West 1

Kay West
Professor Nathan Cole
English 2010-074
7 May 2014
Revision C
The Doctor will be With You Shortly
There are many differing views and opinions about Obamacare vs. socialized medicine
vs. privatized medicine. Many may argue that Obamacare is great, that it helps more individuals,
saves time, broader insurance coverage and less cost. Others may also confuse Obamacare with
socialized medicine, and say it is the best form of healthcare, and still others may argue that
privatized medicine is the best. Coming from Canada I know socialized
medicine, and moving here prior to Obamacare, I know a little of
privatized medicine. My experiences have taught me about the differing
individuals helped, time, and costs affected by the Obamacare changes,
and the differences in socialized and privatized healthcare, and I have
learned that privatized seems to be the best form of healthcare.
Growing up in Canada, a Doctors appointment meant that I would miss school for at
least half a day because a scheduled doctors appointment took at least 3-4 hours, and with a visit
to the ER I would easily miss a whole day of school. After spending the first few years of my
childrens lives in Canada I learned that socialized medicine was more of a headache and not
worth a day of missed school here and there.
Obamacare may be able to help more individuals receive healthcare, but just as socialized
medicine the downside to that is there are more individuals in the waiting rooms. Many
Photo 1: Obamacare Elephant
Source: newyorker.com
West 2
Canadians try and escape because they dont want to be just another number in a socialized
medicine waiting room.
The report from the free-market Fraser Institute found that 41, 838 Canadians became
medical tourists in 2013 and sought care outside of their hockey-loving countrythe number
leaving still amounts to nearly one percent of medical patients (Bastasch).
Although in theory helping more individuals sounds wonderful, the drawback is with
more people being helped, how do you keep patients moving without having them get lost in the
system as just another number?
My health care prejudices crumbled on the way to a medical school class. On a
subzero Winnipeg morning in 1997, I cut across the hospital emergency room to
shave a few minutes off my frigid commute. Swinging open the door, I stepped
into a nightmare: the ER overflowed with elderly people on stretchers, waiting for
admission. Some, it turned out, had waited five days. The air stank with sweat
and urine. Right then, I began to reconsider everything that I thought I knew
about Canadian health care (Gratzer).
When we first moved our family here to America, pre-Obamacare, we took our children
to a scheduled doctors appointment only to have the staff apologize for our 20-minute wait.
They in turn were surprised we were expecting to wait another hour or two. That showed us how
we were individuals that were cared about in a privatized healthcare system.
Increasing the amount of individuals seen by healthcare professionals will always affect
the amount of time spent in a doctors office or healthcare facility. It is easy to say that there will
be less time spent in waiting rooms, and better emergency room care.
West 3
benefits include emergency room care, hospital care, newborn care (Facts on the
Affordable Care Act)
If there are more patients, ultimately there will be more time spent waiting to see the
doctor. My family and I have spent countless hours in waiting rooms and doctors offices, and
even waiting to see specialists. It makes sense to those of us who have lived with socialized
medicine to pay the money and get the treatment, tests, or care needed.
Baker [a medical broker] describes a man who had a seizure and received a
diagnosis of epilepsy. Dissatisfied with the opinionhe had no family history of
epilepsy, but he did have constant headaches and nausea, which aren't usually
seen in the disorderhe requested an MRI. The government told him that the
wait would be 4 1/2 months. So he went to Baker, who arranged to have the MRI
done within 24 hoursand who, after the test revealed a brain tumor, arranged
surgery within a few weeks (Gratzer).
When patients end up having to wait months to receive a negative diagnosis that could
have been prevented or at least individuals would receive the treatment they need in a timely
manner if they could only see a healthcare professional to begin with.
Would Americans accept waiting lists months long to get an MRI or CT Scan?
Most Canadians have no choice other than to wait or to pay out of pocket for a
scan at one of the few private facilities that exist. My family doctor tells me that
were I to look for an MRI right now it would be a 6 to 12 month wait, and a 1 to 6
month wait for a CT Scan. This is how government health plans contain costs,
they make you wait (Lilley).
West 4
When people find out I am from Canada, they immediately seem to ask me about the
healthcare. I would tell them how happy I was with the privatized healthcare here in America,
and I received mixed reviews in return. I have met people that have had good insurance here, but
I have also met people that couldnt get insurance at all.
