Then someone forgot to tell this Canadian physician…
I soon discovered that the problems went well beyond overcrowded ERs. Patients had to wait for practically any diagnostic test or procedure, such as the man with persistent pain from a hernia operation whom we referred to a pain clinic – with a three-year wait list; or the woman with breast cancer who needed to wait four months for radiation therapy, when the standard of care was four weeks. overnment researchers now note that more than 1.5 million Ontarians (or 12% of that province’s population) can’t find family physicians. Health officials in one Nova Scotia community actually resorted to a lottery to determine who’d get a doctor’s appointment. These problems are not unique to Canada – they characterize all government-run health care systems.Canadian doctors, long silent on the health care system’s problems, are starting to speak up. Last August, they voted Brian Day president of their national association. Day has become perhaps the most vocal critic of Canadian public health care, having opened his own private surgery center and challenging the government to shut him down.
And now even Canadian governments are looking to the private sector to shrink the waiting lists. In British Columbia, private clinics perform roughly 80% of government-funded diagnostic testing.
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- MLK Jr.-Harbor Hospital: A preview of socialized medicine?
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{ 17 comments }
Frankly, I’d be better off with a lottery appointment system. At least then the visits would be paid for…
…but then, you are a rich doctor so I’d bet you have access to a good insurance plan and haven’t been denied coverage. Nice to be you.
Rich doctor?!? Have you seen what residents get paid recently?
Anon 5:02,
You assume that you’d have a doctor, and that you could see them. In socialized medicine, with little incentive to see more patients, why should a doctor see you?
Healthcare is still not a right, regardless of how much you want it to be. Doctors have a right to charge for their services. If you need a doctor, you should expect to pay for one.
I am sorry if you have been denied coverage, but lashing out at others is not an appropriate response. Class envy is outdated, and very unattractive. Try another appeal.
“Wah I can’t live on $40,000 a year.”
If you are a resident and spend all the time in the hospital that you claim, what expenses do you have? Eat, sleep, pay student loans. You shouldn’t have time for expensive meals, concerts etc. Many phD scientists make $35,000k per year and seem to do ok
As I have said before many places, the Canadian system is NOT Socialized: If it were, doctors would be employees of the system, but they are not. They are private practitioners, all. I was one.
The limits imposed in Canada are: Major Elective Services – in all sectors. Diagnostic Tests that can be controlled by rules on frequency in a one payor system.
D Lindon:
re: The limits imposed in Canada are: Major Elective Services
Just how do you define radiation therapy for a cancer as a “major ELECTIVE service”? In the states if the standard of care for a given cancer is radiation therapy and it is not provided (offered) in a timely basis, that would be considered malpractice.
That aside, the article does comes up with some very interesting information as I cut and pasted below.
“In The Business of Health, Robert Ohsfeldt and John Schneider factor out intentional and unintentional injuries from life-expectancy statistics and find that Americans who don’t die in car crashes or homicides outlive people in any other Western country.
And if we measure a health care system by how well it serves its sick citizens, American medicine excels. Five-year cancer survival rates bear this out. For leukemia, the American survival rate is almost 50%; the European rate is just 35%. Esophageal carcinoma: 12% in the U.S., 6% in Europe. The survival rate for prostate cancer is 81.2% here, yet 61.7% in France and down to 44.3% in England — a striking variation.”
It would have been nice for the author of the orginal article to provide the sources for these statistics bcause it flies in the face of the argument that the US medicine gives out worse care for more money than our European counterparts. I really do wish the lay press would learn how to appropriately cite scientific sources for verification. A journalist who knows how to appropriately cite scientific evidence is an endangered species.
“I am sorry if you have been denied coverage, but lashing out at others is not an appropriate response. Class envy is outdated, and very unattractive”
Class envy? Indeed, I am envious of the “class” of people who are not denied insurance.
This is a class problem. People with lots of money can pay out of pocket for what ever they want. They don’t have to worry about healthcare. People of ordinary income are dependent on their employer for access to group coverage. 90% of people who try to get an individual policy are unable to do so.
This isn’t about me wanting a free ride. What I want is shared risk in the largest pool possible. The best shared risk (i.e. insurance pool) from a societal perspective is to share risk equally among the whole society. The best shared risk from a selfish perspective is to be the “sickest” person in a large group of people who are healthy and will never file claims. The best shared risk for an insurance company is to have a pool where nobody ever makes claims. I vote for society rather than for selfish individuals or insurance company profits.
As for “lashing out” at people. Frankly, I think it is somewhat justified given Kevin’s anti-Moore, anti-reform, anti-socialized medicine, anti what ever works around the world stance.
Granted, I was being presumptuous in assuming that Kevin MD is “rich.” Whether he is or isn’t isn’t something I would hold against him unless he’s being lofty. It is easy to say how great the medical system is if you have good coverage and have inside knowledge, healthcare contacts and money. Our healthcare system is much more problematic for the rest of us.
“Sure. I guess anyone who disagrees with kevin and agrees with you can misbehave with impunity.”
Misbehave? What is this? Kindergarten?
I don’t think that merely writing posts that are critical in response to a dogmatic viewpoint is “misbehaving.” I’d say your definition of “misbehavior” is an overly broad one.
You have already stated that because your positions are correct, lashing-out is justified. Since I disagree with you, and think Moore is a loud-mouthed gasbag, you are certain to castigate me for this post, too. But you must know better than me.
“You have already stated that because your positions are correct, lashing-out is justified. Since I disagree with you, and think Moore is a loud-mouthed gasbag, you are certain to castigate me for this post, too. But you must know better than me.”
Hmm…one might almost think that you were lashing out at me. Of course, that would be impossible since you (I assume it was you) characterized such as “misbehavior” and you would never deign to be hypocritical.
BTW, it is possible for Moore to be a “loud-mouthed gas bag” and still be right. Still, I would have thought you’d be against Ad Hominem attacks like calling Moore a “gas bag” given your morally righteous stance…
Touche’
Canadian doctors complain about their system. US physicians bitch incessantly about theirs.
Where is the utopia you all seek?
Anon 2:38–
Pay primary care doctors in cash. Require all citizens to have health insurance so surgeons on call get paid.
At least that’s where I’ve gotten by reading KevinMD. It sounds OK.
Seems to me before you can require ALL citizens to have health ins. you must first require that all citizens be offered an ins. plan. Do you not hear what people are saying? They are saying they cannot get ins. in this country.
You guys want it all and it just cannot happen. Demanding that everyone have money up front to pay for all medical care, is extremely arrogant and egotistical not to mention a total lack of reality. It says to all of us that you don’t have a clue!
Demanding that everyone have money up front to pay for all medical care, is extremely arrogant and egotistical not to mention a total lack of reality. It says to all of us that you don’t have a clue!
Um, demanding that we pay for you would indicate that you don’t have a clue. Look, if you want your healthcare paid for, the money has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is from me, and the rest of us non-freeloaders. And we don’t want to cover your tab. No-one owes you healthcare. If you want it, pay for it, or do without, like the rest of us.
I just wish that this country could rely on its citizens to have other worries than how much money they were making…like human life. I figure that’s pretty important. But, according to our health system, it’s not.
True, doctor’s salaries will be reduced substantially because they are paid per procedure, and the government will limit the number of procedures performed per practice. This also hurts the patient. If your group is only allowed to do 20 heart operations in a year and you happen to be case 21, well, too bad. Maybe next year. If there is one. When you stop and think about it, a paranoia-driven explanation for such a system would be population control…
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