Canadian Union Writes Obama & Congress Defending Canada’s Healthcare

The President of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), one of Canada’s largest unions, has written President Barack Obama and all members of the U.S. Congress asking them to look past the “malicious misrepresentations and scare tactics” in the current debate over American health care reform and see the true value of Canada’s single-payer health system.

James Clancy, NUPGE President, said he felt obligated to write to the U.S. legislators after conservative Prime Minister Harper and Health Minister Aglukkaq refused to step in and counter the anti-Canadian propaganda being spread by private health care interests battling health care reform in the United States.

Clancy said a multi-million-dollar tidal wave of special-interest propaganda is trying desperately to obscure the fact that Canada’s single-payer health care system has been “a triumph of values and economics” for more than 40 years.

Clancy wrote that his country’s health outcomes, on almost every critical measure, are among the best in the world, and Medicare covers all Canadians at substantially less cost than U.S. citizens pay for a system that leaves millions without coverage.

“It’s totally unthinkable to Canadians to experience bankruptcy due to medical bills, as do over one million Americans every year. Unlike in the U.S., not a single Canadian who is unemployed has lost the ability to access health care during the current economic recession.”

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada’s largest labor organizations with over 340,000 members.