for sure," said Holmes, who is suing the Ontario government to permit private insurance in the province. "My message to Americans is simple: Think twice before supporting a government-run program that will discourage life-saving technologies and treatments, because you will never know when you or a member of your family might need them."
Citizens of countries with government-run health care systems endure long wait times, a lack of access to certain treatments and, in many instances, poorer health. For example: