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Originally Posted by Bubba  Tell that to the Canadians, the Brits and the French. Healthcare is free in those countries. Think of it like the whole country is one big group and the tax you pay for the healthcare is your group insurance premium. One extremely large group (the country) would be cheaper than thousands of smaller groups paying larger insurance premiums. Ask the citizens of those countries if they would want to change it and pay less in taxes.... |
The health care system in Canada is largely government-funded, with most services provided by private enterprises.
Waiting times for major non-emergency surgery have been longer in Canada, and Canada has been slightly slower to adopt expensive technology and medicines. Consequently, Canada has had higher mortality rates for some conditions, such as heart attacks.[8] Canadian health administrators say that these problems are improving. [9]
One of the major complaints about the Canadian health care system is waiting times, whether for a specialist, major elective surgery, such as hip replacement, or specialized treatments, such as radiation for breast cancer. Studies by the Commonwealth Fund found that 24% of Canadians waited 4 hours or more in the emergency room, vs. 12% in the U.S.; 57% waited 4 weeks or more to see a specialist, vs. 23% in the U.S.[38]
In a 2003 survey of hospital administrators conducted in Canada, the U.S., and three other countries, 21% of Canadian hospital administrators, but less than 1% of American administrators, said that it would take over three weeks to do a biopsy for possible breast cancer on a 50-year-old woman; 50% of Canadian administrators versus none of their American counterparts said that it would take over six months for a 65-year-old to undergo a routine hip replacement surgery.
In the Canadian Supreme Court case of Chaoulli v. Quebec, Chaoulli argued that the long waits were life-threatening and violated human rights, and that doctors and patients had a right to contract for private health care, despite the prohibitions on those medical services.
Canadians concede that waiting time is a problem that stems from the country's lower costs and commitment to universal coverage. In a letter to the Wall Street Journal, Robert S. Bell, M.D., President and CEO of University Health Network, Toronto, said that
Michael Moore's film Sicko "exaggerated the performance of the Canadian health system — there is no doubt that too many patients still stay in our emergency departments waiting for admission to scarce hospital beds."
In Canada, increasing demands for health care, due to the aging population,
must be met by either increasing taxes or reducing other government programs. In the United States, under the current system, more of the burden for health care will be taken up by the private sector and individuals.
Canada is the only industrialized country that has banned private medical insurance for services covered by the public health plan.
these are all from wikipedia