Trump's attack on 'catastrophic' Canadian healthcare system draws ire

Canadians have taken to social media to defend their country’s healthcare system after Donald Trump criticised it during the US presidential debate, characterising it as a slow, catastrophic system.

Some 30 minutes into Sunday’s heated debate, Canada’s universal healthcare system – an unrivaled point of pride for most Canadians – made a rare, if unflattering, appearance.

The swipe came as Donald Trump responded to an audience question regarding the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. After pointing his thumb at Hillary Clinton, he told the audience: “She wants to go to a single-payer plan, which would be a disaster, somewhat similar to Canada.”

Canadians, he continued, “when they need a big operation, when something happens, they come into the United States, in many cases because their system is so slow, it’s catastrophic in certain ways”.

Many Canadians on social media bristled at the remarks. Some pointed to figures published last year that estimated that 52,000 Canadians – less than 0.2% of the population – left the country in 2014 to access non-emergency healthcare in other countries.

Others pointed to reports such as that of Commonwealth Fund, which in 2014 ranked the US healthcare system last among 11 nations surveyed, despite being the most expensive in the world. The same report ranked Canada’s healthcare system second-last, but ahead of the US.

Many took aim at Trump’s remarks with comparisons. “Canadian life expectancy, 81 years. US, 78 years,” wrote one user. “At least we don’t have 45,000 dying a year due to lack of care like in the USA,” wrote another, citing a 2009 study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Others, such as Canadian singer-songwriter Jann Arden, chimed in with their own experiences of healthcare north of the border. “I received a pacemaker in 1982 in Canada where I am a citizen. I didn’t pay a red cent. My health was – and is brilliant.”

Sunday’s comments appeared to be a reversal from Trump’s earlier stance on the Canadian system. In an interview with MSNBC last year, Trump said he had few qualms with the single-payer system but argued it would not work in the US. “It’s certainly something that in certain countries works. It actually works incredibly well in Scotland. Some people think it really works in Canada. But not here, I don’t think it would work as well here,” he told the broadcaster.

His jab at Canada appeared to be all for naught: while Clinton has praised single-payer systems in the past, she has not proposed a wholesale shift to a single-payer system.

Trump may have confused her position with that of Bernie Sanders, who championed the idea of a government-run healthcare system during the Democratic primary. Clinton has instead proposed expanding the current government program to include tax credits and reduce the cost of prescription drugs.