“There are waiting periods because of lack of practitioners, and there is a lack of practitioners precisely because the government has removed the free market from health care decisions and doctor compensation.”
And, something that hasn’t been addressed much vis-a-vis the comparison between the two systems — The US has more than 10 times the population of Canada and the demands will be exponentially more for health care than in Canada.
Being an American, I won’t speak for Canada’s or Britain’s governmental efficiency, but as for us, aside from the military, our government can NOT provide any deliverable in an expeditious manner even approaching that of the private sector. Every large bureaucracy will inevitably be bloated with bureaucrats who attain their positions for reasons of politics rather than a genuine interest in improving medical care. Will it be only a short amount of time before care providers are staffed based on those same (political, not medical) standards? I’d say “yes.”
In America, to be sure, the health care industry is one that certainly needs fixes, but the proper path is NOT nationalization. Tort reform and tax incentives would be a good start.
Those who support the Canadian or British models have to ask themselves the following question (among many others): “Am I OK with my elderly or cancer-stricken loved ones being denied health care due to rationing?”
The proper path towards fixing health care involves shifting towards portable HDHPs and portable Health Savings Accounts [consolidate the other tax-advantaged medical accounts into the HSAs] with simplified billing codes. Oh, and instead of taxing health care premiums, just allow individuals and households who buy health insurance to deduct in full the cost of the plan and claim credits for the Medicare and FICA taxes paid on the amount.