In an effort to stop misinformation about single payer health care

[Saviolo]

I can guarantee you're going to see a lot of misrepresentations in the media in coming days, weeks, and months about how bad single-payer health care is, and it's probably going to focus heavily on how "bad" the Canadian system is.

**** PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A RIGHT WING TALKING POINT ****

Do not believe it. Is the Canadian system perfect? No, absolutely not. Is it good? Yes, it is good.

Please see the below for a debunking of some of the most common myths:

http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/government-elections/info-03-2012/myths-canada-health-care.html

For example:

Myth #2: Doctors in Canada are flocking to the United States to practice.

Every time I talk about health care policy with physicians, one inevitably tells me of the doctor he or she knows who ran away from Canada to practice in the United States. Evidently, there’s a general perception that practicing medicine in the United States is much more satisfying than in Canada.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information has been tracking doctors’ destinations since 1992. Since then, 60 percent to 70 percent of the physicians who emigrate have headed south of the border. In the mid-1990s, the number of Canadian doctors leaving for the United States spiked at about 400 to 500 a year. But in recent years this number has declined, with only 169 physicians leaving for the States in 2003, 138 in 2004 and 122 both in 2005 and 2006. These numbers represent less than 0.5 percent of all doctors working in Canada.

So when emigration “spiked,” 400 to 500 doctors were leaving Canada for the United States. There are more than 800,000 physicians in the United States right now, so I’m skeptical that every doctor knows one of those émigrés.
In 2004, net emigration became net immigration. Let me say that again. More doctors were moving into Canada than were moving out.

[beam me up scottie]

1. Recommended!

Right wing talking points aren't working as well as they used to, people are starting to see through the lies and misinformation spread by lobbyists for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. I fully expect them to amp up their campaign against universal health care now.

Thanks for the rebuttal!

[HarmonyRockets]

2. Please

If you see any right wing talking points on single payer on this board, report the post.

[Saviolo]

3. This is one situation where I prefer to engage

Just because there has been SO much misinformation about the state of the Canadian system, that a lot of progressives and Democrats believe it, too. The information is so ubiquitous that well-meaning allies believe it to be true, so I'd love to educate rather than silence among my allies on this particular topic.

[HarmonyRockets]

4. Be careful

In another thread someone said something to the effect of "health insurance you get from your employer will be way more generous than Medicare for all", along with a lot of GOP talking points that almost seemed to be copied and pasted straight from their twitter. I responded with actual text from the summary of the actual bill detailing how comprehensive the coverage is, how their would be no copays, premiums, etc.

I was actually warned by somebody through messaging that my post had been alerted. It didn't make it past the jury, but still, someone out there actually reported my post for it. There are a group of people on this board going all out to fight Medicare for all and/or single payer.

[Saviolo]

5. Yeah, I just got "corrected" over here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029606139#post17