The Canadian vs. the American Healthcare System | Jordan B Peterson

Benefits of the Canadian healthcare system. A clip from an interview with Rob Shimshock of The Shimshock Show.

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[seamuscallaghan]

A lot of people in the comments are bringing up the long lines for the Canadian healthcare system. What they don't understand is the reason that America doesn't have those lines. The reason America doesn't have those lines is simply because many people can't afford to get in them in the first place. In Canada, your MRI might become available years from now. In America, if you can't pay the bill, you'll never get that MRI, end of story. We do ration care here, but we ration it according to wealth, rather than according to need. Thousands of people die here every year because they can't afford medical treatment. I say, late is better than never.

Also, we're not trying to implement the Canadian system, we're trying to implement our own version of single-payer. I'm not exactly sure how the Canadian system works, so I can't speak about the differences, but I'm sure the policy we're trying to implement attempts to address the concerns posed by the Canadian healthcare system.

[godnotavailable]

Oh my god, I found something that Bernie and Jordan agree on.

[henrythompson]

Dude the more I learn about this dude the more reasonable he seems

[twominutetips]

Having both my children born with serious health issues and countless hospital visits and surgeries over the years with NO wait times (the worst go to the head of the line - as it should be), I simply cannot imagine how they would have been attended to in any other system. AND for those that rightfully point the finger at our Canadian health care over some issues, please remember its NOT the system, its the questionable people running it and political parties that are the problem. And it would be that way in ANY system.

[skipeveryday]

Id be dead without nationalised health care. Was too sick to work and didnt have family. Noone chooses to get ill. Everyone should have access to health care no matter what.

[brucewayne]

Ben Shaprio's monocle just fell in his champagne

[avdhutjoshi]

Probably the only time I'll ever agree with Jordan Peterson

[Teboski]

Part of the reason US healthcare is so expensive is due to virtually every procedure being covered by heavily subsidized insurance companies some of which posses regional monopolies. As well as the implementation of government programs such as medicaid and medicare. Because when you artificially stimulate the demand for a product or service you remove the incentive to reduce costs since you know to a certain extent that you will have roughly the same number of buyers regardless of the price. Consider procedures such as laser eye surgery. Which was prohibitively expensive to most people when it was first introduced, but, arguably as a consequence of not being covered by virtually any insurance policy the cost has dropped by over an order of magnitude since then. How about the fact that breast augmentation surgery is less than a 5th the cost of an appendectomy?

[kwalshe]

I'm a genuine socialist and I never thought I'd say this but I want to give him credit here. He gave a straight-forward argument for a universal healthcare system.

If you are familiar with arguments for universal basic income and universal housing, he literally just made the arguments both of them. Peterson says that because healthcare is guaranteed it frees up income for entrepreneurship and personal expenses.

But... two massive blunders...

2. He said even "the socialists are fiscally conservative" in Canada... Not sure he know what's socialism is and how you can be one.

I'm not a fan of Peterson but if I am to be in anyway principled, Peterson deserves credit here.

[JohnDoe-bwmw]

The thing with the argument in America over health care is that most people are in agreement that the current system sucks. We disagree on the solution. Full or partial government control vs. less regulations and free market.

[zeeuzchrist]

There are significant problems with the Canadian healthcare system none the less, it's ridiculous that I would need to be put on a 3-year wait list to see a psychiatrist.

[richardparks]

Even most free market advocates (like myself) would prbabaly admit that the Canadian system is better than the American system in many respects. The argument gets inappropriately framed as "The Canadian system vs. the Freee market" and what we have in the U.S. is pretty much the furthest thing from a free market.

[jonfungg]

Student loan debt is probably a bigger cause of decreased entrepreneurship.

[davidanderson]

From a purely practical viewpoint, Peterson makes a good argument. However I think he overlooks the fact that public health costs and policy will _always_ become a political football in socialized systems. At that point, it's no longer a simple matter of supplying heath services, but a prize for various pressure groups, bureaucrats, pharmaceutical industries and etc. It also appears that he doesn't take into account the fact that there is a great deal of government involvement in the US system already. This further complicates making accurate comparisons between a socialized system and what a free-market system might bring to the table.

