How Stupid Do They Think You Are?

Original Link: http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/04/28/how-stupid-do-they-think-you-are.aspx

By Jonathan Cohn

When we last saw Conservatives for Patients Rights, they were trying to derail health reform by making wildly misleading arguments about health care abroad. Now the group is back and they are...still trying to derail health reform making wildly misleading arugments about health care abroad.

But this time, they really goofed. And Politico's Ben Smith has the goods.

As Smith explains here, CPR's new ad features Dr. Brian Day, former head of the Canadian Medical Association, complaining about waiting times and shortages in his county. But it seems Dr. Day has given some other interviews, as well. And, in one of them, he makes clear that he's no fan of American health care, either.

On the contrary, as Smith observes, when Day argues for changing the Canadian system, "one of his central talking points seems to be that he's not--gasp--suggesting some sort of 'two-tiered, American-style medical care.' "

This, by the way, is not unusual. Every nation's health care system has flaws, in some cases serious flaws. Ask anybody in these countries--be they academics, health professionals, or just plain old citizens--and you'll get an earful about what's wrong. But very few of these people would swap what they have for what we have here in the U.S.