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Canada’s Health-Care Queues: Bernie Sanders’s model system makes patients wait and wait and . . .
WSJ ^ | Dec. 12, 2017 | WSJ Editors

Posted on 12/13/2017 7:26:40 AM PST by Brilliant

American Democrats are following Bernie Sanders in embracing single-payer health care on the Canadian model. But when they get sick, our neighbors to the north increasingly find that the only way to get “free” medical care is to wait for weeks or months.

The Fraser Institute’s new report, “Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada” in 2017, documents the problem. The Vancouver-based think tank surveyed physicians in 12 specialties across 10 provinces and found “a median waiting time of 21.2 weeks between referral from a general practitioner and receipt of treatment.” This is worse than 2016’s wait of 20 weeks, making it the longest in the history of Fraser’s annual survey and 128% longer than the first survey in 1993.

The wait to see a specialist for a consultation is now 177% longer than in 1993, while the wait from consultation to treatment is 95% longer than in 1993. At 10.9 weeks it is more than three weeks longer than the 7.2-week wait considered clinically reasonable... long waits for orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery and ophthalmology, among others, far exceed what’s recommended and aren’t benign...

Demand for diagnostic technology also outstrips supply, creating shortages in the form of lines: “This year, Canadians could expect to wait 4.1 weeks for a computed tomography (CT) scan, 10.8 weeks for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, and 3.9 weeks for an ultrasound.” CT scan waits have increased while the nationwide average for MRI and ultrasound waits decreased this year...

The lesson is that Canada hasn’t repealed the basic law of economics that scarce resources must be rationed by price or by time. Ottawa’s decision to mandate a single-payer system in 1984 has consigned ailing Canadians to queues. Some 1,041,000 patients are in line waiting for treatment, a 6.9% increase in 2017...

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Canada; Constitution/Conservatism; Government
KEYWORDS: healthcare
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Socialism doesn't work, but it tends to degenerate over time. Thus, when you have a capitalist market, and then socialize it, there may be no immediate noticeable effect, or one that is not significant. But with the incentive for investment constrained, the now controlled market will not likely keep up with changes in demand on a going forward basis. Over time, that failure to adjust becomes very severe. Canada is now beginning to show signs that it has reached that point.
1 posted on 12/13/2017 7:26:41 AM PST by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant

Sort of what happens at the VA when a vet wants an appointment to their closest provider.


2 posted on 12/13/2017 7:29:18 AM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~)
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To: Brilliant

One thing that really shows judgement on my country’s system is that over the years, doctors and nurses have left Canada to seek better jobs in the United States and patients who can afford it go to the United States in order to receive better and more (importantly) timely care.


3 posted on 12/13/2017 7:29:48 AM PST by OttawaFreeper ("If I had to go to war again, I'd bring lacrosse players" Conn Smythe)
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To: OttawaFreeper

I think that is starting to change... thanks to Obamacare.

And ironically, the problem with both our systems is an inadequate number of doctors. If you tripled the number of doctors per capita, that would solve the problem without having the government run the system. If you compare the US and Canadian systems to the European systems, you’ll see that the biggest difference is that virtually all of the EU countries have at least 50% more doctors per capita. The only exceptions are Poland, which has about the same, and is widely regarded as a failed healthcare system, and Britain, which has only 15% more doctors per capita. The British system is also a poor performer.


4 posted on 12/13/2017 7:41:23 AM PST by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant

I used to have a cabin 350 miles north of Toronto. My neighbor was diagnosed with a heart condition after a drive to Toronto because the North Bay hospital couldn’t do the tests required to confirm the problem. She was told she needed a valve replacement. Her expected wait: 19 months. She died four months later. Also, before Bernie and the other clowns start going down the “Free Healthcare” road, check out the taxes in Canada. Bernie may believe in a free lunch, but the market does not.


5 posted on 12/13/2017 7:41:43 AM PST by econjack
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To: econjack

Just out of curiosity, how do you like owning land in Canada? Is it a hassle? Been thinking about buying a seasonal property somewhere for retirement. I have been focusing on the US, but occasionally ask myself whether it might make more sense economically to look at Canada.


6 posted on 12/13/2017 7:45:26 AM PST by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant

Had the misfortune to need medical care during a recent trip to Britain. Waited 6 1/2 hours in an urgent care, crying in the corridor from the pain. When I finally saw a Dr, he did an exam and told me it was an arthritis flare-up and told me to take paracetamol (Tylenol). I spent much of my vacation in pain as we all know that Tylenol doesn’t touch arthritic pain. I wondered if he didn’t care about my pain because I am an American.


