Medical Bankruptcy Equal in Canada & the U.S.

While the reported incidence of "medical bankruptcy" in the U.S. is grossly overstated, an equally unsubstantiated claim is that a single-payer, government-monopoly health system would eliminate medical costs as a cause of bankruptcy. (If you troll the Internet, you'll find that it seems to be an article of faith.)

Indeed, I sort of fell for it myself, when I sarcastically noted that if the government exerts absolute control over citizens' access to medical services, and forbids them spending directly for care, they cannot go bankrupt from medical costs.

But then news from Canada led me to believe that people do go bankrupt from medical costs. After all, if you are sick enough and the government will not treat you in time, a lot of costly problems will pile up.

All we needed was some good research on the relative rates of medical bankruptcy in the two countries. Well! What do you know? Brett Skinner & Mark Rovere of The Fraser Institute has rode (ridden?) to the rescue with a well researched article concluding that the rate of medical bankruptcy is about the same in Canada and the U.S.

No "medical bankruptcy" under government-monopoly health care? Don't you believe it.