auditor0007
Gold Member
The Canadian Press: Overhauling health-care system tops agenda at annual meeting of Canada's doctors
so much for the great Canadian health care system
I will admit that the Canadian system has some big problems. Considering that they only spend half of what we do in the US, this is very understandable. Maybe they should increase revenues a bit to address their cost issues. They could increase spending by 50% and still pay a lot less than we do. Of course, they will need to collect more and that is an argument that must be made to the people of Canada. Healthcare isn't free, but Canadians can have great healthcare with their current system if they pay for it, and they can do so while keeping it much cheaper than it is in the US.
"The U.S., then, seems to be paying far more to insure a smaller share of its populationto be paying more for less.
There are several flaws in this reasoning, first and foremost its claim that a dollar spent is a dollar wasted. Americas health-care sector is larger partly because, unlike Canadas, it includes for-profit corporations. Consider the benefit: companies invest billions each year developing innovative, life-saving drugs and devices. Are these expenses really something to lament? Similarly, is it a disadvantage that the U.S. has 11 percent more practicing doctors per capita than Canada? Or 15 percent more nurses? Is it a problem that the United States has almost four times as many MRI scanners per capita as Canada does, or that we preventively test more of our population for common cancers? Hardly. The fact that Americas health-care system is larger, more advanced, and better staffed than a system with rationed care is an advantage. To pretend otherwise is just a tactic to make the reform pill easier to swallow."
Bigger Is Healthier by David Gratzer, City Journal 22 July 2009
You are missing the point. If Canada and the UK spent even 50% more, they would have all these things, and they still would spend less than us in the US. The biggest problem with the government run option is that cost savings many times does become the priority. Of course, one thing that is rarely mentioned is that the UK's system also allows supplemental insurance for those who choose to pay for it. Because the public system covers most care, the supplemental insurance is fairly inexpensive, but it does give people some extra options that are not available to those who choose to just go with the NHS.