Sen. Bernie Sanders, in making the case for eliminating private for-profit health insurance at Wednesday night’s debate, repeatedly praised Canada’s socialized system. But Canada allows for a much larger role for private insurance than his own plan would.
Under the Sanders plan, within four years, the federal government would rip away private insurance from 180 million people and put everybody on a new government-run plan. Private insurers would be barred from offering any plans that duplicate any of the benefits offered by the government. However, Sanders’ government plan promises to be comprehensive, covering hospital services, doctors, prescription drugs, dental, vision, and home care, among many other benefits. So in effect, that would eliminate any role for private insurance.
In the debate, Sanders defended this idea by attacking as if it were inhumane the idea that any company would make money from being an insurer.
Yet as the Commonwealth Fund notes, in Canada, while everybody receives free primary and hospital care, “Private insurance, held by about two-thirds of Canadians, covers services excluded from public reimbursement, such as vision and dental care, prescription drugs, rehabilitation services, home care, and private rooms in hospitals.” The private insurance is mostly paid through employers, but, “In 2014, private insurance accounted for approximately 12 percent of total health spending. The majority of insurers are for-profit.”
So even the socialist system that Sanders loves allows for a much larger role for private insurance than he would.
