Some things are worth paying for

I rarely post items Instapundit-style, with a link and a Heh. Such aggregation of links can be useful, but my interest drifts quickly because the information is out there for me to find almost as quickly. Instead, I want insight or commentary. I like for people to offer me a perspective to ponder, which is another reason I like reading things I disagree with. But this post at Cato @ Liberty is worth mentioning, even though I can only add my own Read the whole thing.

The Fraser Institute of Vancouver, B.C., has released its 16th annual “Waiting Your Turn” report on waiting times for health care in Canada’s state-run Medicare system. The average wait for surgical and therapeutic services increased slightly over the 2005 average to less than one day shy of their all-time high of 17.9 weeks in 2004. Throwing more money at the system doesn’t seem to make a difference; the Frazer Institute has documented that waiting times often increase with increased spending on Canada’s Medicare program.

National healthcare or insurance is not the answer, no matter how many pleas we hear about the expense of our system or how many people don’t have adequate health insurance. The Cato post doesn’t offer a solution, but it demonstrates why our problem is a better problem than countries now dealing with the drawbacks of socialized medicine.