[CaptainCanada]

For instance, very recently the CDC revealed that the actual number of deaths caused by obesity is less than 1/4 of the number they were using previously. Similarly, small amounts of red wine are good for you -- should total teetotalers be denied care?

The issue is at the doctor level. If he/she has several patients
waiting for care, then THAT doctor has to make a decision as to who
is going to get his/her attention.
I'd rather the doctor make that decision than leave it to a politician.
In the USA it's an easy call - it's whoever has the fatest wallet.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

The doctor shortage can be pinned on the health care system, and governments.

Governments across Canada conspired, in the late 1980's, to cut and cap medical school spaces, in order to ration health care. These caps have only recently been lifted.

The payment system used punishes doctors for taking on "problem" patients, and rewards them for taking only young, healthy patients. It's not just the "unworthy" who are having problems -- increasingly, elderly people are unable to find a regular doctor.

Doctors can earn considerably more in the U.S. -- hence many leave Canada -- thus exacerbating the doctor "shortage".

BTW, I don't smoke, drink little, exercise, eat well, and am not obese; and I think that people should take personal responsibility for their health. However, no matter how hard I try to avoid it, I still seem to be getting older. I would like to think that medical care will be available when I need it.

"In the USA it's an easy call - it's whoever has the fatest wallet."

That's certainly what we hear all the time here. According to the OECD, Canada spends 6.7% of its GDP on public health care while the U.S. spends 6.6% of its considerably larger per capita GDP on public health care. We spend only 2.9% of GDP on private health care -- compared to 8.1% in the U.S. Most of that private health care expenditure is for insurance -- which we Canadians are not allowed. If we weren't taxed to pay for the public insurance, we could afford to pay for the private insurance.