Frequently asked questions about health care in Canada...
Q: How much does it cost to get health care in Canada?
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why are Canadians so proud of their health care system?
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why is Canada the fifth-highest health care spender among the 31 countries assessed by the OECD? (1)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada have a below-average number of doctors? (1)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada have a below-average number of nurses? (1)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada have a below-average number of acute care hospital beds? (1)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada have a below-average number of CT scanners? (1)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada have a below-average number of MRIs? (1)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada rank in last place for patient rights when compared with 31 European countries? (2)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada rank in last place for waiting times when compared with 31 European countries? (2)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada rank in last place for availability of pharmaceuticals when compared with 31 European countries? (2)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada rank in last place on the Bang-for-the-Buck index when compared with 31 European countries? (2)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why do Canadian hospitals have fixed budgets set by the government instead of being paid for services provided? (1)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why is there no alternative health care available in Canada for patients on long waiting lists? (1)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why do 49% of Canadian doctors rate access to advanced diagnostic services as fair to poor? (5)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why do 49% of Canadian family doctors rate patient access to psychiatrists as fair to poor? (5)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why are five million Canadians without a family doctor? (4)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why did Canadian health officials have a "doctor lottery" to raffle off 1,500 vacancies to 8,000 patients looking for a family doctor? (4)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada rank dead last among G8 countries when it comes to physician supply? (4)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada's doctor-patient ratio rank 24th out of 28 OECD countries? (4)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why do 1 in 9 Canadian-educated doctors practice in the United States? (8)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why did 4,000 Canadian doctors move to the US between 1993 and 2004? (4)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why is the current doctor shortage in Canada equal to the number of doctors who have left Canada? (8)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why did the Canadian government ever believe there was a doctor surplus in Canada? (8)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does the Canadian government regard doctors as independent cost centers? (8)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why has the Canadian government tried to reduce health care costs by reducing the number of doctors? (8)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why has the Canadian government tried to reduce health care costs by reducing medical school class sizes? (8)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why are many outstanding candidates turned down by Canadian medical schools? (7)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why are 1,500 Canadian medical students studying abroad? (4)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does the demand for medical training in Canada far outstrip supply? (7)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why did the Canadian government increased the ratio of specialist to family doctor training positions? (8)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does Canada need at least 5,000 more doctors in active practice? (6)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why do some estimates place the Canadian doctor shortage at 15,000? (3)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does the shortage of doctors in Canada exist across all geographic regions? (6)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does the shortage of doctors in Canada exist across all disciplines, including family doctors, anesthetists, geriatricians and cancer care specialists? (6)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why has the Canadian government restricted the entry of foreign medical graduates? (8)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does the average Canadian medical student graduate with a debt load of $158,000? (4)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Of Canadian seniors who go bankrupt, why do 15% cite medical reasons? (9)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: If health care costs are the reason so many Americans go bankrupt, why is the rate of personal bankruptcy higher in Canada?(9)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why will computer networking of personal health information make it easier to ration health care in Canada? (10)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why do many people regard rationing as one of the strengths of the Canadian health care system? (11)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does the Canadian government limit everything from the number of medical school graduates to the number of surgical procedures performed? (11)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does health care rationing in Canada lead to waits and shortages? (11)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why did the unfunded liability of Canada’s health care system reach 364 billion dollars in 2004? (12)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does it only take a week for a dog to get a hip replacement in Canada but some humans wait for two to three years? (13)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why has the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that the Quebec government ban on private health insurance is unconstitutional? (13)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does the Canadian government routinely delay the approval of more than half of the new drugs launched in the US? (14)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why are doctor's salaries in Canada negotiated, set and paid for by the government? (14)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does the average Canadian doctor earn only 42% as much as that of a doctor in the US? (14)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why is screening for breast cancer on the decline in Canada? (15)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why do patients in Canada wait on average more than two months for an MRI scan? (16)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why do patients in Canada wait an average of one month for a CT scan? (16)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why are waiting times commonly used to restrict access to health care in Canada? (16)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why did the Canadian government prepare for the 2009 flu season by sending body bags to Indian reserves? (17)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why is a Canadian considered too old for hip resurfacing at age 57? (18)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why are Canadians not allowed to pay for health care services that the government otherwise refuses to provide? (18)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why do Canadians have to go to court to win the right to pay for health care that the government refuses to provide? (18)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why does the government in Canada cut health care staff, raise fees and reduce services in order to save money? (19)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why are thousands of elective surgeries being cut during the 2010 Olympics in Canada? (19)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: How are waiting times used to ration health care in Canada? (20)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why are some Canadians more equal than others, when it comes to health care waiting lists? (like professional athletes and their families) (21)
A: Health care in Canada is free!
