Posted on 11/01/2004 6:38:35 AM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
re: 2. Canada is not a dictatorship. If there are so many inefficiencies in the Canadian system, why has there not been an outcry for reform?)))
One great advantage of the Canadian system is that everyone is mistreated equally. So, if you can't get an appt. with an opthal to get your glaucoma treated, and have to go blind, at least you have that excellent comfort in knowing that other Canadians are going blind, too.
Misery loves equality.
The other reason you're dead wrong is this - I went from paying an HMO $400 a month for regular insurance(co-pay type) to paying $ 150 a month for high deductible insurance. I put $220 a month into an HSA account. So, I'm paying less overall for health insurance ($30 less), and I get to keep all of the $ 2600 a year tax-free I can put into my HSA that I don't use for medical care, so it's really a retirement account as well, whereas otherwise it would be money lining the insurance company's pocket. So, tell me again why I have no incentive to stay healthy, exercise, eat good stuff, etc etc, and see a doctor when I decide ?
You say "The largest voting bloc in the USA are the elderly. If a Canadian-style single-payer system were in place in the states, you can be sure that enough money would be lavished on it so that Canadian-style shortages and delays would not occur, if for no other reason than legislative fear of the elderly."
Yes the elderly have power, but not necessarily when seriously ill. Otherwise how to explain the shortages endemic to Medicare, especially in complex chronic conditions? The voters with power are the relatively healthy, with the result that Medicare pays for $20.00 bathroom equipment and first dollar coverage for drugs but rations things like the [very expensive] drug EPO for renal dialysis patients with the result that more people on dialysis got sick and died.
One fact that does support your point is that Medicare at least seems to reimburse providers at about a 1% profit rate. Medicaid, which is the poor, and increasingly the elderly poor in nursing homes, reimburses at such low rates that it generates losses for providers.
Medicaid clients have access to care that is substantially worse than the access enjoyed by Medicare clients. Even Medicaid clients, however, still have better access than that enjoyed by the average Canadian thanks to the fact that private medicine with private payers still accounts for about 1/2 of total U.S. health care spending.
Medicare does not have a lower overhead than private plans. People who say that neglect to add in all of the equipment that the programs require that physicians purchase, their staff and so on.
Medicaid is not a neglected program as it is "for the poor." It has been the primary vehicle for those interested in nationalizing US health care. It is now the largest health program in the United States. It covers a lot of people who are at median US income.
Your post from a Canadian friend found it's way to my email. I did a Google search to find the source and it led me here. I am glad to see it's not one of those urban legend emails but the real deal.
I expect to see it making the email rounds.
"The Canadian system is the great, human equalizer where everyone gets the exact same care with no special provisions for the wealthy. THey need to suffer like the working poor. "
Canadians who have the money don't suffer, they head south for medical treatment.
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