The political left continues to push for a universal, government-run, single-payer health care system in the United States. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) has been one of the most vocal advocates for “Medicare For All.” He is now the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee and as such, has a great deal of influence over federal health care policy in the U.S. 

Various states, specifically Vermont, Colorado, California and now Washington state, have made attempts at state-based universal health care. The overriding problem is the exorbitant cost of such a program and how to pay for it. 

Supporters of a single-payer, government-run plan place a priority on universal insurance coverage. This satisfies their need for not only equality, but also for the idea of health care as a “right.” 

The critical issue, however, is access to quality health care, not simply whether a person has insurance or not. 

Great Britain has had a single-payer health care system since shortly after World War II. Canada has had taxpayer-funded universal health care since the 1970s. In other words, every citizen in these two countries has health insurance. Two recent studies are very revealing as to whether these citizens actually have timely access to health care, however. 

The Fraser Institute is a think tank in Vancouver, B.C. Every year since 1993, their researchers have examined and reported on wait times for health care in each province as well as the overall average in the country. In 2022, the average wait time in Canada from being seen by a primary care provider to specialty treatment was 27.4 weeks. (Here) This is almost seven months and would be totally unacceptable to patients in the U.S. These wait times have increased essentially every year since the 1990s. 

Great Britain is even worse. Last week, The Wall Street Journal published an article that revealed shocking statistics on health care access in the country. (Here) There are currently 7.1 million citizens on waiting lists for health care in G.B. Wait times for emergency ambulance services can be over an hour. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates that 300 – 500 people are suffering premature deaths each week because of lack of access to timely care. Many government officials are using the term “crisis” for the current situation. 

What’s causing this limited access to health care? In both countries, demand for health care far outweighs the supply. There is not enough money in the budget to cover the demand and again, it comes down to the cost of health care. In a government-run system, health care must compete with every other budget item, including education, transportation, defense, and so forth. 

There is absolutely no reason to believe that a taxpayer-funded, government-run health care system in the United States, let alone Washington state, would have a different result than in Canada or Great Britain.