Moral Hazard and OHIP+

We scrambled to book massages and orthotics for our children.

The year was almost over. We had unused health benefits.

Did they need a massage?

Who determines need versus want?

Do need and want overlap? If not, where does one end and the other start?

Economists teach us that demand for free products and services is infinite.

Voters experience the limits of free government products and services as rationing. Stuff runs out. Wait lines form. Continue reading “Moral Hazard and OHIP+”

Simply Overwhelmed

Dr. Lynsey Bartlett made national news when she let 100 patients go last week.  CTV reported it as 200.

She was charting until midnight, spending 1/3 of her day with complex mental health patients and could not afford to hire more staff to help out.

She was simply overwhelmed.

Many docs do what Bartlett did, but they go quietly. They trim office hours or join larger groups.

Patients wait longer for next-available appointments. But no one sees it in the news. Access changes like the tide, quiet and slow.

The tide has shifted, in Ontario. Continue reading “Simply Overwhelmed”

Weekend With Bernie While Canada Waits

Toronto swooned over Senator Bernie Sanders last weekend. He came to visit Canadian healthcare.

He came, ostensibly, to learn.

He visited three of the shiniest, most advanced hospitals in Canada. Each of them fundraises more money than the total budgets of many smaller hospitals.

Wealthy people donate hundreds of millions to fund hospitals close to wealthy neighbourhoods. Sanders saw only the best, and he liked what he saw.

After his tour, he said Canadians were too quiet about our system. Continue reading “Weekend With Bernie While Canada Waits”