HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENTS
August 9, 2002 - WAR REPORT NUMBER 32-2002
A Maine subscriber, a supporter of the Canadian health care system, sent me a recent article from the Portland Press Herald titled, "Canadian patients seek treatment in Bangor." He included a note that read, "We have the best of both worlds. We go to Canada for low-cost prescription drugs and get our medical care at home. You can't beat Maine."

The article reported that a dozen Canadians traveled by bus from St. John, New Brunswick, to obtain access to health care they say they could not get or would have to wait for under their country's single-payer system. The five-hour trip to Bangor mirrored a strategy used by elderly Mainers who have taken long bus rides to Canada to buy low-priced prescription drugs.

Organizers of this trip say health care rationing, price controls, waiting lists and limited availability of drugs have forced some patients to seek care in the United States a safety valve for Canada. The trip was organized by Treatment Access Alliance, a new partnership of Canadian and U. S. patient advocates concerned about access to health care. Some people went to see specialists unavailable to them in New Brunswick, which has had difficulty recruiting and keeping physicians.

Passengers on the bus included a 56-year-old woman needing immediate back surgery; a six-year-old boy with epileptic seizures who needed to see a gastroenterology-nutritionist; a 43-year-old woman battling persistent depression who is seeking a drug unavailable in Canada that may help manage her illness without unwanted side effects; a 66-year-old breast cancer patient whose family physician left practice, leaving her to use emergency room visits for ongoing care.

On the day of the bus trip, New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord announced a three-year agreement with the province's medical society on an incentive-filled wage package that includes bonuses for the doctors for accepting new patients and caring for the elderly. To make the province more attractive to doctors, the government will pump almost $76 million into fees and incentives over the next three years. (It won't work. Why? Because this will not solve the basic problem of unlimited demand versus limited resources.)

Stay tuned! Why? Because I tell it like it is and it's your money. God Bless America.