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Just in case nobody has noticed, the government can't handle the simplest things without completely screwing them up and doing so in the most inefficient and costly manner possible.
Do you ever stop to wonder why no developed nation has looked at the US health care system and though "Hmm, here's a model to emulate"? That's because it is horrendously inefficient and extremely costly.
You can laugh, yell, or cry - but it's not debatable that when a Canadian (or German, or Frenchman) puts a buck towards healthcare, more of that money goes to pay for nurses, doctors and medicine, and less of it goes to pay for paper-pushers, as compared to the US. One of them fact things.
Single payer and Medicare for All are pipe dreams. As a military veteran I've seen how well a "Medicare for All" system works at the micro level. It's called the Veteran Administration health care system where veterans may wait for months for a specialty care appointment. Some may even die waiting for an appointment or die because of a misdiagonsis by an incompetent physician. The nation certainly needs healthcare reform but the solution isn't in socialized medicine or Medicare for All. Hucksters like Bernie Sanders purport the benefits of Medicare for All but in reality he'll never need to use it. As a U.S. senator whenever Sanders needs to go to the doctor one of his flunkies calls Walter Reed and gets him an appointment for the same day. I might support Medicare for All if members of Congress would be obliged to use it like the rest of us kulaks.
Population of Canada - 38 Million
Population of the US - 329 Million
Just looking at one item. The average wait time for an MRI is going to approach 133 days (about 1/3 of a year). Where many are paying privately to get it done sooner.
And again Canada has about 1/10th the population of the US
If you are going to post a link to try and prove your case, you probably should read it first...
The US is one of the top 10 Countries that people come to for Medical Treatment, Canada isn't on that list. With not one mention of specific numbers by Country, just an overall number, And then there was this one gem of a quote.
Seems like there are still lot of people coming to the US, don't see many people going to Canada.
Ah, but they do. I'm an American in Canada who has been navigating the Canadian Healthcare system (not for me, someone else.) MRIs, PET scans, CT scans, take a couple of weeks to schedule, not months. Canada does have some hospitals to which people in other countries travel for treatment. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is one such, on a par with Sloan-Kettering in NYC.
It also has some negative areas. Kingston General, for example, is bursting at the seams. The hospital has not grown to match the area population. You can go in to the ER and be technically admitted, but you might remain in an ER bed for a week.
It is not a perfect system, but there are things they do very well; previously-mentioned government-provided home care, for one example, including respite for caregivers. The use of trained paramedics to visit homebound patients in rural areas to assess, do blood draws, and administer medication, for another.
But nobody has to drive an incapacitated stroke victim into court to try to save their home because a hospital has a $200k judgment against them.
FYI--I am one of the few Americans who has excellent health insurance for which I pay nothing, so I am not suffering under our system. Ironically, I've had few health issues. I am getting old and expect that luck to run out sooner or later.
The US is one of the top 10 Countries that people come to for Medical Treatment...
Yes, the US has solved the problem of providing healthcare for those with means admirably. But that's not a very hard probelm, is it?
Said it before: The best of US healthcare is like the best of US anything, it's world-class.
Just like Napa produces some of the best wine in the world. The thing is, though, that while you can hold up the quality of Opus One and the way it's praised by connoisseurs, if most people inside the US are making do with two-buck-chuck and quite a few are not making it to the beverage aisle at all, perhaps there's a problem to be addressed?
But nobody has to drive an incapacitated stroke victim into court to try to save their home because a hospital has a $200k judgment against them
And while that's not just a tragedy on the personal level, let's not overlook the fact that there's an army of lawyers, debt collection agencies and hospital administrators involved in extracting that fee. All of whom need to be paid out of the collective health care dollar. It's no wonder that the US system has the world record in administrative overhead.
People have this weird notion that privatization by definition must reduce bureaucracy. And it's nonsense.
Ah, but they do. I'm an American in Canada who has been navigating the Canadian Healthcare system (not for me, someone else.) MRIs, PET scans, CT scans, take a couple of weeks to schedule, not months. Canada does have some hospitals to which people in other countries travel for treatment. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is one such, on a par with Sloan-Kettering in NYC.
