THE TEFLON COUNTRY

N.Y. hopefuls talk universal health care (Patrick White, Globe and Mail, November 3rd, 2006)

In the United States, as in Canada, the politics of universal health care are not for the faint of heart.

Twelve years ago, a plucky first lady with a promising public-service career ahead nearly abandoned politics after her plan for universal health care was trounced in a partisan battle that led to the Republicans taking Congress.

In decades previous, a Canadian-style health system proved even beyond the reach of iron-willed presidents Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman.

But with the Democrats on the brink of huge gains in Tuesday's midterm elections, several candidates in New York State have felt sufficiently emboldened to speak in favour of a policy that still haunts their party's past.[...]

The public will certainly exists. In a poll conducted by Pace University this week, 48 per cent of respondents favoured a single-payer national health-care plan, essentially an endorsement of the Canadian system. Just 35 per cent endorsed a Massachusetts-style system.

That's surprising considering horror stories circulating in the United States about rationing and people dying on waiting lists in Canada.

"We hear the horror stories about Canada here, some are true, some are not," Ms. Landy (Physicians for a National Health Care Program --ed) said. "But we prefer Canada's horror stories to ours."

That’s about as inspiring as a Jimmy Carter fireside chat. Oh well, forewarned is forearmed.