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Canadian Healthcare
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| NeoPhono |
Now for something completely different.
I was reading a couple of Fraser institute reports on the state of healthcare in Canada. One topic I found interesting was the increase of waiting times for various healthcare procedures up north. The average waiting time from referal to treatment was about 18 weeks. In some provinces specialties such as plastic and orthopedic surgery have waiting times of well over a year. On top of this, of all "socialized" health care systems, Canada spends the second most per person on healthcare.
I guess my question to Canadians would be, "how do you feel about this?" I'm not trying to be derogatory towards your healthcare system, but does the government and population feel that the current trend of increasing waiting times and high costs will be able to be maintained?
These waiting times are one of the biggest reasons I believe socialized medicine will not work in the US (among many others)...Americans are much too impatient. I cannot see Mr. Smith waiting a year to have his hip replaced, or Mrs. Smith waiting just as long to have a melanoma removed. I do not see our cultures as being all that different, so I wonder how Canadians deal with it.
Waiting Time Link
Health Spending Link |
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| Subey |
A basic fact of reality:
Monetary success is attributable to a whole variety of circumstances that are beyond your control.
So what we've decided then, is to not LINK health care to your own personal financial success.
The american model pretends that the above fact of reality is false (see Rollo May's concept of Pseudo Innocence) because it says your quality of health care is directly LINKED to your access to money.
I accept worse individual care, in exchange for the benefit of the common good.
It's really just another application of the Prisoner's Dilema. |
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| Q5echo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Subey
I accept worse individual care, in exchange for the benefit of the common good.
It's really just another application of the Prisoner's Dilema. |
you wallet, as a prisoner, accepts it as well. |
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| NeoPhono |
| quote: | Originally posted by Subey
I accept worse individual care, in exchange for the benefit of the common good.
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I would not accept worse individual care, for the sake of the common good. The most important attribute I look for in health care is quality. I believe that time is an integral part of quality, because if I am in need I do not want to wait a year to have surgery or months to see a specialist. It is only in the last 20 years that health care costs have sky-rocketed in the US and there are numerous sources of this, many of which can be remedied.
I would again like to make the point though that no person in the United States is denied medical attention if they are in need. I really don't know where this perception arrose that people are not getting care if they are sick or injured in the US if they don't pay. In fact every hospital is required to display a plaque at their main entrances describing free or reduced-price care for those truely in need.
Make the process less expensive, not the system cheaper. |
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| Fir3start3r |
Yes it is true, while free there is a price.
Recently our PM has thrown a load of money ($41 Billion over 10 yrs to be exact) at this problem only really asking in return from the Provinces for a report about waiting times :wtf:
Initially the talks were public but then everything went quiet and was done behind closed doors.
If it's one thing our government really knows how to do well....it's bureaucracy and red tape...
Studies about studies and more crap like that.
They haven't addressed the REAL problem which medical jounalists have been writting about for years; the brain drain to the U.S.A.
Doctors here have so much bureaucracy to deal that their ROI in getting their education just isn't worth the hassle.
NOW in Ontario, we have to pay a "Health Care Premium".
Extra taxes on smokes, extra fee for renewing drivers license, etc, etc...
>> Source <<
I lot of people are downright pissed because the Provincial Liberals here won with such a huge margin and the first thing they do is lay down the taxes to pay for all these social programs.....
lovely.... :rolleyes: :whip: |
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| DJ_Elyot |
American healthcare has grown more expensive...
Canadian healthcare has become of lower quality...
Same problem in two different countries... two different ways of dealing with healthcare, so two different symptoms.
I think privatization will leave a lot of poor old grannies not being able to afford new hips. The government can't fix things if there isn't the money to fix it... and costs are only going to get worse.
It's a tough call, but I think a 2-tier system hurts more people than it helps. Maybe technology will help things become cheaper (for example... technology has been perfected that allows a surgeon to operate on a patient who is thousands of miles away... think of the HACKING possibilities!!!)
Anyways, we'll see what happens. I'm a diabetic, so the cost of healthcare is a huge issue to me. If I lived in the states right now, I'd be broke... |
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