Sunday, September 20, 2009
Canadian Health Care, Even With Queues, Bests U.S.
Interested in seeing what Canada is doing? Read this. This article informed me of the main logistics behind our neighbor up north and their "success" with healthcare. I know some of you may be getting sick of reading about and seeing healthcare all over the news, but this was helpful. I think we need to be concerned with these issues today because they could have a great effect on our future. In Canada, the government uses taxpayer funds to pay claims by doctors, who mostly work in private practice or for a hospital and are paid fees for their services. The article states that in the U.S., we "overuse" technology in the medical field. It gave statistics that say "there are 67 percent more coronary-bypass procedures in the U.S. than in Canada" and "the U.S. had more than four times the number of magnetic resonance imaging units - - 26.5 for every million residents compared with 6.2 for every million in Canada -- making Americans three times more likely than Canadians to get a scan." My arguement is that we have much higher costs because we use technology, and are successful at doing it. When it comes to the practice of medicine the United States is the front-runner. In Canada, citizens have to wait for care, whereas in the U.S., citizens have to pay for it. I'd like to see what you guys think of this and your opinions not only healthcare like Canada, but do you think we "overuse" technology?
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3 comments:
This is a good article comparing our healthcare system with another country's. Personally, I would rather pay for it than wait as long as Canadians claim to have to wait. If there is something very seriously wrong with a person, they need immediate attention rather than waiting months to see a specialist. I would choose our healthcare plan over Canada's. Although we have to pay more for ours, we have more immediate attention. As far as technology goes, I did not realize how much we did use technology in the medical field in comparison to other places. I would agree that we do overuse it, but not to an extreme level. However, the overuse of technology is costing more in the medical field. On that other hand, I feel that U.S. citizens feel better about a medical visit or operation because of technilogical advances, so it may not be completely a bad thing.
It is well known that it takes much longer to get health care in places like Canada and the United Kingdom, however I don't know that I would argue that deterring excessive health care costs is a bad thing. Part of the cultural differences between the U.S. and these countries is that Americans tend to go to the doctor more often, and healthcare providers are more liberal with prescribing tests and medications than in other countries. But is our health in the U.S. that much better as a result of this? The life expectancy according to the CIA World Factbook are as follows: 81.23 in Canada, 79.01 in the U.K., and 78.11 in the U.S. So although there are obvious disadvantages to public healthcare such as longer lines, the U.S. should not consider less non-essential healthcare as a bad thing.
Having recently received an MRI it’s amazing to see the technological advancements in the healthcare business. I would much rather pay for quick results than have to wait for care. A person is as only as good as their health, so why take a chance on it.
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