🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <35v2eu$757@crl.crl.com>, Scott Nesbitt <scottn@crl.com> wrote:
>jong@wonderware.com (Jonathan Gwynne) writes:
>
>>You want an example of a single-payer system which stands on its own merit?  
>>Look at Canada.  Their system isn't perfect (far from it in fact) but it is 
>>better than ours by every meaningful measurement there is.
>
>No, it is not, and such a sweeping statement without a glimmer of support
>seems to be typical of your arguments.
>
>In almost every aspect of medical technology, the US has more units per
>person than Canada.  To name a few: 
>
>open-heart surgery
>cardiac catheterization
>organ transplantation
>radiation therapy
>mri
>pacemakers
>cat scanners
>kidney dialysis/transplants
>
>(Health Affairs, Fall 1989 and the National Center for Policy Analysis)
>
>The length of time spent in a hospital is less. (OECD Health Data File, 1989)
>
>Press reports in Canada of people on waiting lists coming to the US or
>dying.  ("Grief, Frustration Left in Wake of Man Who Died on Waiting List",
>Globe and Mail, January 25, 1989)
>
>Regardless of the costs of health care in the US, it simply  cannot be argued
>that Canada has a better medical system.  The reason we have higher costs
>than Canada (besides being better) include:
>
>Higher teen pregnancy rate (The Health of Nations, Leanard Sagan)
>Higher incidence of violent crime (The Medical Cost of America's Social Ills)
>More drug-exposed infants (Drug Abuse Warning Network)
>More drug overdoses (same)
>More AIDS patients  (Federal Spending for Illness Caused by HIV)
>Higher commitment to the elderly and neonatal care (numerous)
>
>and on and on.
>
>The solution to lowering health care costs lies in competition, not emulating
>a Canadian system that even they admits does not work.  Since Federal funding
>for health care system is declining (The Fraser Institute, Vancuver), the 
>provinces are moving away from a single-payer model to mixed public and
>private systems.  Ontarios is considering reorganizing along the lines of 
>US HMOs.  Over 65 percent of Canadians now purchase private supplemental
>insurance.  Analysts predict that Canada will reintroduce private health
>insurance within the next five years.  (Why We Spend Too Much on Health Care,
>Bast, Rue, and Wesbury)
>
>Scott
>-- 
>Scott Nesbitt             Organel Software 
>scottn@crl.com            Makers of AFS/DFS administration and user tools.
>A is A

Talk about a clouded crystal ball.

Canada is just as likely to abandon single payer as you are to perform brain
surgery tomorrow.

The Fraser Institute is a right wing outfit funded by insurers
and oponents of single payer.

Canada's health system is a major factor in its number one world ranking in
the United Nations human development index. The World Economic Forum ranked 
the system first in the world from the standpoint of its contribution to the
country's competitive capacity. The US is way down on the list, number 12,
I believe.

Now we know where the software is.

Larry Racies
.