Quote:
Originally Posted by afc wimbledon
doctors still use leaches in Alberta, ye gods!!
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In fact, they do.
A friend of mine goes into the PLC every month or so to get said treatment.
Don't we have a two-tiered system already, in that anyone that can afford it, and doesn't want to wait, goes south of the border, or even India (fertility treatments), to get medical care? Why should others benefit from this economic activity? Why not keep the money here?
One argument is "well, there will be even less doctors in the public system because a portion will 'defect' to the private sector". But, remember the operation of the market... If there are more opportunities to make money here, there will be more doctors and more nurses, who either come here, or stay here, when they would have left otherwise. It's obviously a very complex dynamic, and hard to predict exactly how the balance will work out. But I do know it's too simplistic to say "there are only 100 doctors, and if you introduce private care, 25 of them will leave the system". There might now be 105 doctors or a 115. Will the percentage of patient units (individual procedures) leaving "public" for "private" be the same or less/more? These are tough questions.
However, I see it as elementally fair that if someone wants to pay, they should be able to do so. People cry that it's not "fair" for the "rich" to get better (faster?) care. Why? The "rich" can get better houses, better cars, can send their kid to Harvard as opposed to U of C, etc, etc, so what's the harm? Is it just jealousy, and you don't want your neighbour to be able to do something that you can't afford?
There is already a "private" tier in place that few of you know about. I can send a client of mine to a "public" specialist (most commonly orth. surgeon) and I guarantee that he will see my client before he will see you because I pay him $3,500 to do so. The trick used to get around the restrictions is that it's called an "assessment" as opposed to "treatment", but the effect is no different than having a two-tiered system.
What about that other second tier in our system - corruption (for lack of a better term)? Anybody with friends or family "inside" the system can and does jump the line when they need to. Because I have the aforementioned business relationship with specialists, I can get surgery on very short notice, and I will jump ahead of you, and you will pay for it. The list goes on...
So, I say, might as well bring it out into the open and call it what it is. Let the people who want to pay cut the cheque. Someone more knowledgeable in the workings of health policy than I am can design an efficient framework I believe...