To the Editor:
Eugene Rodriguez (Letters, June 13) mistakenly identifies the Canadian government's monopoly of the health care industry as "on the right track." If this is so, why did Canada's National Post (May 2) report that Newfoundland's Premier Brian Tobin "said time i[s] running out to find a solution to the persistent problems of hospital overcrowding, burgeoning waiting lists and spiraling costs." According to the Fraser Institute, Canada ranks "in the bottom third its 29 member countries for availability of medical technology such as MRI and CT scanners, yet it ranked fifth in 1997 national health expenditures." America's health care problems are a direct result of command-and-control government programs like those of our northern neighbors.. The solution is not more government control, but a return to a self-regulated free market where doctors have an incentive to treat patients well, and patients have the freedom to choose their doctor. Brian Schwartz