A mixed public-private health care system works best, according to a Canadian research institute.
The Fraser Institute in B.C. has just released a report highly critical of Canada’s all-public system.
How good is Canada’s health care? Not so good, the report concludes. Canadians spend more than people in other universal care countries, but have less access to doctors.
The most important finding from a tech perspective is that Canadians have access to less medical technology than patients in other countries, even though the computer networks handling back-office functions may be more effective.
This is the reverse of the situation in the U.S., where patients with good insurance can often access the latest diagnostic gear but still have to fill out paper forms at each new doctor they see.
The report echoes criticisms by the Canadian Medical Association president, Dr. Robert Ouellet, who has been campaigning for more private participation in the nation’s health system.
Dr. Ouellet outlined his criticisms in a speech to the Institute last month.
In addition to legalizing private care, the report recommends that user fees be imposed at the point of care, the equivalent of co-pays in the U.S.
Study author Nadeem Esmail (above) says critics of reform scapegoat her proposals by claiming he wants a U.S. system, just as American conservatives scapegoat their critics by claiming they want a Canadian one.
What he wants is a mixed system like those in Europe and, increasingly, Asia, which have better outcomes at lower cost than either the U.S. or Canada
But the message can be lost in his own arguments, as when he argued last year that health care can not be universal against a representative of B.C.’s nurses.
The report is coming out at an interesting point in Canada’s political debate, with Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper facing a threat the opposition may unite and topple his minority government.
