Posted on 10/20/2004 5:30:32 AM PDT by OESY
Voters yearning for the federal government to start rationing American health care might want to take note of a study just released by our neighbors up north. The Vancouver-based Fraser Institute yesterday published its 14th annual report on hospital waiting times in Canada. In medical terms, the patient is not responding to increasing doses of dollars -- and the prognosis is not good.
Under Canada's government-run health-care monopoly, Fraser reports that the average wait for hospital treatment is 17.9 weeks. That's the average over 12 specialties and 10 provinces. To take just one example, the projected wait for hip-replacement surgery in British Columbia is 52 weeks. "These waiting times are the longest that Canadians have ever experienced," notes Fraser's senior health policy analyst, Nadeem Esmail. And "they exist despite record levels of health spending."
The waiting times have fueled Canada's growing gray market in health care. Patients seeking to avoid the pain or inconvenience of long waits increasingly seek treatment in private clinics.... Paying a private clinic for a hip replacement or a cataract operation isn't always strictly legal -- there are laws limiting the treatment private clinics may provide -- but the government understands the political expediency of looking the other way.
The government itself uses private clinics for Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial workman's compensation cases and prison inmates. Thus the Canadian joke about the prisoner who asks his cellmate, "What are you in for?" Answer: "Hip replacement." If all else fails, there's always the American option. Timely Medical Alternatives, a private company in Vancouver, contracts with hospitals south of the border to care for Canadian patients.
...Fraser... demonstrates... Canada's universal health care system has created shortages that leave sick Canadians wanting. There are many things to admire about Canada, but medical care is not one of them.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The author of this piece obviously doesn't get it. It is all for the children.
When I lived in Portugal it was the same way. If you were really sick, and had money, you were on the first plane to Boston. Many in Portugal also maintiain private insurance and see Doctors outside of the national system for this very reason.
I just wish the Bush Campaign would use the words, "socialized medicine" in referring to Kerry's plan.
An orthopedic surgeon from BC told me his next new patient slot is 3 years out.
She smiled broadly as she said that healthcare was great in England.
She suddenly stopped smiling.
I think she had realized she was showing her awful teeth to the world.
My summary of the article:
You spend money most wisely and frugally when (1- most wisely; 4-least wisely):1) You are spending your money on yourself. (i.e., you pay the doctor directly for medical services.)
2) You are spending your money on someone else. (i.e., you donate money to a Catholic hospital).
3) You are spending someone else's money on yourself. (i.e., your health insurance claim)
4) You are spending someone else's money on someone else. (i.e., you vote for higher taxes for healthcare coverage for the poor).The more dollars that fall into the lower categories, the more money is wasted.
Our current healthcare system is a mixture of all four categories.
Universal healthcare falls entirely into the fourth category.
To improve our healthcare system while offering the possibility of obtaining healthcare to as many people as reasonably possible, more healthcare dollars should be allocated to the higher categories.
A program that would improve our current situation would include:
-- Offer catastrophic-coverage-only health insurance plans (some money moved out of category #3).
-- Medical IRA's. Money is set aside for personal medical spending but could grow in a discrete fund. This gives people an incentive to spend their healthcare dollars wisely. (money is moved into category #1)
Hmmm... one system for the connected, another for the commoners... yep! that's fair.
Got login info for the article?
Not much is missing.
What's to add? Canada's health care system sucks!
It's not the actual care that's sucks, it's the waiting lists. It's better to use the US system, "Here's a bag of money, fix me now". That option isn't available in Canada.
The reasoning behind that is, Doctors will all leave the public system in favor of a for profit private one, causing a shortage of Doctors in the public system. Thus,creating a 2 tier health care system, one for the rich, and one for the poor.
Canada's problems became worse recently, because the liberal government, being liberal, chopped 100 billion out of the health care system a few years back, in order to play the "we are good money managers" political theatre, claiming to have balanced the budget. (more like, so we can give money to our friends in things like ad scam, and royal tours for Canada's Queen, GG)
Now, the liberals are going to "fix it", at least that's what they said this last election, and the sheeple, being dumb little Canadians, bought the act. Since their memories are so short, they don't remember that the liberals broke it in the first place, and now they are going to fix it by putting 1/10th of the money back into the system.
They now rely completely on the U.S. for national defense; before long they'll rely completely on us for health care. Of course that won't stop them from badmouthing us every chance they get, or trying to pretend that somehow, in world affairs, they matter.
It figure's that I would remember the name of Canada's queen AFTER I post. It's Adriane Clarkeson. Remember the naked vietnamise girl in the famous picture? that's her, Canada's governor general, who spends tax payers money like there is no tomorrow, on "royal tours", complete with her own private wine tasters, and personal friends, 2 767's full.
I was also once engaged to a Canadian journalist who saw their health plan for what it was--he was also sick which was the reason we never got married. He said that a large percentage of Canadians who lived within 100 miles of the US border drive over and pay for health services.
Be fair now, Mr Ramsbotham, it's only the Canadian loony left liberals who do that.
There are plenty of conservative Canadians trapped in a liberal dictatorship government who fully support pres. Bush, are plenty embarrased at what is stinking up Ottawa, and disgusted at what they did to Canada's once proud and effective Army.
In fact, you can look forward to having the same type of government if Kerry gets in (shudder at the thought)
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