US Universal Healthcare: How are we going to pay for it?

[NKAJ]

HappySqurriel said:

NKAJ said:

while what your saying is probably true(we have the NHS in Britain and people complian about them) i think that the basic message of this film remains intact.I dont know why americans are so obsessed with thinking evrything is worse in canada but while some people may have to wait for hours more people in america wont even get any healhcare.People are working in their 80s just to have health insurance .i know america thinks its blashempy to have anything socalised but healthcare is one thing where its actually good.

As a Canadian I know exactly why Americans believe that the Canadian system is so bad, because the Canadian system is so bad ...

For the second time in a couple of years I am without a family doctor, and this time it was because my doctor realized he could make more money while working fewer hours as a nutritionist at a weight loss clinic than he could as a doctor. This leaves me in the position where if I am ill or injured but it isn't an emergency and I do the correct thing of going into a walk in clinic I will (probably) spend 4 to 6 hours waiting to see a doctor. Emergency rooms are just as bad, and it isn't uncommon to wait 4 to 6 hours for a legitimate emergency to be treated.

The contrast between the private and public delivery of medicine is clear in the Canadian system, even though there is the assumption that it is fully delivered by the government. There is no shortage of plastic surgeons, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, massage therapists, physiotherapists, or pharmacists who receive most of their income from people paying out of pocket for their services (or are paid through supplemental insurance); and yet every specialization for doctors within the public system, and there is (always) talk of speeding up the accreditation process for doctors from third world countries.

On top of this, the only people who don't believe that Canadians have a Two-Tier healthcare system are also the people who fight all reforms of the system. The well connected (like politicians, their close supporters, and athletes) get immediate access to healthcare in Canada, those with the money can go to the United States, and only the "poor" and "middle class" are left with little access to healthcare.

 

Now, maybe I've been mislead, but I have been told that the NHS is not that much different than the Canadian system.

sorry i didnt realise you were canadian...

SamuelIRSmoth knows more about it than me..