28 Replies to “The Dirty Little Secret Of Universal Health Care”

  1. We live next to a recently graduated dentist of Korean descent. Brilliant guy, speaks three languages, plays two musical instruments, and the ‘softest touch’ of any dentist I’ve ever had. He told us he went into dentistry instead of medicine because he didn’t want to “work for the government” in Canada’s (Ontario)universal healthcare system. His exact words were, “I’ve got student loans over $100,000 and I need to pay those off. Under OHIP rates it would take me 20 years to pay those. In dentistry I’ll have those loans AND this house paid off faster than that.”
    Check the yellow pages …very few doctors listed; many pages of dentists including display ads, as well as vets. NO WAITING for dentistry or veterinary care! Markets work, governments – and government “workers” – don’t.

  4. The who admire Canada’s system haven’t been seriously ill….
    From my point of observation, politics in Canadian medicine is a prominent factor.
    The heavy hand of bureaucracy is always present.

  5. I predict the medical tourism industry will flourish. Yes siree, head down to Cancun, have your teeth capped or knee replaced then spend the remaining week recouping on the white sands $hitfaced on mai tais as the beautiful Chicas go bouncing by…..

  6. Great sign! The man has guts. Good for him.
    No doubt the Thought Police will be after him for speaking his mind.
    I wonder if the US public really understands what Obama is doing to their country. Soon the signs on doctors’ doors will read “One ailment only per visit.” as I have seen on the office doors of doctors here in Canada.

  8. A friend of mine from Costa Rica confirms they are gearing up big time to accommodate the medical tourists sure to come from this. We’ve outsourced everything else, why not medical care?
    There was a doctor several years ago proposing hospital ships in international waters to eliminate the normal third stage of recovery in the USA, the lawsuit. The reductions in costs were tremendous. I don’t believe we want to make the system totally unaccountable, but something has to be done about tort reform if the costs are going to come down.

  10. TJ: One ailment per visit
    A couple of quick comments:
    1. The doctor has at least one patient who monopolizes his/her time to the point of being disruptive to the schedule.
    2. The disruptive patient does not have a life-threatening illness.
    3. This patient is troubled, unwell, complex and expensive to the taxpayer.
    4. The poor doctor operates in a HRC ruled world and this patient knows all the laws of a nanny state. Hence the sign that “applies to everyone”.
    It’s actually the doctor who is the victim.

  11. NO WAITING for dentistry or veterinary care
    That’s friggin’ news to me 6-8 weeks for a dentist and you’d better hope you live in a town that has a vet willing to work on farm animals.

  13. The Poll next to the Story is the Real Story.
    If Dems do not like it “hit the road”! America is a free market economy for at least the next year, vote with your choice to use this Doctor’s Service or not, like you should do with everything (Mortgages anyone?), do not look to Gov to guard you against your own decisions.
    The poll shows 84% agree with the Doctor, so I do not think he will be going broke anytime soon.

  14. Related,
    … … …
    By Jonathan Montpetit, The Canadian Press
    Montreal — A potential precedent-setting plan by one province to start charging patients $25 for a doctor’s visit is not being blocked by the federal government — at least not for now.
    The Quebec move, which could trigger a ripple effect across the country, is being met with a wait-and-see response from Ottawa…
    … … …
    Free Universal Health care is like a credit card; you can spend like there is no tomorrow and it does really feel like it is free to buy loads of stuff until you eventually have to pay and that is when you feel the pain.
    That is where quebec is now.
    Quebec is almost bankrupt because of all those free social programs, so now they have to charge us for free health care.
    Free universal health care does not work in the long term, no more than a credit card is a magic thing that makes things free.
    Maybe Obama supporters should visit quebec.

  16. thanks abe…most grateful…..i like your ‘let’s cut to the inevitable chase’ style too…

  19. The sign should read:
    Obama Supporters: Proctological Exams Only.
    john begley, LOL.

  20. Hardly an ethical move on the doctor’s part. Doesn’t matter if he’s right or wrong, it’s unethical for him to say such things to his patients; some very well might have to seek care elsewhere
    Course, in the US system they have that choice…

  21. Not so fast NettieOnTheNet.
    I’m a healthy male, hardly ever go to the doctor, but went to the doc about a troubling spot on my arm, he had a look, suggested I see a skin specialist. While I was there I asked if he could look at one other thing – small, minor thing – he said, no, make another appointment, and oh by the way it will be two months down the road.
    That is what happens when you socialize health care.
    If a company in a free market provided customer service at a level comparable to health care in Canada, they would be out of business.
    Problem is we view health care as something special, when it is really just another service like any other.
    Got nothing against the docs themselves, got family members who are docs.

