The fact remains that the life expectancy of Canadians is 82 years, which ranks them among the top five countries of the world.
The life expectancy in the US is 76.9
The article was entertaining, but much more needs to be taken into account when comparing the two systems. Who's living longer? What are the infant mortality rates? Canadians are actually well cared for when compared to the health system of the world as a whole.
I have been to many inner-city US hospotal and Doctor's offices that would make the author's Toronto experiences look like crumpets with the queen. Rudeness and inefficiency is by not means a stranger to the health industry here. Not to mention malpractice and outright fraud that is quite rampant througout the entire fee-for-service system.
Actually, the poor experience he relayes with the nurses at Toronto Western are almost a mirror-image of the the experiences I have when trying to deal with Blue Cross.
Anybody ever dealt with an for-profit HMO? Thank goodness I have never had that pleasure, but I hear it can be downright dangerous.
He went to a Johns Hopkin's specialist on a cash-patient basis. If you've got a thousand bucks for an office visit at a prestigous hospital, then of course treatment will be better. Of course, many people are paying so much in taxes and insurance premiums (taxes in themselves) that they don't have $1000 left over for such specialized and personal care. What do they do? Unless you are indigent and try to climb onto the dole, chance are you are going to a doctor approved by your insurance carrier. You *will not* get this kind of polite treatment. Trust me on this one.
And last but not least, despite all that money and courtesy - they still were unable to resolve or even diagnose his problem. So John's Hopkins was courteous, but no more able to treat his condition than the Canadians.
In the end, what have we learned?
If you give people money, they'll be nice to you. Real newsflash. Diagnosis success rates may not go up, your problem may still not be solved, but at least they'll give you tea. He got a $1000 pampered visit that was no more medically effective than the free rude visit.
I was hoping for something more insightful.