Does Socialized Medicine Work?

[rah]

Originally posted by Comrade Snuggles


I tell lots of folks here that if the price of treatment exceeds the price of a trip to Cuba, they should go to Cuba.

A lot of HMOs are now sending US patients to INDIA to save money on expensive/complex procedures.

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Bosh


*shrugs*

Hospitals are clean and professional, I usually go to a university hospital nearby. There's snazzy ones if you don't mind paying extra...

I know. I dunno, they have a certain je ne sais quoi, but... not always wonderful.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel
Rather an irrelevant hair to split. Plans like this are the closest the US is going to get to universal health care in my lifetime, thank god.

No, it is not an irrelevant hair to split. There is a vast gulf between a socialized health care system, and a for-profit, private system where everyone is forced to buy insurance. The system that the capitalists (and both of their candidates) want is the one that will cost us the most money, and therefore earn them the most profits. It takes the worst aspects of universal health care and marries them to the worst aspects of the system we already have.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Kontiki
BK should be around any minute to tell us how terrible Canada's health care system is, how every Canadian desperately wishes they were an American and how our government won't do anything about fixing our health care because all they want to do is force us all to have gay marriages.

I won't go quite that far but our system is not one to be copied -

At a time when more than three-quarters of a million Quebecers do not have a family doctor, the news that students are shunning family medicine is cause for real concern. Any further shortfall in general practitioners will inevitably bring about heavier caseloads for remaining GPs.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=ce7ac0c7-176f-442a-a3d2-70f79c31d00f

The Ontario Medical Association represents Ontario's 25,000 doctors and is a leading advocate for excellence in patient care. Despite improvements made to the health system over the last decade, significant challenges remain for over 850,000 people in Ontario who cannot find a family doctor.

http://www.oakvilletoday.ca/news/article/215895

Summary? Our system is great so long as you don't actually need a doctor.

[Seedle]

I really don't understand the degree of resistance to socialized medicine in the U.S. From what I've read here, and what I've read an seen in other media, the U.S. simply pays more for less when it comes to health care. Why no one tends to think there country's system is perfect, most citizens of countries with national health care are happy with it. So we support a system that costs more and that many/most are unhappy with and reject one that most who use are happy with and is cheaper?

And as for all the "redistribution of wealth" arguments against socialized medicine: Isn't insurance, by its very nature, a redistribution of wealth? Everyone pays in, some get more out than they pay in, some get less, depending on who gets sick. Isn't that the entire theory of insurance?

edit: Ok, based on Wevil's post, maybe Canadians aren't happy with socialized medicine.

[Kirnwaffen]

Quite honestly, though, the United States isn't faring much better with regard to GPs. There's simply not enough money in it for the hours you're going to put in. Mind you, that's something that the market will eventually correct, but only after it's far, far too late. It seems to me that, in a single payer system, you could either restructure reimbursements to favor the field or simply offer some kind of bonus for going into family medicine.

[chequita guevara]

The market does not correct all problems, contrary to popular misconception. In fact, the market creates as many problems as it solves, and many problems are simply unsolvable with the market. The lack of GPs is one of those unsolvable problems.

[Zkribbler]

$1 out of every $3 the U.S. spends on health care goes to support the necessary bureaucracies plus insurance companies profits.

Health insurance is not the answer to our health care crisis; it's the cause of our health care crisis.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Seedle

edit: Ok, based on Wevil's post, maybe Canadians aren't happy with socialized medicine.

Wevils wobble but they don't fall down...

It's not that I'm not "happy". I certainly prefer our system to that found in the US but it isn't as glorious as the "We're not Americans" crowd like to imply in order to feel superior. Our doctor shortage has been going on for decades now (I personally haven't had a family physician in 25 years) and the shortage certainly appears to be systemic. A chronic shortage of primary care is not something to gloat about imho.

[Seedle]

Originally posted by Wezil


Wevils wobble but they don't fall down...

It's not that I'm not "happy". I certainly prefer our system to that found in the US but it isn't as glorious as the "We're not Americans" crowd like to imply in order to feel superior. Our doctor shortage has been going on for decades now (I personally haven't had a family physician in 25 years) and the shortage certainly appears to be systemic. A chronic shortage of primary care is not something to gloat about imho.

Okay, thanks for the clarification.

[Kidlicious]

The US needs to do it's part to train more doctors. We don't train nearly enough. Even Cuba is training doctors who agree to practice in poor neighborhoods here in the US.

[Wezil]

We (obviously) don't train enough here either so we choose to poach doctors from countries that can't afford to lose them.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Wezil
We (obviously) don't train enough here either so we choose to poach doctors from countries that can't afford to lose them.

Yep, harvesting educated people from the thid world is quite effective to fill in the gaps

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Wezil
We (obviously) don't train enough here either so we choose to poach doctors from countries that can't afford to lose them.

Same here.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Wezil
We (obviously) don't train enough here either so we choose to poach doctors from countries that can't afford to lose them.

If you're talking about Cuba I believe they have more physicians per capita than either the US or Canada.