[judgejhf]

I had to get a surgery on my throat the week of my wedding. And I didn’t have insurance. So my husband interviewed at a job 3 hours away, got the job, and when we got married we moved into a rental and I got my surgery. We literally paved our future based off of a medical necessity. It was a bit careless of me in the beginning not to have health insurance, but like Jordan said, we need to have a different healthcare system to have the freedoms within work and switching work

[rockclimbinghacks]

If not for corporate tax advantages, health insurance would not be supplied through the employer in the first place! There is a small-government solution in simply repealing these tax advantages.

[ebarr]

I'm in the healthcare biz in the US and in Canada. The American TAX FUNDED healthcare system is huge - Here are the published stats for NY state and Ontario. In NY state $62, 000, 000, 000 USD is spent annually for 6 million Medicaid This is not to be confused with "Medicare" which is a federal program of entitlement to all Americans over 65. NY state has 19 million residents, so there are 13 million people receiving their healthcare services elsewhere. NY State is spending about $3260 per person per year on socialized medicare (not including seniors) for a state of 19 million people. The cost per patient on Medicaid is about $10, 000 per patient per year.
The Ontario provincial government spends about $40, 000, 000, 000 USD on healthcare for all its 13 million residents. That's about $3000 per person per year. To my surprise, there is indeed a 2 tier system in the US and it is my understanding that most states have mandated that their ballooning Medicaid budgets have or will be frozen. See to me the 2 systems are more similar than
No opinion, just food for thought!

[YoungMommy]

So... First and foremost... Good on you, Jordan.
As a fellow Torontonian, I vehemently agree. Our system is superior and the fact that we boast a Higher Standard of Living relative to our friend's down South is a testament to the fact that our system 'works better'. We
Iive longer. Last time I checked, our life expectancy was 2 years more than The Average American, we have lower rates of morbid obesity, we have lower rates of infant mortality, etc. etc.
Now, there could be a vast plethora of factors contributing to the aforementioned, and there likely is. I think it would be completely delusional to declare that our 'Socialized Health Care System' plays zero role whatsoever.
I also want to commend you on your devotion to maintaining your integrity.
You have a very diverse array of fans and followers that includes people from all sorts of Socio-economic Status', Ethnicities, and Political Affiliations. That being said, the prevailing understanding is that your largest base is 'Right Wing, American Males'. I have seen no corroberative data, but this understanding seems to be pretty well ubiquitous.
So, I commend you for being honest and forthright in reference to this matter knowing that there WILL BE Poorly Educated Right Wing people that see the term 'SOCIALIZED MEDICINE' and will associate it with Marxist ideology.
How Any Human can conflate a System of Governance where the govt. owns the means of production but all profits are distributed equally among the populace with equal opportunity, non discriminatory Health Care funded by our tax dollars earned while working at our jobs in a very 'Free Capitalist Market'.
Don't ask me how Anyone could confuse or conflate the two.
Oh... I still very much would love to interview you.
I can submit the piece to anyone and they'll 'run it' because you're The Proverbial 'It Guy'.
Many love you.
Many love to hate you.
But, they're all watching.

[ChrisBryer]

I do agree with you on that. However i think the hospitals in Canada are horrible. More then once having to go to the emergency room where there are simply no beds. Can you imagine sitting in a fucking chair with a broken leg? Or having to wait 9 hours to get an inhaler as one is having a asthma attack? Not fun.

[kylociraptor]

Dr. Peterson, I agree that from an aggregate or administrative perspective that views the country as a whole, the Canadian system does allow the nation to be more productive. With that said, I have two concerns with the Canadian healthcare system: 1) the health outcomes, which (by all accounts I have heard) are either poor, very delayed, or both, and 2) the inflexibility of the system, meaning that it is impossible to opt out of paying into the national healthcare system because it is payed for with taxes, and it is difficult (as I understand it) to obtain and use private health insurance. Given that to you find the Canadian system preferable to the American system, how do these concerns factor into your analysis?

(I am a proud American, but I am genuinely curious about this.)