anyone who either offers payment or receives payment for providing medical services is guilty of a criminal act and can be prosecuted and jailed.
I have heard that in Canada there are some physicians who are not part of the health care system, but who do accept "fee for service" payments. It was my understanding that this is a common practice that has occurred for over 20 years, even though it is officially a crime according to the Canadian government.
A physician I know went to Canada, to pay for his mother's surgery. Her surgery was scheduled through the government system with a 20 month waiting period. By using a fee for service physician, her surgery was completed in less than two weeks.
This physician was educated in Canada, he has taught at Stanford, and is now in private practice in the U.S. I would agree with the post by Jay Chesley...the best "Canadian physicians" are practicing in the United States.
It may be cheaper according to some accounting ledgers to make people stand in line and wait (and wait and wait) for basic health care, not to mention needed surgery, but when one factors in all the opportunity costs, suddenly Canadian medicine is no longer so cheap.
I wonder how many Canadian's die while waiting...and waiting for needed surgery? As this article states:
"The ultimate cost, of course, is death. In government parlance, a dead person needs no medical attention, so the cost to the system to let a person die prematurely is zero. " |
