Health Care in a Free Society: Rebutting the Myths of National Health Insurance

John C. Goodman, the president of the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, Texas has a piece here which is a paper adapted from his book Lives at Risk: Single-Payer National Health Insurance around the World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), coauthored by Gerald L. Musgrave and Devon M. Herrick.

Read the entire piece here.

Some of the Myths he dispels are:

"Myth No. 1: In Countries with National Health Insurance Systems, People Have a Right to Health Care

In fact, no country with national health insurance has established a right to health care. Citizens of Canada, for example, have
no right to any particular health care service. They have no right to an MRI scan. They have no right to heart surgery. They do not even
have the right to a place in line. The 100th person waiting for heart surgery is not entitled to the 100th surgery. Other people can
and do jump the queue.

Myth No. 2: Countries with National Health Insurance Systems Deliver High-Quality Health Care

In countries with national health insurance, governments often attempt to limit demand for medical services by having fewer physicians. Because there are fewer physicians, they must see larger numbers of
patients for shorter periods of time. U.S.physicians see an average of 2,222 patients per year, but physicians in Canada and
Britain see an average of 3,143 and 3,176, respectively.
Thirty percent of American patientsspend more than 20 minutes with
their doctor on avisit, compared to20 percent inCanada and only5 percent in Britain....."

This is quite a revealing treatise and a must read for health providers.