  22. yup sean, better hope someone cancels if you’ve have an abscess.
    The problem with wait times has more to do with receptionists playing god and professional associations protecting their trade by limiting the number of new entrants. This is wholly different than say photography (now in a glut) or mechanics (in shortage). Heaven forbid if a lawyer, accountant or doctor was ever exposed to labour market forces. It’s back door socialism!

  23. There are other ways to deal with “one visit; one issue” but currently “fee for service” payments actually mean “fee per visit”. Doctors I work with get extremely frustrated because lots of times it makes sense to cover multiple issues per visit but if they do that, they are committing financial suicide.
    The co-pay of $25 will likely only cause people who need care to not see their physician. The people who are wasting our time will still come.
    Finally, doctors don’t decide how many people can become doctors. The med schools have a number of seats set by how much funding you get from the government. Then market forces play a role in whether or not physicians will stay in province or even in Canada.

  24. I think Daver6 hit the nail on the head. Bambam’s bill does nothing to reduce the costs of becoming a doctor – $30k+ for six years, with interest kicking in the moment you graduate. That’s more than a lot of peoples’ mortgages, and yet people are expected to take on that kind of debt with the prospect of having some bureaucrat who probably makes more than they do. I mean, you can get into law school with just 3 years of undergrad in some bird course like history and a good LSAT score. Then it’s 3 years in law school, one year articling, and presto – you’re making next to six figures right away, and if you’re any good, the numbers zoom up from there.
    In medicine, you need at least 3 years of undergrad in a science oriented curriculum (in Ontario at least), a good score on MCATs, and good interviews. Then, in most places, it’s four more years of study, followed by a year of interning. Wanna be a resident? A few more years of training while working hellacious hours. Wanna be a specialist? Even more training.
    Yes – spend at least ten years of your life pursuing a specialty, foregoing many of the pleasures of youth because you’re too busy to party, too broke to travel, and too tired to pursue the opposite sex. Then, now that you’re a specialist, enjoy the burden of huge loans while your salary is capped by some guy who spent four years getting drunk and laid while he got his B.A. in social work.
    Can’t understand why anyone would think this wouldn’t work.

  25. TJ writes: “The med schools have a number of seats set by how much funding you get from the government.” Seats in all professional programs in Canada are limited in this way, but in teacher education, provinces subsidize students (through student loans) who can’t get into those seats to cross the border to attend programs set up specifically for them. This is a key reason why we licence four or five times the number of teachers needed in Canada.

  26. Someone else is writing as “TJ” at April 3, 2010 12:37 AM, and it’s not me.
    TJ at April 3, 2010 12:37 AM said “they are committing financial suicide.”
    Ha! Don’t make me laugh. I know plenty of doctors, and every last one is earning far more than the average professional, and has far more disposable income than the average professional. As an added bonus they are their own bosses. It’s a comfortable life.
    Again, got nothing against doctors, but as the health care bills continue to mount, the notion that doctors are inadequately paid isn’t going to fly.
    Doctors, and even more so specialists, have for decades been paid far more than other professionals with comparable years of education (lawyers in some fields, and investment bankers, might be the exception).
    For example the engineers that design and build MRI machines, incredibly complex systems requiring deep engineering expertise, probably earn 1/5 of what the doctor earns that uses the machine.
    That sort of imbalance will not continue indefinitely.

  27. Here is one of the secrets of universal health care. Our Canadian politicians do not experience the failings of our single-payer health care system but they do continue to shape the government health policies and legislation that controls access to what they deem to be “medically necessary” hospital and physician services.
    Many Canadian patients are forced to leave Canada’s single-payer, government-run health care system to seek the medical care they so desperately need. The option of accessing medical care in the United States has always served as a beacon of hope for these patients. Now, both Canadian and American patients will be searching for a new beacon of hope.

  28. Ah, Mr. Begley, you’ve reminded me of my favourite medical receptionist joke:
    “Urology clinic. Can you hold?”

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