Canadian politician leaves U.S. after surgery

[GRG55]

Re: Canadian politician leaves U.S. after surgery

Thousands of Americans without health insurance, sneaking illegally into Canada to obtain health care!

"but I would estimate that from 12 to 20 of my patients at any one time are ineligible Americans. And I'm just one of 520 doctors in Windsor, 23,000 in Ontario."

Canada needs to stop these dirty, uneducated Americans from stealing hard-working Canadian taxpayer monies - round them up and float them back down the Mississippi on barges and then build a high-tech virtual wall to keep them out.

Force every American entering Canada to prove that they have valid, current health insurance and travel insurance.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/20/wo...l?pagewanted=1

I'm pretty sure they have to pay the doctor directly per visit.

In fact in the somewhat Balkanized Canadian system, health care is in provincial jurisdiction and each of the provinces set the fee schedule for services. If a Canadian is travelling in another province and seeks any medical attention they are responsible for paying any difference between what their own provincial medical system pays and what the cost is [if higher] in the province in which they received the service.

Fun, eh...

[GRG55]

Re: Canadian politician leaves U.S. after surgery

"...Still, the emotional baggage around the Canadian single-payer medical system gets in the way of any constructive debate about improving it."

I would greatly appreciate it if you elaborate on that.

The Canadian single-payer health care system is the government social program that unquestionably has consistently the highest level of public support. Nothing else the goverment does comes close.

And over the years and decades the polls clearly show that support transcends both income levels and political parties. Canadians from all walks of life, and from coast to coast, have made it abundantly clear to both provincial and Federal politicians that if they mess with the health care system it will be at their peril...unless of course they are increasing budgets devoted to this motherhood issue.

The provincial medical associations, the nurses unions, and the now oversized medical system administration system knows this, and quite naturally uses this to boost their own influence over funding and the allocation of the money. The medical associations maintain a chronic doctor shortage by placing lots of restrictions on medical school size and admission levels, the ability of immigrant doctors to practice in this country, and limits on what nurses are allowed to do [all under the excuse of "protecting" the public of course]. The administrators happily build empires and increase their compensation because they have so many people working for them, and the nurses unions do the best they can [and I am most sympathetic to their situation] to keep ahead of inflation.

The politicians are supposed to represent the taxpayers interests against the vested interests of the medical establishment. Unfortunately the "average Canadian voter" trusts the doctors and nurses a great deal more than they trust their politicians [no surprise]...and the medical establishment knows this and takes full advantage of it to shape public opinion.

The one issue on which the public do not trust the doctors or the politicians is the flashpoint issue of "privatized medical care"...the idea that some Canadians should be able to pay more to "jump the line" for treatment. Politicians have successfully painted that as a conspiracy of the doctors to make lots of profit, and that it would spell the end of the public system if allowed to proceed, and the public accepts that argument.

So real reform of any kind is very difficult, requiring that rare combination of remarkable political leadership, consensus between all ten of the provinces and the Federal government [health care is legally in provincial jurisdiction], and the buy in of the medical establishment and support from the public. It happens, but not often...