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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 6:34 am Post subject: |
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100531/hl_nm/us_health_3
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Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health model
TORONTO (Reuters) � Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.
Ontario, Canada's most populous province, kicked off a fierce battle with drug companies and pharmacies when it said earlier this year it would halve generic drug prices and eliminate "incentive fees" to generic drug manufacturers.
British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.
And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery.
It's likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a retiring baby-boom generation. Official figures show that senior citizens will make up 25 percent of the population by 2036.
"There's got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years," said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.
"We can't continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services.
"At some stage we're going to hit a breaking point."
....
Brian Golden, a professor at University of Toronto's Rotman School of Business, said provinces are weighing new sources of funding, including "means-testing" and moving toward evidence-based and pay-for-performance models.
"Why are we paying more or the same for cataract surgery when it costs substantially less today than it did 10 years ago? There's going to be a finer look at what we're paying for and, more importantly, what we're getting for it," he said.
Other problems include trying to control independently set salaries for top hospital executives and doctors and rein in spiraling costs for new medical technologies and drugs.
Ontario says healthcare could eat up 70 percent of its budget in 12 years, if all these costs are left unchecked.
"Our objective is to preserve the quality healthcare system we have and indeed to enhance it. But there are difficult decisions ahead and we will continue to make them," Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told Reuters.
...
But change may come slowly. Universal healthcare is central to Canada's national identity, and decisions are made as much on politics as economics.
"It's an area that Canadians don't want to see touched," said TD's Burleton. "Essentially it boils down the wishes of the population. But I think, from an economist's standpoint, we point to the fact that sometimes Canadians in the short term may not realize the cost." |
We've left the age of promises and entered the age of payments. Too much was promised and we can't afford the payments. Canada will alter the health-care model substantially. |
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misher
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:04 am Post subject: |
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| As a group in Canada, their association controls how many doctors come through the university system each year. They are the people who have put in place restrictions on the amount of doctors in Canada. As long as this group of doctors has its way the problems will never get resolved, as the doctors in Canada have often placed their interests before those of the general public. |
This is the one thing that pisses me off about physicians in Canada. Our universities are good so why not ALLOW more Canadians to study medicine?
You don't have to be superman to get into med school in Germany and their physicians are just fine. Then maybe we won't have to import so many physicians to offset the brain drain to the south.
I know people with 90 + averages, good personalities and insane extracurriculars+ MCAT scores that still can't get a seat in their province's universities. Out of province is even more difficult. It is ridiculous that I need to basically be superhuman to get a seat at UBC for 40k a year in tuition. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:12 am Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100531/hl_nm/us_health_3
| Quote: |
Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health model
TORONTO (Reuters) � Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.
Ontario, Canada's most populous province, kicked off a fierce battle with drug companies and pharmacies when it said earlier this year it would halve generic drug prices and eliminate "incentive fees" to generic drug manufacturers.
British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.
And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery.
It's likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a retiring baby-boom generation. Official figures show that senior citizens will make up 25 percent of the population by 2036.
"There's got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years," said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.
"We can't continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services.
"At some stage we're going to hit a breaking point."
....
Brian Golden, a professor at University of Toronto's Rotman School of Business, said provinces are weighing new sources of funding, including "means-testing" and moving toward evidence-based and pay-for-performance models.
"Why are we paying more or the same for cataract surgery when it costs substantially less today than it did 10 years ago? There's going to be a finer look at what we're paying for and, more importantly, what we're getting for it," he said.
Other problems include trying to control independently set salaries for top hospital executives and doctors and rein in spiraling costs for new medical technologies and drugs.
Ontario says healthcare could eat up 70 percent of its budget in 12 years, if all these costs are left unchecked.
"Our objective is to preserve the quality healthcare system we have and indeed to enhance it. But there are difficult decisions ahead and we will continue to make them," Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told Reuters.
...
But change may come slowly. Universal healthcare is central to Canada's national identity, and decisions are made as much on politics as economics.
"It's an area that Canadians don't want to see touched," said TD's Burleton. "Essentially it boils down the wishes of the population. But I think, from an economist's standpoint, we point to the fact that sometimes Canadians in the short term may not realize the cost." |
We've left the age of promises and entered the age of payments. Too much was promised and we can't afford the payments. Canada will alter the health-care model substantially. |
Shhh, don't tell anyone:
All government is socialism.
Socialism always fails.
It's only a matter of time.
Liberty is the answer. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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| socialized medicine could only exist for a small time in a small population. Times have changed. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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This is far from being the end of a national health care service, but rather necessary tweaks and changes to make it more sustainable. No one in Canada is talking about dismantling the entire system.
Yes, I've met some arrogant doctors, and I don't approve of how an artificial shortage is maintained by limiting graduates, but my suspicion and my experience is that the medical system in Canada is much like post-secondary education: everyone blames the professors / doctors for high wages when it's the giant levels of administration above them that collect the bulk of the salaries and eat up the monies.
The provinces are experimenting by trying other ways to deliver service that are more efficient, and I hope that would include using more lower-level workers and higher-level nurses for everyday ailments. I don't see the problem. |
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Jane
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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Micheal Moore's Sicko movie talked about the idea of mobile doctors, that is, doctors who make house calls. I thought this was the most brilliant idea, one that Canada could adopt too to lower costs.
By treating people in their homes, it limits the pressure put on the national health system as well as limits the possible introduction of contagious elements into hospitals.
Although I'm sure it's not without its inefficiencies, I do hope Canada looks to France's healthcare system as a benchmark. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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| It will cost more and more and services will get worse as poulation grows and ages. New taxes , more new taxes. Nothing is free. |
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BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 3:46 am Post subject: |
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The thing is, family doctors are gate-keepers for all specialists. We need more of both. If people could access specialists directly, they would not need to see their family doctor less often, leaving them less busy.
On the other hand, if people could access any specialist they wanted any time, it'd cause a host more problems.
Family Doctors are paramount. Everyone should have one. For people needing emergency special care in an area with no specialist, maybe the solution is to fly them to the place with the specialists. At the gov't's expense. It is cheaper than employing 100 more people at $200,000 a year each.
Geography is our enemy in canada when it comes to doctors. Every rural community with 400 people and 800 dogs wants a doctor in their area, and there simply aren't enough. Even big cities don't have enough. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah France!!!! the archeitect of the E.U. and the Euro. that sounds like a dandy idea. |
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