Great points Nick.
I don't think we should read that the Canadian health style system is perfect by any means. I have my gripes as well, some of what you heard. Taxes. Tell me about it. In our country the high "progressive"?? income tax means more of the cost of these welfare programs are disproportionately borne by people in higher income brackets. On the flip side people with lesser financial means pay relatively little for the same quality of care. Like I said earlier whether that is fair or not, good or bad really depends on ones financial status and your view about what it means to be a responsible society. Universal health care has to get paid by somebody.
Like most places there are no doctor shortages in big urban centres, but I do hear about them occasionally in smaller communities. I don't know what to make of it. I haven't detected any difference in quality of physicians but I do know that the top docs are aggressively recruited by the well known American clinics and many do go south. That's the problem with a regulated market where top people's incomes get too regulated and points to a negative outcome of universal medicine. Interestingly I know a few Canadian doctors who returned to Canada after a few years at US clinics, citing concerns about crime, lifesyle issues, a changing government attitude to being able to bill for other services, are just plain homesickness. Maybe it is the beer.
Plenty of freeloaders in this country as well and with our bigger social safety net many have less of an incentive to find meaningful jobs. More needs to be done to curtail welfare abuse which isn't just limited to health care. With the tighter US immigration policies, we seem to be getting a larger influx of people entering Canada who are immediately given access to our health care and other welfare programs. I suppose they have been screened but it would be nice to have them make some sort of a contribution before given social security.
Anyway no system is perfect and all are subject to some abuse. Still, I get back to viewing these issues in terms of what are the primary goals and priorities of an advanced society. I have to say that being something of a numbers guy, I get some comfort knowing the lifespan data. What price do you put on the lower anxiety of Canadians knowing they have free access to high quality medical care and subsidized drugs? Higher taxes and inefficiencies are the costs for sure but I doubt the vast majority of Canadians would ever forego it now. That's why our politicians fall over themselves making speeches about their commitment to universal health care.
