All you need to know about government provided (mandatory participation) "health care" is that in Canada, your dog can get an MRI 8x faster than you can get an Xray. No BS.
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The reason you pay more for health care in the USA is because there is no government price fixing which inevitably results in poorer service by less qualified individuals using older equipment and technology.
Price fixing? I'm not sure what you mean.
Do you have an example or two of what the Canadian government does more efficiently than the private sector (doesn't matter what type of industry it is, be it medical, school, etcetera)?
I received my refund cheque within 14 days of filing my tax return. I still haven't gotten my cheque from Canon, and it's been like two months since I sent in the mail-in rebate for my scanner.
The basic problem is that once health care becomes a political matter, your voice in it is effectively subordinated to what bureaucrats determine is in your best interests.
I'll forgive you for saying this only because you don't live in Canada and are unfamilliar with the political climate here. But basically, with the sole exception of oil-rich Alberta, every government in the history of this country that has tried to screw with healthcare, or toyed with privatization, has been kicked out by the electorate on this sole issue.
The government determines how much it will pay doctors and health care providers.
Wrong. In the case of doctors, each provincial government works out an annual agreement with the Canadian Medical Association, which is the professional association representing all the MDs in the country (it's basically a union, only it calls itself something else), and creates payment schedules for everything from a routine checkup to a triple-bypass. If for any reason the CMA is not satisfied with the agreement, they withdraw services. In other words, the doctors go on strike.
Everyone else -- nurses, assistants, technicians, receptionists, even housekeepers -- is unionized and pretty much does the same thing. Recently the BC government tried to cut the nurses' pay and they nearly provoked a general strike. In fact, basically everyone who works in the public sector is unionized and fully protected from the kind of unilateral decision-making you just described.
Decision-making will be driven by pressures to control costs and cut corners through rationing.
Only if the system is underfunded. Besides, it's not like a for-profit organization doesn't do that every time the shareholders decide they're not making enough money.
If you need a hip replacement procedure done, you can wait years for that or any other medical care deemed elected by bureaucrats.
Not true. A patient's need is always assessed on a case-by-case basis by an experienced healthcare professional.
Taxes will rise to fund the health care system.
My taxes have been holding steady ever since I started paying them.
And apparently, even the former Canadian Prime Minister's doctor thinks your country's universal health-care system needs work.
There's not a single individual in this country who doesn't disagree that it needs work. That doesn't stop people from being glad to have it. I mean, my spoken French needs work -- my pronunciation is slow and my vocabulary is limited -- but I'm still proud to be bilingual.
What you're arguing (consolidating entire industries and making everyone goverment workers) is called Communism and it has failed in every instance that it has been tried.
First, you didn't read my post -- I actually recommended against making physicians and nurses government employees. You also demonstrate a lack of understanding of both communism and Canadian healthcare. Canada does not have a government funded and operated monopoly, it's a series of taxpayer-funded insurance schemes for hospital care and certain doctors’ services, supplemented by private insurance and out-of-pocket payments for other health services. It is not, by any reasonable stretch, communism.
But if the care is free, then why are Canadian citizens coming down to the US to pay for medical services with cash?
Because some procedures (hip replacements, for example) have long waiting lists, and people are treated in order based on need. (And before you start typing, remember that how badly someone needs a procedure done is determined by experienced healthcare professionals, not by the big, bad, bureaucratic government.) People who have the money will often go down to the States to have it done so they don't have to wait. Rich people have this idea that they should be able to get what they want, when they want it, rather than getting in line like everyone else.
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He does not seem to be as fiery as he usually is; usually his tongue is rather sharp, if you get my drift.
Shall we continue?