peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (09/16/83)
I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned the Canadian universal medicare system which operates very well. Recently, the universality of the system has been threatened somewhat by so-called "user fees" (paid to hospitals) and "extra billing" (by doctors who charge more than the standard rates) which have been permitted by some conservative provincial governments, but it still works fine, with no possibility that a serious illness will wipe out a family's savings. And to suggest that all our doctors are "drunken quacks" is preposterous. Nor does it take a long time to get an appointment, with all emergency cases handled promptly and routine check-ups available within a few weeks at most. In some specialities (e.g. opthamology) it can take several months to schedule a check-up, but all that means is that one makes your next appointment right after a check-up. It has always been rather astonishing, and a bit sad, to me that the US cannot muster enough collective humanity to implement universal medicare. It is the main economic reason that Canadians seem to give when they say they are apprehensive about moving south. peter rowley, U. Toronto
laura@utcsstat.UUCP (Laura Creighton) (09/17/83)
....but it doesn't work too well. There are several known problems. First -- We have too many doctors. There are a lot of doctors that send people to checkup and referal after checkup, just because their patient level is too low to keep them in business. This is realted to the practice of 'uneccesary surgery'. And we all pay for this. and hospitals are closing. Why? Well, it sure isn't because there are too many hospital beds! Hospitals are closing because they are too expensive to maintain because OHIP has not considered the cost in simple things like heating and lighting when there is talk of rate increases. and pure medical research is not very well funded either. Why? well, it may not pay off in immediate benefits, and the same government minions in charge of how much money the hospitals get think that research is best done by universities, which another group of government minions gets to underfund because all that research should be done in hospitals. The current trend is to get fewer doctors by making the entrance requirements more stringent -- say a 90 average rather than an 85. This cuts down the numbers, but it makes for a lot of brilliant doctors who haven't got a clue about how to deal with people being accepted, while lesser academics with wonderful interpersonal skills being turned down. A better solution would be to put those brillinat doctors into research and to build more hospitals, but there simply isn't the cash flow in the system. And medicare contributes to the problem. laura creighton utzoo!utcsstat!laura