Twenty years ago, we bragged that Canada had the best healthcare in the world. Our 1970s reputation of free, low cost care for all sustained our pride into the 1990s.
Not anymore.
We fall behind most other systems in Europe.
Now we brag that we cost less than American healthcare. No one who knows the facts argues that Canadian healthcare is the best in the world anymore.
Why Canadian Medicare Fails
No patient accountability for cost
No provider accountability for cost
No government accountability (just raise tax)
Providers fear litigation encouraging defensive practice (cover your butt)
80 % Unionized vs. 18% in private sector (++pay, pensions, benefits)
Insufficient infrastructure
Painfully ancient IT, or no IT at all
Poor integration
MDs cannot fully leverage knowledge by billing for delegated care
MDs left out of leadership
Over regulated
Managed by bureaucrats
MD and hospital incentives misaligned
Price fixing has not worked in any industry. Ever.
Our insurance program was built for rare medical catastrophes when the average age in Canada was 25. It now functions as a warranty program for common, chronic conditions when the median age is 40. In 1960, 7.6% of the population was over 65. By 2013, 15.3% were over 65.
Failing systems ration services. The old lose out first (Daily Mail 2014, 2013, and Guardian )
Does our 40-year-old Medicare system deliver compassionate, outstanding service and quality to everyone? Or, does it depend on whom you know, whether you are a professional athlete, or whether the service is billed outside of Medicare (E.g., WSIB, RCMP, Military, tourists, etc.)?
Fundamentalists tell us that Medicare fails because we do not have enough of it.
No, Medicare fails because ideologues refuse to allow us to improve it.