Canada’s Health Care System

Your editorial on cooling the medical cost epidemic (Editorials, March 27) informs us that the “Clinical Appropriateness Initiative” being developed by the RAND Corp. will attempt to define standards for what is or is not an appropriate surgery, a long overdue effort to eliminate the many unnecessary procedures now being performed.

It is obvious that the medical care crisis is a serious, complex problem requiring thoughtful, workable solutions, such as the fixed fee, universal coverage approach in Canada, combined with reforms. Our politicians, however, have a much simpler solution. No problem, don’t address the structural flaws in our system, just let the employer pay for universal coverage.

What the politicians don’t understand is that most businesses that don’t offer employer-paid health insurance can’t afford to. Many businesses are like mine, heavy on labor, with less than $150 per month per employee in net profit. Forcing the employer to pay insurance under these circumstances becomes a monetary impossibility.

PHILIP G. deCARION

Anaheim