Discussing the Canadian Medicare system, Theodore Marmor writes in the NYT:
Q. What is your biggest criticism of it?
A. The continued nastiness of federal-provincial negotiations about the shared financing of Medicare is one unappealing feature of the Canadian system. This dual responsibility leads to endless blaming between the national and provincial governments for the pressures of medical expenditures on the budgets of other public programs and tax levels. This, in turn, has partly prevented Canada from handling drug costs in the uncomplicated Medicare program.
With regards to the British NHS, Robert Mackey writes and quotes:
NHS often makes the difference between pain and comfort, despair and hope, life and death. Thanks for always being there…
Millions of people are grateful for the care they have received from the NHS – including my own family. One of the wonderful things about living in this country is that the moment you’re injured or fall ill — no matter who you are, where you are from, or how much money you’ve got — you know that the NHS will look after you.
Both writers have missed the critical problems with both systems: medical rationing and shortage of quality medical care.
For instance, the following was reported about Canada:
A letter from the Moncton Hospital to a New Brunswick [, Canada] heart patient in need of an electrocardiogram said the appointment would be in three months. It added: “If the person named on this computer-generated letter is deceased, please accept our sincere apologies.”
The patient wasn’t dead … but there are many Canadians who claim the long wait for the test and the frigid formality of the letter are indicative of a health system badly in need of emergency care.
Americans [are] impressed at the free and first-class medical care available to Canadians, rich or poor. But tell that to hospital administrators constantly having to cut staff for lack of funds, or to the mother whose teenager was advised she would have to wait up to three years for surgery to repair a torn knee ligament.
… Rather than leave daughter Emily in pain and a knee brace, [an] Ottawa family opted to pay $3,300 for arthroscopic surgery at a private clinic in Vancouver, with no help from the government.
More corroboration from Kevin Colby:
57% of Canadians reported waiting 4 weeks or more to see a specialist; 24% of Canadians waited 4 hours or more in the emergency room.
A March 2, 2004 article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal stated, “Saskatchewan is under fire for having the longest waiting time in the country for a diagnostic MRI — a whopping 22 months.”
A February 28, 2006 article in The New York Times quoted Dr. Brian Day as saying, “This is a country in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years.”
As for the NHS, The Herald reports:
Almost one in three patients in Scotland experience problems with their NHS care, but it goes unrecorded because many believe nothing will be done.
A report commissioned by the Scottish Health Council highlighted poor communication and staff attitude as the most persistent problems, but found “significant” barriers to making a complaint.
In all, almost one-third of patients had encountered a problem with the NHS, but 53% of that group did not complain about the service they received, with many saying that it “wouldn’t make any difference”.
The report said: “People perceive many disincentives to complain even when things have gone quite seriously wrong for them in their contact with the NHS in Scotland. People’s experiences and relationships with the NHS in Scotland are often complex and most people just want to move on from them.
Do we want the same in the USA? No, thank you very much.