7 posted on 12/13/2017 7:47:12 AM PST by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell)
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To: Brilliant
Come on up to the Missouri Ozarks.
Low taxes, low cost of living, friendly folks, wild turkey, deer, fish year round at the Lake of the Ozarks, shoot your gun.
Did I mention low taxes ?
8 posted on 12/13/2017 7:49:09 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
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To: Brilliant

Last January, I searched Canadian patient times to see specialists times, from initial appointment to 1st treatment for care. Initial appts ranged from 5 wks to 5 months depending on Province.
After initial appt. ranged from 4 months to 10 months for 1st treatment, depending on Province.
They must ration and create very long wait times and cancel appointments indefinitely which ends up killing patients that cant wait. This ends up costing billions more due to long wait delays. Heck, look at England. Scary stuff!


9 posted on 12/13/2017 7:52:51 AM PST by D.A.Veteran
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To: Brilliant
Thus, when you have a capitalist market, and then socialize it, there may be no immediate noticeable effect, or one that is not significant.

Hayek pointed out, the reason socialism fails is not because of "the tragedy of the commons" or the brutal dictatorships or corrupt bureaucracies that naturally arise - it fails because, as you point out, society's natural (free-market) signals for where resources should be deployed stop being received. This is particularly true in the pharmaceutical market. The same drugs are available day 2 after socialist-takeover, and they may even appear cheaper at first, but that's it. The system is now frozen in amber.

10 posted on 12/13/2017 7:54:19 AM PST by PGR88
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To: Brilliant
What does Sanders care?

He'll never have to wait for health care; his socialist proposals are only for the "little people," i.e., us.

These old lefty pols have nothing but contempt for us.

Pelosi too:


11 posted on 12/13/2017 7:58:37 AM PST by Bon of Babble (In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida, Baby!!)
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To: Brilliant

The waiting is more than inconvenience it costs lives. Imagine waiting to see a cancer specialist or even start treatment for your cancer.


12 posted on 12/13/2017 8:03:23 AM PST by The Great RJ ("Socialists are happy until they run out of other people's money." Margaret Thatcherhttp://www.stone)
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To: Brilliant

I’m the first to bash the Canadian system, having lived under it for many years.
However, and to be fair, my brother suffered a heart attack a couple of months ago, and they got him in right away, and placed a couple of stents in his heart.
However, he lives in downtown Toronto where there are many hospitals (including cardiac care facilities) nearby.


13 posted on 12/13/2017 8:15:16 AM PST by mkleesma (`Call to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.')
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To: Brilliant

Not important. The Politicians in the Swamp and their families have nothing to worry about.

So Alabama voters, at least, deserve this.


14 posted on 12/13/2017 8:20:35 AM PST by ZULU (DITCH MITCH!!! DUMP RYAN!! DROP DEAD MCCAIN!! KIM FATTY the THIRD = Kim Jung Un)
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To: Brilliant

Actually, you get in to see a doctor real quick at any hospital in Canada... Just say you have chest pains. Then after you get in to see them, point out what your real symptoms are.


15 posted on 12/13/2017 8:39:07 AM PST by jerod (Nazi's were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
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To: Brilliant

As does the NHS in Britain


16 posted on 12/13/2017 9:00:15 AM PST by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: econjack

My husband has a lot of medical problems, poor guy. He is a Saint!!!

We always stay on top of our medical visits and when he had his heart valve replaced in 2015 it was done at the teaching hospital in Valahlla, NY called Westchester Medical Center, it is the best of the best as many NY hospitals are. He did very well and within a few days of seeing the Dr., he had the surgery. Off subject but it is AMAZING what they did for him.

He has a lot of surgeries and I can tell you that the medical care is the best bar none.

And I take that for granted. Thanks Freepers.

If we do not do anything, our medical system will deteriorate and discoveries will not be made.


17 posted on 12/13/2017 9:05:31 AM PST by Uversabound (Might does not make right, but it does enforce the commonly recognized rights of each succeeding gen)
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18 posted on 12/13/2017 9:23:38 AM PST by DoughtyOne (This forum is a Doug Jones free zone! Go Roy Moore!)
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To: mkleesma

I got an MRI quickly but one had to be “flexible” as in I had mine at 1am.


19 posted on 12/13/2017 9:26:14 AM PST by xp38
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To: originalbuckeye

My wife’s brother in law is a British citizen who’s lived in the US for many years. He and my wife’s sister went to London for vacation, and he unfortunately suffered a heart attack while they were there. She took him to the health service, where he waited in a corridor for hours. Finally, a nurse came out to see him. She offered him nothing. He was still alive, and the heart attack was over. What did he expect them to do? He never did get to see a doctor. He had to come back to the US for treatment.


20 posted on 12/13/2017 9:33:54 AM PST by Brilliant
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