Favorite Canadian Health Care Quotation of the Day

"This is a country in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years," said Dr. Brian Day in a New York Times article today. The article, "Canada's Private Clinics Surge as Public System Falters," details how Canada's system of socialized medicine is coming apart at the seams.

Comments

[sage]

Yeah, but what about the children? They don't need new hips, now do they?

[Russ 2000]

From the article:

While proponents of private clinics say they will shorten waiting lists and quicken service at public institutions, critics warn that they will drain the public system of doctors and nurses. Canada has a national doctor shortage already...

a) Why is there a shortage>?
b) Why isn't the shortage being addressed?

Perhaps the only way the shortage will be addressed is if private care is encouraged.

[Matt L]

Question: How do the Canadian doctor's salaries compare to U.S. doctor's? And what is the cost of med school in Canada vs. the U.S.?

[Lurker Kurt]

Perhaps the only way the shortage will be addressed is if private care is encouraged

Russ, you may be on to something.

Perhaps there is a shortage of doctors and nurses because they got fed up with regulatory BS and voted with their feet and moved south.

[Pro Libertate]

Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Every time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America.

Send us your poor doctors, nurses, and other huddled, yet educated, masses.

[happyjuggler0]

Average wait times between referral by a family doctor and treatment range from 5.5 weeks for oncology to 40 weeks for orthopedic surgery, according to the study.

Last December, provincial health ministers unveiled new targets for cutting wait times, including four weeks for radiation therapy for cancer patients beginning when doctors consider them ready for treatment and 26 weeks for hip replacements.

Uh, how about a target of zero waiting instead?

Our (US) neighbor-to-the-north's health care system may not be perfect, but it is Canadian. 🙂

[theCoach]

Bringing up wait times is a clear indicator of someone who does not want to discuss actual health care results.

[Rick Barton]

Send us your poor doctors, nurses, and other huddled, yet educated, masses.

And folks who need a quicker operation.

[joe]

I support having a system of universal health care access, funded by the public, because I think it would provide better health care outcomes overall. As demonstrated by virtually any comparison between the US system and that of other advances industrial nations.

But to forbid private health care services top of that is absurd. It's an ideological gesture, and can't really be defended through anything but class warfare.

[Rick Barton]

joe:

As demonstrated by virtually any comparison between the US system and that of other advances industrial nations.

What?? What about the subject of this thread, Canadians being put on long waiting lists for operations? Also, the indicator of "better health care outcomes " is better health. I don't think that the evidence indicates that Americans lag the average of the other advanced nations in most health parameters.

Lastly, favorable comparisons to the US situation, with its prevalence of both heavy regulation and restraint of trade in the medical industry, are of very limited credit to government health care systems.

[RexRhino]

I support having a system of universal health care access, funded by the public, because I think it would provide better health care outcomes overall. As demonstrated by virtually any comparison between the US system and that of other advances industrial nations.

Oh god... Let me ask you a question? Have you tried both medical care in the U.S. with quasi-socialized medicine, and one with fully socialized medicine?

Aside from all the statistics (for example, life expectancy after being diagnosed with a disease) saying U.S. care is better, have you experienced health care under both systems to compare?

Socialized medicine sucks... it is a disaster! Even the advocates for socialized medicine and against private medicine here in Canada GO TO PRIVATE CLINICS AND HOSPITALS!!!

[joe]

Rick,

There have been plenty of studies into the question, and the United States consistently "punches below our weight" when it comes to health outcomes. There is far too large a portion of our public that receives little or no health care

People with no health insurance often experience their own long waits for medical services, often waiting until they end up in the emergency room to treat a problem that could have been nipped in the bud. That isn't a good use of our money, and it isn't ethical to put people in that situation.

RexRhino,

Allowing private clinics to exist alongside the public system is fine by me.

As for your first question, its stupidity is so overwhelming that I fear regressing intellectually if I answer. It's the sort of thing you hear from creationists.

[RexRhino]

As for your first question, its stupidity is so overwhelming that I fear regressing intellectually if I answer. It's the sort of thing you hear from creationists.

You don't need to answer the question. If you had experienced both systems, you would answer the question. You have absolute faith in socialized medicine, so it is outragious to you that your faith would be questioned with facts or personal experience.

[Rick Barton]

joe,

Markat freedom and low regulation produces better quality products and services in industry after industry. It should be tried in something as critical as health care. Look at two areas of medicine where we have less regulation and more competition; dentistry and vision-consumers tend to get more for less.

[anita]

vjv