I've often referred to my Ontario experience with PSI (Physicians, Surgeons, Incorporated). It was an insurance system run by the Ontario doctors. That combined with Blue Cross insurance to take care of hospital needs was absolutely excellent.
The last house call I experienced was with a Canadian doctor. But, then, they ran the system - not the government. I remember my wife telling me that in hospital she was operated on by an English doctor who was surrounded by other observing doctors, eliciting the comment from the surgeon: "God, it's just like Clapham Junction in here."
As you can gather, I was pleased with the private system they had set up. However. I don't know how the system handled older people which is where most of the cost is.
We were in the 30's. Could the system have handled us well in our 70's?
In my High School Courses, the kids learn that both business and government, when they find themselves in financial trouble, have to cut back. They can't cut back on mortgage payments or they'll be foreclosed (LAND). They can't drop wages, or the union will strike (LABOR). They can't ask the bank to forgo it's interest (CAPITAL).
However, they can economize by not replacing capital. That's why factories use old (and perhaps more hazardous) machines. It's why potholes aren't repaired by our local governments. This takes them off the hook for a while, but it inevitably catches up with them. The old machines cost more and more to patch up. More vehicles break their axles - and so on.
I've used machines and potholes to stand in for all the deficiencies. In the States - the richest country in the world - apparently there are thousands of bridges which are getting unsafe. Driving across an American bridge doesn't expose you to terrorist action, but does expose you to the incompetence of American politicians.
All this Keith, to analogize to the problems of the NHS. I don't know the situation at first hand, but I would expect that a major problem is spotty replacement of old equipment, hospitals with leaky roofs and suchlike.
I am surprised that, apparently, the Canadian system has so quickly found itself in trouble. Perhaps others on FW can offer some suggestions.
Harry
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Keith wrote:
(Just in case the metaphor, "basket case", doesn't translate across the
pond, over here it means someone or something that's in the last stages of
decrepitude.)
But here's a real -- and tragic -- basket case, making the news headlines
in England this morning. The body of a dead premature baby, James
Fernandez, couldn't be found when the parents asked for it at the Queen
Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, Kent. It was later found in a basket at an
industrial laundry after having been boiled with the dirty linen. Yet
another example of the demoralisation of NHS staff over here.
I know that some of you (at least Mike Gurstein), are proud of your health
service in Canada. And, because I know nothing about it, I've never made a
single comment about your health service in the several years I've been
writing on FW. All I've done is to agree with Harry's recent comment that,
because of the dire shortage of nurses, doctors and other health
professionals in Canada that Sally drew our attention to, it seems to have
some similarities with the National Helath Service in England.
I only write about the NHS over here because it's an excellent, though sad,
example, of what happens when a public service is led from the top by
non-medical government officials and politicians who've appropriated the
power and responsibility all the way down the line.
The NHS is such a basket case that Tony Blair has given a hostage to
fortune by saying that he wants to be judged at the next General Election
by his success at reforming the hospitals. The rumours that are emanating
from the press about the reforms that are coming do indeed suggest
revolutionary changes. Even allowing hospitals to manage themselves! But it
is doubtful that almost 50 years of arrogant and detailed control from
London can be repaired all that quickly.
(In the meantime, 25,000 patients needing operations are going to be sent
to Greece [that is, besides France, Germany, etc] -- according to some
press reports. If this is being seriously negotiated, this shows just how
disastrous the NHS has been in this country and how desperate Blair is to
reduce the waiting lists before the next Election.)
Keith Hudson
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Harry Pollard
Henry George School of LA
Box 655
Tujunga CA 91042
Tel: (818) 352-4141
Fax: (818) 353-2242
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