As I listened intently to a few friends discuss the American health system it was interesting to detect the passion evoked regarding the issues that face our great neighbour to the south.
I only wish we'd get as worked up about our own system that faces its own problems. Are we assuming our system is naturally a better one and thus does not require a thoughtful discussion?
Of course, this would be foolish on our part.
I took it upon myself to shift the tone and direction of the conversation away from the U.S. and towards Canada.
I put on my Corporal Canada Cape and hammered out a thought.
"Do you guys know that 5 million Canadians (or 16% of the total population) are without a family doctor? Does this not strike you as a problem given you can't visit a specialist without a GP's note?"
"Really? I don't have a family doctor."
That was one guy in six - 16% of the group. In fact, I think it would be higher since not everyone had a chance to declare if they had one or not.
Note: All swear words have been dropped in the interest of maintaining a clean and pseudo-intellectual blog post.
To conclude, GP's are the point guards in the medical system. Without one you can't see someone to fix whatever ails you.
There's no easy solution, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteNo there isn't but there are a few possible things (as a few thoughtful doctors have intimated to me) we can do. Like deregulate parts of the system, control the unions (and thus labour costs), shift the tendency of seeing the patient as an expenditure to one of being an asset.
ReplyDeleteIf the U.S. does go with universal health care, as Obama is talking about, best they study very hard the parts of our system that are weak.
Just because it's "free" doesn't necessarily mean it's more "compassionate."