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Health care used to cost the same in Canada and the U.S. When Canada moved to its version of Medicare-for-all, its health-care costs dropped 30 percent. Canadians say it’s because they no longer pay for all the insurance paperwork.
Today, Canadians pay about $4,800 per year per person — similar to other advanced nations — compared to the $10,200 a year Americans pay.
Grace-Marie Turner, founder of the Galen Institute, says Americans don’t want Medicare for all (“Americans are in no mood for another health-care upheaval,” Star-Advertiser, March 11).
According to Wikipedia, the Galen Institute “receives its funding from donations and grants from corporations, foundations, and individuals both inside and outside the pharmaceutical and medical industries.”
A 30 percent drop in health-care costs would recoup for Hawaii as much as $1 billion wasted on paperwork, if my math is correct. The health-care industries will say anything to keep that money.
Hawaii believes them literally at our peril. That wasted public revenue is money we don’t have to fight climate change, build affordable housing, or provide food security for Hawaii.
Renee Ing
Makiki
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