Canada's Private Clinics Surge as Public System Falters

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Funny. The percentage of health spending on doctors has gone down from 15 to 13% between 1975 and 2001.

It's probably declined more in the US and in a lot of other countries. Drug costs are through the roof.

[notyoueither]

Which is where this started with a claim that salaries were what was driving up the costs of our health care.

[notyoueither]

dp

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Which is where this started with a claim that salaries were what was driving up the costs of our health care.

No, the claim was that salaries were inflating our costs relative to other countries, not that they were the driving force between increases in our proper costs.

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by Agathon


Says the doofus Ayn Rand lover.

Says the liberal arts professor whose arsenal does not extend beyond ad-homimen attacks .

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by Agathon


So did all the other political and economic illiterates.

Just proving my point for me . . . .

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse

No, the claim was that salaries were inflating our costs relative to other countries, not that they were the driving force between increases in our proper costs.

I think wages are nowhere near the factor they were made out to be.

Originally posted by Tingkai

Originally posted by notyoueither
Incidently, it isn't lack of funds. Canada spends more per capita on health than most of the OECD.

Canada has to pay higher salaries in order to compete with the United States. If salaries were lower in Canada, more medical professional might move to the States.

Most European nations can pay their doctors less because they do not face direct competition from the U.S.

Also, just because Canada pays a higher per capita on health care than most OECD nations doesn't mean that the Canadian health care system is adequately funded.

Originally posted by Tingkai
We pay higher salaries compared to most other OECD nations. That would explain why Canada's per capita health care spending is higher than many OCED nations.

High wages, when the percentage spent on doctors and hospitals (the major employer of nurses) is declining is not likely to explain our relatively high numbers of spending per capita.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by aneeshm


Says the liberal arts professor whose arsenal does not extend beyond ad-homimen attacks .

Why should I bother typing out extended arguments in these threads, when the people they are aimed at have repeatedly demonstrated that they don't even understand them? Eventually one realises that it's just not worth the effort.

If you want my arguments on this issue, go look up one of the old threads.

Jesus... a large number of Apolytoners are still defending the Iraq war, which gives you some idea of the number of halfwits that post here.

[Zkribbler]

Why should I bother typing out extended arguments in these threads, when the people they are aimed at have repeatedly demonstrated that they don't even understand them? Eventually one realises that it's just not worth the effort.

If you want my arguments on this issue, go look up one of the old threads.

Jesus... a large number of Apolytoners are still defending the Iraq war, which gives you some idea of the number of halfwits that post here.

Says the liberal arts professor whose arsenal does not extend beyond ad-homimen attacks.

[Imran Siddiqui]

[Agathon]

My arsenal extends far beyond ad hominem attacks: my patience does not.

[KrazyHorse]

High wages, when the percentage spent on doctors and hospitals (the major employer of nurses) is declining is not likely to explain our relatively high numbers of spending per capita.

Almost. High wages, when the percentage spent on doctors is relatively small, is not likely etc. etc.

The decline has nothing to do with it. It's the absolute size of the number which does.

[notyoueither]

Sure, and I'll invite you to find numbers that show wages as the determining factor in Canada's high number in spending as expressed in percentage of GDP per person.

Keep in mind, we also have far fewer doctors per capita than the average.

I would hazard to say that zero cost health care (for the consumer) where people run off to emergency or the clinic for every sniffle, would be a much larger factor.

[Drake Tungsten]

In Japan, there's a phenomenon (particularly among the elderly) where a person will go to the doctor quite frequently (up to every day in some cases) out of boredom/loneliness or hypochondria. Is there anything similar to that in Canada?

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Sure, and I'll invite you to find numbers that show wages as the determining factor in Canada's high number in spending as expressed in percentage of GDP per person.

Keep in mind, we also have far fewer doctors per capita than the average.

I would hazard to say that zero cost health care (for the consumer) where people run off to emergency or the clinic for every sniffle, would be a much larger factor.

I'm agreeing with you that high wages are probably nothing more than a marginal factor in health spending. I'm disagreeing with your reasoning.