Get the Facts

Unlike Big Brown being the overwhelming favorite to win the Triple Crown and coming in dead last, there is little doubt about who will get the nomination as the Democrat and Republican presidential candidate in the next couple of months. And as these two presidential hopefuls seek our votes for the top office, we will be hearing more and more about a national healthcare system.

Unfortunately, I'm not convinced that we will be getting the true facts from either politician in order to make an informed decision at the voting booth in November. And since any reforms to our current healthcare system will carry ramifications for years to come, we owe it to ourselves and our children to understand what lies ahead, should a national healthcare system come about. Remember the old adage: "If it's too good to be true, it generally is."

I've visited many foreign countries over the years and I've always found it interesting to speak with the citizens living in these countries on their perspective of the United States. ost of them tell me that they have never visited the U.S.; yet what I find most intriguing is their view on our current healthcare system. Without hesitation, these people openly admit that if they were seriously sick, they would want to be treated in the U.S.

Recent statistics indicate that one million Brits are on a waiting list for admission to National Health Service (NHB) hospitals at any given time. Approximately 90,000 New Zealanders are in the same situation. In Sweden, it can take up to 25 weeks to schedule heart surgery and in Canada, there are in excess of 800,000 people on waiting lists for medical procedures. Perhaps that's why many Canadians in need of heart surgery or cancer treatment drive across the borders to U.S. hospitals and pay for the treatment out of their own pocket. Considering the U.S. medical success stories, it's not hard to understand why.

Two years ago, Fox News reported that America offers the highest quality healthcare in the world. Most of the world's top doctors, hospitals and research facilities are located in the United States. Eighteen of the last 25 winners of the Nobel Prize in medicine are either U.S. citizens or work here. U.S. companies have developed half of all the major new medical devices and medicines introduced worldwide over the past 20 years. Furthermore, Americans played a key role in 80% of the most important medical advances of the past 30 years.

We need to remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch. It will take a new health insurance tax to finance a national healthcare system. Every working citizen and employer would be required to fork out additional tax dollars to guarantee a minimum level of healthcare. If that doesn't bother you, consider what Medicare recipients now get for their dollar.

According to Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute and coauthor of "Healthy Competition: What's Holding Back Health and How to Free It" second edition, 2007: the answer to America's healthcare problems lies not in heading down the road to national health care but in learning from the experiences of other countries, which demonstrate the failure of centralized command and control and the benefits of increasing consumer incentives and choice. Let's hope the American people will be able to sort fact from fiction in the upcoming presidential debates.