Rand Paul, A Fierce Critic Of Universal Healthcare, Is Traveling To Canada For Surgery

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), an outspoken opponent of universal health care, is traveling to Canada to have hernia surgery, the Louisville Courier Journal reported Monday.

Paul is adamantly against socialized medicine and has called the idea of a national public health care system “slavery.”

“With regard to the idea whether or not you have a right to health care… It means you believe in slavery,” Paul said back in 2011. “You are going to enslave not only me but the janitor at my hospital, the person who cleans my office, the assistants, the nurses… you are basically saying you believe in slavery.”

The surgery is due to injuries Paul sustained in 2017 when he was attacked by his neighbor in a dispute over lawn debris, the paper reported.

The Courier Journal reported that Paul is scheduled to have surgery next week at the privately-run Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario.

While Canada enjoys publicly funded universal health care, Paul’s spokesperson noted that the hospital Paul will visit is privately administered.

“This is more fake news on a story that has been terribly reported from day one — this is a private, world renowned hospital separate from any system and people come from around the world to pay cash for their services,” Sergio Gor, Paul’s deputy chief of staff, said in a statement. “The Courier Journal should know better!”

Gor did not respond to a request for comment by The Washington Post on why the senator was seeking medical care outside the United States.

Many on social media mocked the senator for having his surgery in the “socialist dystopia of Canada”:

Why is Rand Paul having surgery in the socialist dystopia of Canada? https://t.co/zKwpA8KrfF

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 13, 2019

Rand Paul, an outspoken critic of universal healthcare, is traveling to Canada for hernia surgery, where they have universal healthcare, because America’s health care system wasn’t good enough for a sitting US Senator. https://t.co/sVtkIBoGFW

— John Aravosis 🇺🇸 (@aravosis) January 14, 2019

Rand Paul: "universal single-payer health care would be disastrous."

Also Rand Paul: "I'm going to have my surgery in Canada." https://t.co/Vqo6bRZyXy

— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) January 14, 2019

BREAKING: Rand Paul, who constantly attacks socialize medicine, has decided to travel to Canada to take advantage of socialized medicine during his Hernia operation.

HYPOCRITE!

We need Medicare for all, RIGHT NOW!

— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) January 14, 2019

Oh, the irony: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of the fiercest political critics of socialized medicine, will travel to Canada later this month to get hernia surgery.

Tell Congress we need #MedicareForAll now: https://t.co/iQQ4yeeBjyhttps://t.co/yqvqcdub8w

— Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) January 14, 2019