Rand Paul, one and a half years ago:

He adds:

We know the current system isn’t working for families or health-care providers, so perhaps it’s time to try something new. I say we try freedom. More freedom to choose and innovate, leading to more access and affordability, which will help ensure our health-care system remains the best in the world.

Best in the world, huh? Then why this?

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

Paul, an ophthalmologist, said the operation is related to an injury in 2017 when his neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked him while Paul was mowing his lawn. The incident left Kentucky’s junior senator with six broken ribs and a bruised lung. 

He is scheduled to have the outpatient operation at the privately adminstered Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario during the week of Jan. 21, according to documents from Paul’s civil lawsuit against Boucher filed in Warren Circuit Court. 

The procedure is estimated to cost anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000, according to court documents. MDsave.com lists a hernia repair costing between $4,000 and $8,000.

Shouldice Hernia Hospital markets itself as “the global leader in non-mesh hernia repair,” according to the clinic’s website. The hospital’s website outlines payments it accepts, including cash, check or credit card for those patients, like Paul, who are not covered by Ontario’s insurance plan for its residents or a provincial health insurance plan.

Kelsey Cooper, a spokeswoman for Paul, said the hospital is privately owned and people come from around the globe for their services. 

To be fair, Shouldice IS a private hospital that got grandfathered into Canada’s socialized medicare system, but it doesn’t look good for the guy who wrote ” our health-care system remains the best in the world.”