It also has some negative areas. Kingston General, for example, is bursting at the seams. The hospital has not grown to match the area population. You can go in to the ER and be technically admitted, but you might remain in an ER bed for a week.
It is not a perfect system, but there are things they do very well; previously-mentioned government-provided home care, for one example, including respite for caregivers. The use of trained paramedics to visit homebound patients in rural areas to assess, do blood draws, and administer medication, for another.
But nobody has to drive an incapacitated stroke victim into court to try to save their home because a hospital has a $200k judgment against them
Canada also has a population of 38 million citizens vs 330 million citizens in the U.S. That's a far easier number of patients to provide quality health care to. I also know for a fact the Canadians in Ontario travel into the U.S. via Detroit to seek health care in the U.S. This 2017 article from National Proletarian Radio also contradicts your claims about wait times.
"That said, it's not a perfect system. Canadian health care doesn't cover prescriptions, physical therapy and psychotherapy. And there's the concern that Canadians wait longer for health care than would Americans with robust health coverage."
And while that's not just a tragedy on the personal level, let's not overlook the fact that there's an army of lawyers, debt collection agencies and hospital administrators involved in extracting that fee. All of whom need to be paid out of the collective health care dollar. It's no wonder that the US system has the world record in administrative overhead.
People have this weird notion that privatization by definition must reduce bureaucracy. And it's nonsense.
Yes, good point.
My mother was in the hospital in 2015. 86 years old, quad bypass. I was at the hospital every day and gave the people at the desk on her floor my cell number, but whenever a doctor called or needed to speak to someone, they called my mother on her home phone and left messages to call the doctors. She obviously was not getting these messages because she was THERE in the hospital. After about five times of telling nurses or whoever was at the desk to add my phone number to her file and them saying ok but never doing it, I found the administration office in the hospital and demanded to see someone.
She informed me that no one but her office could change a phone number in the file. But did anyone I asked tell me that? No, they wrote down my number and said they would just to humor me.
That was one example of what I found to be poorly-run business practices during her stay.
So not only are there too many of them, they suck at conducting the business end of their business. I have no doubt their billing processes are full of redundancy and waste.
Ah, but they do. I'm an American in Canada who has been navigating the Canadian Healthcare system (not for me, someone else.) MRIs, PET scans, CT scans, take a couple of weeks to schedule, not months. Canada does have some hospitals to which people in other countries travel for treatment. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is one such, on a par with Sloan-Kettering in NYC.
It also has some negative areas. Kingston General, for example, is bursting at the seams. The hospital has not grown to match the area population. You can go in to the ER and be technically admitted, but you might remain in an ER bed for a week.
It is not a perfect system, but there are things they do very well; previously-mentioned government-provided home care, for one example, including respite for caregivers. The use of trained paramedics to visit homebound patients in rural areas to assess, do blood draws, and administer medication, for another.
But nobody has to drive an incapacitated stroke victim into court to try to save their home because a hospital has a $200k judgment against them.
FYI--I am one of the few Americans who has excellent health insurance for which I pay nothing, so I am not suffering under our system. Ironically, I've had few health issues. I am getting old and expect that luck to run out sooner or later.
Great post. Makes sense to me. Curious as to what insurance you have, government or private?
And while that's not just a tragedy on the personal level, let's not overlook the fact that there's an army of lawyers, debt collection agencies and hospital administrators involved in extracting that fee. All of whom need to be paid out of the collective health care dollar. It's no wonder that the US system has the world record in administrative overhead.
People have this weird notion that privatization by definition must reduce bureaucracy. And it's nonsense.
Wow. The rare time I agree with you. A new year miracle. Cheers.
Canada also has a population of 38 million citizens vs 330 million citizens in the U.S. That's a far easier number of patients to provide quality health care to.
Does efficiency of scale not apply to health care, all of a sudden?
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