Isn't Canada's health system having problems now?

[link|http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/20/health/main681801.shtml?cmp=EM8705|Canadian Health Care In Crisis]:

The average Canadian family pays about 48 percent of its income in taxes each year, partly to fund the health care system. Rates vary from province to province, but Ontario, the most populous, spends roughly 40 percent of every tax dollar on health care, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

The system is going broke, says the federation, which campaigns for tax reform and private enterprise in health care.

It calculates that at present rates, Ontario will be spending 85 percent of its budget on health care by 2035. "We can't afford a state monopoly on health care anymore," says Tasha Kheiriddin, Ontario director of the federation. "We have to examine private alternatives as well."

The federal government and virtually every province acknowledge there's a crisis: a lack of physicians and nurses, state-of-the-art equipment and funding. In Ontario, more than 10,000 nurses and hospital workers are facing layoffs over the next two years unless the provincial government boosts funding, says the Ontario Hospital Association, which represents health care providers in the province.

30 year extrapolations obviously have problems, but it seems that Canada is having health care problems like the US and the UK (though the details differ).

Your thoughts? Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.

Compared to the USA, Canada spends a smaller fraction of GDP on healthcare, covers 100%, and to the best of my knowledge provides better care overall. That doesn't look like failure to me.

However long-term trends in both countries have the cost of healthcare going up faster than inflation. That cannot be sustained indefinitely in either country.

At some point, something has to break. Healthcare cannot grow faster than inflation forever. (Neither can the cost of a university education, nor can the size of government.) But the fact that some politicans are considering privatizing pieces of the system to make government budgets easier to balance doesn't mean that public healthcare has not been a success.

Cheers,
Ben

Post #215,411 by Another Scott 7/18/05 3:41:16 PM Reply	Isn't Canada's health system having problems now? [link\|http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/20/health/main681801.shtml?cmp=EM8705\|Canadian Health Care In Crisis]: The average Canadian family pays about 48 percent of its income in taxes each year, partly to fund the health care system. Rates vary from province to province, but Ontario, the most populous, spends roughly 40 percent of every tax dollar on health care, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The system is going broke, says the federation, which campaigns for tax reform and private enterprise in health care. It calculates that at present rates, Ontario will be spending 85 percent of its budget on health care by 2035. "We can't afford a state monopoly on health care anymore," says Tasha Kheiriddin, Ontario director of the federation. "We have to examine private alternatives as well." The federal government and virtually every province acknowledge there's a crisis: a lack of physicians and nurses, state-of-the-art equipment and funding. In Ontario, more than 10,000 nurses and hospital workers are facing layoffs over the next two years unless the provincial government boosts funding, says the Ontario Hospital Association, which represents health care providers in the province. 30 year extrapolations obviously have problems, but it seems that Canada is having health care problems like the US and the UK (though the details differ). Your thoughts? Thanks. Cheers, Scott.
Post #215,415 by boxley 7/18/05 3:58:59 PM Reply	flame forum asshole take this to politics :-) Just call me Mr. Lynch \\ Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 49 years. meep questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #215,423 by ben_tilly 7/18/05 4:21:09 PM Reply	Part of a long-term unsustainable trend Compared to the USA, Canada spends a smaller fraction of GDP on healthcare, covers 100%, and to the best of my knowledge provides better care overall. That doesn't look like failure to me. However long-term trends in both countries have the cost of healthcare going up faster than inflation. That cannot be sustained indefinitely in either country. At some point, something has to break. Healthcare cannot grow faster than inflation forever. (Neither can the cost of a university education, nor can the size of government.) But the fact that some politicans are considering privatizing pieces of the system to make government budgets easier to balance doesn't mean that public healthcare has not been a success. Cheers, Ben I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)

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