Sally Pipes, president of the Pacific Research Institute (a San Francisco-based non-profit
advocating for personal responsibility and individual liberty in national and state issues) said,
We can expand access to coverage for those with preexisting conditions, reduce costs, and
lower the uninsured rate without disrupting Americans coverage and increasing their premiums
(Pipes Four Years). Pipes believes President Obama has chosen the most expensive, and
disruptive way to change healthcare policies, when all that was needed was, letting
consumers buy [insurance] across state lines, for instance, would increase competition among
insurers and encourage state regulators to limit unnecessarily costly benefit mandates (Pipes
Four Years).
I understand the frustration of some friends that could not receive health insurance from
insurance companies prior to Obamacare. I believe that there are better ways to handle this
situation. As Pipes says the government could allow consumers to buy from different
companies. Competition is a good way to have companies re-evaluate their price, products and
services. Instead of insurance companies deciding if you will receive insurance, you now have
the government allowing you to buy insurance from them, however in turn giving them the say
on the treatment you will receive.
President Obama would like people to believe that government care will be more
compassionate, but it wont be. Instead, health care for most Americans will become
West 5
less efficient, rare diseases will be denied treatment and bureaucrats will decide if you get care
(Lilley).
The argument that this will cost
Americans less is also an argument that is given.
However, instead of creating competition between
insurance companies with a system already in
place, the government has restructured everything
and created a new healthcare system that has cost
some individuals and companies even more money.
At a town hall meeting earlier this month, President Obama declared that his
signature health reform law is working the way it should. Thats news to
employers, who are facing higher health costs and staggering administrative
burdens thanks to the law. Theyve responded in part by cutting hours and
cancelling benefits for workers to the point that the Administration has
unilaterally opted to change the law repeatedly in order to prevent open revolt
from employers (Pipes Working the Way it Should).
President Obama chose to pass a law without informing anyone what costs and cuts were
associated with it. He didnt mention how companies big and small would suffer economic
burdens because of it, not to mention the burden it places on taxpayers. Taxpayers who are
healthy and pay taxes regularly now have the added benefit of an increase in their own taxes to
pay for someone elses healthcare coverage, for the rest of their long and healthy lives.
Between 2014 and 2022, the increase in national health spending (which the Medicare
actuaries specifically attribute to the law) amounts to $7,450 per family of 4 (Conover).
Photo 2: Free Obamacare
Source: The American Vision
West 6
My husband and I were so happy when we first
moved here. We made doctors appointments and
didnt have to wait. We took our son to the ER once,
and there was no wait. There were no people waiting
in the ER waiting room, and he got his own bed in his
own room. It was amazing! We could make
appointments to see specialists, and actually see them
within a week or two! Not months and months of waiting only to have the specialist reschedule
again and again. No extra money coming out of our pockets to pay for someone elses
healthcare and extra time spent waiting to see healthcare professionals.
Although there are many that argue in favor of Obamacare, and even some in favor of
socialized medicine, my family and I will forever be grateful and appreciative to privatized
healthcare. It saved us time, money, and a lot of stress.

Chart 1: Increase Family Spending
Source: forbes.com
West 7
Works Cited
Bastasch, Michael. Report: Tens of Thousands Feld Socialized Canadian Medicine in 2013.
dailycaller.com. 16 Jan 2014. Web. 25 Mar 2014.
Conover, Chris. Obamacare will Increase Health Spending By $7,450 For a Typical Family of
Four. forbes.com. 23 Sep. 2013. Web. 2 May 2014.
Facts on the Affordable Care Act. Obamacarefacts.org. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 2 May 2014.
Free Obamacare. Cartoon. americanvision.org. 14 Nov 2012. Web. 25 Mar 2014.
Gratzer, David. A Canadian Doctor Describes How Socialized Medicine Doesnt Work.
manhattan-institute.org. 26 July 2007. Web. 25 Mar 2014.
Increase Family Spending. Chart. forbes.com. 23 Sep. 2013. Web. 2 May 2014.
Lilley, Brian. The Canadian Experience With Government Health Care. theblaze.com. 22
Oct. 2012. Web. 2 May 2014.
Obamacare Elephant. Cartoon. newyorker.com. 7 Oct. 2013. Web. 2 May 2014.
Pipes, Sally. Four Years of Obamacare Failures is Long Enough. forbes.com. 24 Mar 2014.
Web. 25 Mar 2014.
Pipes, Sally. This Is Obamacare Working The Way It Should? forbes.com. 14 Mar 2014.
Web. 25 Mar 2014.