Q: Why don't Canadians realize that health care delayed is health care denied?
A: Health care in Canada is free!
References:
(1) Our health system is broken, but few care (link checked 2009-11-06)
Ottawa Citizen, August 2, 2009
That article refers to this subscription site: OECD Health Data 2009 – comparing health statistics across OECD countries (link checked 2009-11-06)
The OECD has 30 member countries, including Canada and the USA.
(2) Euro-Canada Health Consumer Index 2009 (link checked 2009-11-06)
Frontier Centre for Public Policy 2009-05-25
(3) Curing Canada's doctor shortage (link checked 2009-11-06)
National Post January 15, 2008
(4) Canada's Doctor Shortage Worsening (link checked 2009-11-06)
Maclean's February 12, 2008
(5) Doctors call for plan to curb physician shortage (link checked 2009-11-06)
Canadian Medical Association Journal January 14, 2008
(6) Managing physician shortages: We are not doing enough (link checked 2009-11-06)
Canadian Medical Association Journal April 10, 2007
(7) Estimated 1500 Canadians studying medicine abroad (link checked 2009-11-06)
Canadian Medical Association Journal April 10, 2007
(8) The Canadian contribution to the US physician workforce (link checked 2009-11-06)
Canadian Medical Association Journal April 10, 2007
(9) Health Insurance and Bankruptcy Rates in Canada and the United States (link checked 2009-11-06)
Fraser Institute July 2009
(10) The Networking of Health information Handbook for the management of ethical and social questions - Chapter 11 - Human and Social Vulnerability (link checked 2009-11-06)
Government of Canada 2004-10-01
(11) We could learn a few things from the U.S.
The Globe and Mail Thursday, Aug. 06, 2009
(12) Medicare’s unfunded liabilities (link checked 2009-11-06)
The Fraser Institute 06/09
(13) Canada’s Private Clinics Surge as Public System Falters (link checked 2009-11-06)
The New York Times February 26, 2008,
(14) The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care (link checked 2009-11-06)
Pacific Research Institute October 2008
(15) Rejecting the Canadian way (link checked 2009-11-06)
Real Clear Politics May 19, 2006
(16) How Good Is Canadian Health Care? 2007 Report (link checked 2009-11-06)
Fraser Institute November 5, 2007
(17) Body bags disrupt Canada's flu-readiness message (link checked 2009-11-06)
Reuters Canada Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:41pm EDT
(18) 'Too Old' for Hip Surgery (link checked 2009-11-06)
The Wall Street Journal FEBRUARY 9, 2009
(19) Elective surgeries to be cut by 35 per cent during Olympics (link checked 2009-11-06)
Vancouver Sun, July 15, 2009
(20) Wait Time Tables — A Comparison by Province, 2008 (link checked 2009-11-06)
Canadian Institute for Health Information - February 2008
(21) Perkins: No surprise as pro athletes jump swine line (link checked 2009-11-06)
Toronto Star - Published On Thu Nov 05 2009
Is this a resume for Fox news?
ReplyDeleteMike said... Is this a resume for Fox News?
ReplyDelete@Mike: I'm too old and ugly for TV. No, it was written by a Canadian (me) for a Canadian friend whose 60-year-old brother has inoperable brain cancer. His chemotherapy was delayed for five weeks after diagnosis because he was "going to die anyway", and now he is going to die much, much sooner. My advice was "drive down to Buffalo" but that's just not the Canadian way... "die quickly" is the underlying message of government-run health care. The last Q&A says it all: health care delayed is health care denied. Good luck to y'all in the USA now, maybe you will still be able to make jokes in ten years.
Funny how any criticism of Obamacare is met with charges of being a proxy for Fox News. Anyone who dares to challenge what our leaders think is good for us is branded as a right-wing fringe lunatic.
ReplyDelete