Canada's Private Clinics Surge as Public System Falters

[KrazyHorse]

Nope.

[KrazyHorse]

Accidental deaths of all kinds, men outnumber women 2.8 to 1

[notyoueither]

We aren't worried about deaths when it comes to healthcare expenditures, are we?

[KrazyHorse]

No, but since deaths and serious injuries are likely to be well-correlated among sample populations and since the death rate is better documented than the injury rate we can use the death rate as a tracer for injuries.

[notyoueither]

And we could pull numbers out of our asses as well.

[KrazyHorse]

Pulling numbers out of our ass would not be scientific. Carefully waving our hands while making a series of somewhat-justified assumptions is.

Trust me...

[KrazyHorse]

NYE, every figure I've ever seen has put the incidence of serious injuries in the male population much higher than it is in the female population...

[Tingkai]

1) I said that salaries were a factor, not the only factor, explaining the higher cost of providing health care in Canada. Other factors would include the need to maintain more hospitals to serve a more geographically dispersed population, the cost of maintaining air ambulance services, and differences in the types of health services provided.

2) Just because salaries have been declining as a percentage of total healthcare costs does not mean that salaries have been declining.

3) Salaries for medical personnel are higher in Canada than many European countries. Salaries make up more than a third of health care costs so the difference is not necessarily marginal. By comparison, the cost of drugs account for about 15 percent of health care spending in Canada.

4) Using the OECD average for per capita health care spending is misleading given the extreme differences in the economies of the OECD nations. Providing health care in Canada is going to be much more expensive than providing health care in places like South Korea, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Mexico, and Turkey (all are OECD members).

5) The Canadian government could increase spending on health care without increasing taxes and without cutting social services like education. The Tories, in their infinite wisdom, plan to dump billions of dollars into the Arctic Ocean. This is money that could be spent on health care. The Liberals wasted a billion dollars on the gun registry. The government is operating a budget surplus, therefore money can be put into health care without raising taxes.

6) Charging a user fee might reduce the number of people going to hospitals for sniffles, but it may also cause people to delay seeking help. As a result, healh problems that could be dealt with cheaply at an early stage are allowed to develop into major problems that cost more to treat.

[KrazyHorse]

Evidence from several countries shows that men are between two and five times as likely to be admitted to hospital as a result of injuries, for example

http://menshealth.about.com/library/blgender.htm

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
NYE, every figure I've ever seen has put the incidence of serious injuries in the male population much higher than it is in the female population...

How much higher? What figures have you seen?

http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/82-221-XIE/01103/high/region/hinjuries.htm

Overall, men were more likely than women to have sustained injuries (15.5% versus 11.1%).

Is that 'much higher'?

[KrazyHorse]

Nope. Because women are overreporting relative to men. For the same reason that they go see a doctor more often for the same injuries, they are claiming to have been injured more often.

Admission to hospital is the gold standard.

[notyoueither]

I see that 10% of males and 7% of females sought medical help for injuries during 2000/1.

http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/82-221-XIE/01103/tables/html/12185.htm

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Nope. Because women are overreporting relative to men. For the same reason that they go see a doctor more often for the same injuries, they are claiming to have been injured more often.

Admission to hospital is the gold standard.

So, our system of free medicine allows them to use more 'free' services?

[KrazyHorse]

What have I been saying?

Men get seriously injured at a much higher rate (2-3 times more often), yet only seek medical attention ~50% more often.

Now add in something like contagious illnesses which strike both populations more equally and you see why women go to the doctor far more often.

[notyoueither]

Actually, StatsCan says that men get injured about 40% more often than women, but who am I to argue with numbers out of asses.