Medical Myths

The right in the US sows the seeds of a tale of dysfunctional "socialized" medicine in Canada. They like to paint a picture of long lineups and distressed people fleeing south to the US to get the kind of care that you supposedly can't get in Canada.

Here's a blog entry by Paul Krugman that blows up that myth:

Everyone knows that lots of Canadians come to America in search of medical care. But what everyone knows is wrong: a careful study concluded,

The numbers of true medical refugees—Canadians coming south with their own money to purchase U.S. health care—appear to be handfuls rather than hordes.

On the other hand:

Driven by rising health care costs at home, nearly 1 million Californians cross the border each year to seek medical care in Mexico, according a new paper by UCLA researchers and colleagues published today in the journal Medical Care.