What I stated was fact not anecdote.

Second, fred challenges me to provide statistics on what percentage of Canadians come to the US for health care. I never made any statement regarding percentages because the percentage doesn't matter. Cleveland Clinic would not spend millions of dollars opening a clinic in Toronto for just a handful of patients. What I said was: "that without the US health care system as a backup [Canada's] would fail miserably."

America acts as a safety valve where pent-up demand can get relief.

Let me give you an example. There is poverty in Mexico. Lots of it. One of the reasons that Mexicans do not revolt against their government is that there is a safety valve north of Mexico. If Mexicans could not escape to America, Mexico would collapse. Because so many Mexicans leave the job market in Mexico, they lower their own unemployment rate.

The Mexican government knows this and allows, actually encourages, illegal emigration. They even print maps, for God's sake, to help migrants cross the border into the US ¹.

For the same reason, the Canadian government allows American hospitals to take in patients Canada cannot help, as a safety valve. Things have gotten so bad in the past few years, Canada has had to face the fact that private clinics now supply services for a fee that public clinics cannot supply for free ².

If all those Canadians who cannot wait for medical services could not escape to American or private fee-based clinics, then they would make the wait times even longer for other Canadians who do not have the resources to pay for medical treatment. They would use up even more medical procedures and facilities and make rationing even more draconian. I am afraid that if America ever got a health care system like Canada's, then Canadians would really be in deep shit - it is sad that most Canadians (and Americans) do not realize this.

When I wrote that the Canadian system "would fail miserably" I was being kind: it is already failing. Please read the links below fred, so you don't think these are merely anecdotal assertions.

Notes

(1):

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 25 Jan 2006, Mexico puts up maps for migrants

A Mexican government commission said Tuesday it will distribute at least 70,000 maps showing highways, rescue beacons and water tanks in the Arizona desert to curb the death toll among illegal border crossers.

The National Human Rights Commission, a government-funded agency with independent powers, denied the maps -- similar to a comic-style guide booklet Mexico distributed last year -- would encourage illegal immigration.

Officials said the maps would help guide those in trouble find rescue beacons and areas with cell phone reception. The maps will also show the distance a person can walk in the desert in a single day.

(2):

The New York Times, Canada's Private Clinics Surge as Public System Falters

The Cambie Surgery Center, Canada's most prominent private hospital, may be considered a rogue enterprise.

Accepting money from patients for operations they would otherwise receive free of charge in a public hospital is technically prohibited in this country, even in cases where patients would wait months or even years before receiving treatment.

But no one is about to arrest Dr. Brian Day, who is president and medical director of the center, or any of the 120 doctors who work there. Public hospitals are sending him growing numbers of patients they are too busy to treat, and his center is advertising that patients do not have to wait to replace their aching knees.

The country's publicly financed health insurance system — frequently described as the third rail of its political system and a core value of its national identity — is gradually breaking down. Private clinics are opening around the country by an estimated one a week, and private insurance companies are about to find a gold mine.