Posted on 12/20/2003 9:51:45 AM PST by Pikamax
You can't really compare Canada, or any country to America, which is the richest nation in the world. Naturally, our standard of living and wages are much lower.
And how do Canadians account for that situation?
Well, I would have thought that would be clear. High taxes, a socialist economic system, massive economic regulations, out - of - control "social programs" etc.
Maybe I don't understand. If you think that socialism is what causes low wages and low standard of living then why are you supporting more socialist measures as a remedy for your health care system. Or were you being facetious?
No wonder this doc likes socialized medicine. He actually gets Christmas off!!
Oh. California.
Possibly, but I don't think so. If you want to see a Canadian doctor, the best chance is to take a cruise, particularly in Nov and Dec. Canadian doctors who can't practice at home because of financial limits there often show up as ship's doctors. They get free passage for themselves and their families in exchange.
I think Canada would be better off to find a system where the doctors could work full time, all year round. It makes no sense to train the doctors and then limit the amount of time they can work.
Well, relatively speaking, Canada's standard of living is far from low, just lower than America's. I don't think higher taxes on doctors who leave the country is "socialism", just a way to recoup the cost of training them. You need to understand, training a specialist can cost millions. Even a family doc needs a million bucks worth of education and training. In Canada, a doctor's education is virtually free, ten years of tuition for maybe 50,000 bucks. The taxpayer foots the bill for the rest. If the doctor in turn doesn not practise in Canada, I think it's reasonable to want to recoup the investment in his training.
Ideally of course, we wouldn't have socialized medicine at all. But pragmatically, in the context of the article, Canadian medicine can be improved by reducing training costs and retaining doctors.
Your AVERAGE "Back Surgeon" has spent 12 years in "public School," 4 years in College, 4 years in Medical School, & 6-8 years in "Training" to be a "Neurosurgeon."
AND you want to FORCE this individual to "Care For" You're Aunt with a Backache??
LOOK; IF "The People" wish to have "Cheap, Government-Funded Medical Care," They are ENTITLED to have WHAT THEY PAY FOR!!
If "The People" want to have EXPERT MEDICAL CARE by Exquisitely Trained Medical Experts, then they HAVE TO PAY FOR the COST of that Training.
There is NO "Free Lunch!!"
As a "Country GP," I deliver Tens of Thousands of Dollars Worth of Free care to my Patients each year--Mostly as "Free Samples" given to me to Distribute to my Indigent Patients by the various Drug Companies, but also as "Free or Reduced Fee" services to our Indigent Patients.
NONE of this "Free CARE" EVER gets "Recorded by" ANY Government Entity. We Do "IT" because the Patients' NEED it.
We (& the Drug Companies) get NO credit for our Charity.
Just Projecting a FRACTION of our "Free Care" across America; I can Honestly, Humbly, & Conservatively estimate that there is SEVERAL BILLION DOLLARS worth of Medical Care UNRECORDED in our Nation each year.
If & WHEN the "HMO'S" are "Held to Account for" Their--often Medically Irrational--"savings," there will be Numerous Instances of MALPRACTICE-by-Insurance which have Harmed or KILLED Patients.
Individual Humans are SO DIFFERENT that there can be NO "Formula" for ANY Human "Condition."
The "Great Insurance Companies" have made the "Fatal Error" to assume that All "Humans" are the Same--that "Drug A" has the SAME EFFECT on "Patient A, as on Patient B!!"
The BEST any "Insurance Company can do is to "Go Back to "Actuary," because--in LARGE NUMBERS--we DO "act Similarly!!"
Doc
But why do you think that taxing Canadian doctors if they practice abroad will help? They still won't be practicing in Canada and that's what you need. And won't the taxes make them more inclined to leave Canada for good so they can't be taxed? That will just make things worse. What will you do then?
Ideally of course, we wouldn't have socialized medicine at all. But pragmatically, in the context of the article, Canadian medicine can be improved by reducing training costs and retaining doctors.
If you retrain them to become better doctors that will just make it easier for them to find work abroad.
It seems like quite a quagmire. The more socialistic you get, the higher the taxes, the worse the services get, so people demand fixes which require more state socialism.
Good for you. My grandfather was a "country doctor", as well -- one of only two in Grant County, Oklahoma. He was on call 24/7, in the worst kind of weather, and was often paid with a dozen eggs or a live chicken, if at all.
He told me once of assisting a birth after fording a flooding river in a horse and buggy, when he was newly arrived in Oklahoma, shortly after it became a state in 1907.
It is an honorable calling. One of the most honorable I know...
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