Ted.. I found this opinion piece in the Toronto Star a couple of days ago.. entitled, "US Health Care Not For Us"
There was some interesting facts in it I wanted to re-print here... first off.. you need to go on the premise that we have a Conservative provincial government in Ontario.. which is on the right wing of the political spectrum.. and they tend to preach privitization of publicly owned things.. not unlike your Republican brethen...anyways.. on to excerpts of the article, written by Walter Rosser:
"Soon after the Harris government was first elected in 1995, several large
American health insurance companies were invited to assess the Ontario
market to determine how they might participate. After several years of
assessment, they departed without a plan. For a private health-care system to
be profitable, there must be a poor quality public system so that what is
provided privately will attract those who can pay the insurance premiums. Our
publicly funded system was found to be too good for them to profitable."
(Scotts commentary: now you know why the insurance companies in the US have no interest in
health care to be reformed, or even remotely approach the Canadian system)
"The business case for privatizing health care is undercut by the American
experience. The U.S. spends more than 14 per cent of its Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) on health care, while leaving 40 million to 50 million people
completely uninsured and another 100 million underinsured because of limits
on individual health-care expenditures. Any American with a chronic disease
like diabetes lives in fear of his or her insurance being cut, and becoming
uninsurable. Contrary to popular belief, Americans insured in managed care
organizations cannot choose their physicians or hospitals since the insurer
directs where they can go and to what they are entitled.
Contrast this scenario with Canada spending just over 9 per cent of our Gross
Domestic Product on health care, while insuring the entire population without
stated limits on either the amount of care provided or choice as to where
people get their care. The difference in cost is accounted for by the fact that
27 per cent of the cost of American health care is for profits and
administration. Our one-payer system means that billings are streamlined for
maximum efficiency, saving billions of health-care dollars for Canadians each
year.
Another major difference in the Canadian approach to health care is the
strength of our primary care system. In the U.S., only 18 per cent of
physicians are family doctors. Most people go to specialists who are not
trained to look after the most common health problems. In Canada, half our
physicians are family doctors who treat most health problems. An article last
summer in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Barbara
Starfield argued that inappropriate health care in the United States caused more
than 200,000 deaths each year. Comparable findings were not present in
Canada because of our strong family physician system.
Our system is not broken but it needs made-in-Canada solutions. Lest we
forget, our health system has already produced superior infant and adult
mortality ratios. Saving lives is what really counts in the larger scheme of
things.
Dr. Walter Rosser is professor and chair of the Department of Family and
Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
thestar.com
Note that this was a doctor who wrote this, and one pretty high up in the rankings.. not an editor, or a politician.. so I think he'd be a pretty good authority on those facts and opinions he lists |
