Bill Clinton Calls U.S. Health Care 'Insane'

Speaking in Canada, former President Bill Clinton called America’s health-care system "insane” and urged Canadians to resist calls for a move toward privatization.

"It’s a good thing, your health-care system, with all of its problems,” he said Monday night at a $3,000-a-plate dinner in Toronto marking the launch of the World Leaders Forum.

When health care came up in a question-and-answer session, Clinton said the last thing Canada should do is let the "health-care finance tail wag the health-care dog,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Web site reports.

That’s what the U.S. did, according to Clinton, and the result is "a colossal waste of money.”

He said the U.S. spends 34 percent of its health-care costs on administration, a total of $280 billion, "to pay two million people to go to work every day for all the providers and insurers and play tug-of-war.

"It’s insane. Don’t go down that road. Don’t do anything that will lead to increased administrative costs.”

Canada spends only 19 percent on administration, Clinton said. He suggested that would-be health-care reformers should investigate other advanced health-care programs to "see who solved the problem best.”