Trump Claims Canadians, Who Have Universal Healthcare, Would Have 'Much Better Health Coverage' As 51st State

President Donald Trump said on Friday that Canadians would have better healthcare if the country was absorbed by the U.S. and became its 51st state.

Talking to media from North Carolina, Trump made the comments while claiming the U.S. is "subsidizing" Canada. "We lose $200 billion a year because we allow them to make cars, to take lumber. We don't need their products, we make the same ones on the other side of the border," said Trump during a passage of his remarks.

He went on to reiterate his desire for Canada to become a part of the U.S., saying that "if that happened," Canadians would have "much better health coverage." The comment stood out because unlike the U.S., Canada has universal healthcare.

However, the issue is somewhat contentious as not all consider the system to be better than the U.S.'s. A 2022 poll by Angus Reid Institute showed that Canadians were less satisfied with their access to healthcare than Americans.

The poll showed that 29% of respondents have experienced "chronic difficulty" in accessing healthcare, while an additional 31% said they experienced some challenges. The same poll showed that only 15% of Canadians were satisfied with their access to healthcare, compared to 29% of Americans. Moreover, 13% of Americans said they have "chronic difficulty" with it.

"Faced with the possibility of needing emergency care, 70 per cent of Americans felt confident they would get it in a timely fashion compared to just 37 per cent of Canadians," the report added.

Canada's CBC said it has "reported extensively across Canada on emergency room closures and service reductions due to staffing shortages, extended surgery wait times, and the need to offload some procedures to other provinces to clear backlogs."

Sally Pipes, president of the Pacific Research Institute, recently wrote in Forbes that the worst about Trump absorbing Canada would be taking its "government-run, single-payer healthcare system."

"Canada promises patients more than it can deliver. It taxes its citizens dearly for the "right" to wait weeks or months for care. And as if long waits and poor outcomes weren't bad enough, the Canadian healthcare system is also draining the country's economy," she said.

Surely, not all opinions are negative. Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party of Canada, taunted Trump with the matter recently: "You think we want to be the 51st state? Nah, but maybe California would like to be the 11th province," May said in early January.

She went on to extend the invitation to Oregon and Washington, highlighting that the states and nation have geography in common before taking a jab at the U.S.' healthcare system.

"This is what we've got for you: Free healthcare, universal, free healthcare. No more 1-year-olds who suddenly fall off the Medicaid list and their parents are on the news because they're trying to do a GoFundMe, because they're trying to get their daughter to a doctor," the veteran Canadian politician added.