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The Canadian Prescription: Rx for Our Health Care System?
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20364 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1992 |
5,420 Words |
| Author
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Walter W. Benjamin
Walter W. Benjamin is professor of religion and applied ethics
at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. |
Recent polls indicate that four out of five Americans believe fundamental changes are needed in our delivery of health care. In addition, many feel Canada is doing a better job of providing universal access, constraining costs while expanding benefit coverage. But I desired to evaluate their system through the experience of those primary care physicians who actually deliver care. During the summer of 1990, I polled forty primary care physicians in rural Minnesota and Wisconsin regarding their personal and medical biographies. In 1991 I did a mirror-image study of those in the medical trenches of southern Manitoba and Ontario.
The Canadian system has much to commend it. Their ten provinces must provide health insurance (Medicare) that is universal, comprehensive in benefits, publicly administered, and portable across the country. Beyond these core requirements, there is a variation in financing, whether additional benefits are offered, and whether there are insurance intermediaries between provincial governments and medical providers. They spend 25 percent less than do (9 percent of their GNP compared to our 12 percent) on health care.
While not free of some of the problems detailed in the research that follows, Canada copes with the tensions between cost, access, and quality better than does the United States. It allows patient choice and pays physicians on a fee-for-service basis. In both countries, physicians are highly paid professionals. But by allowing 1,500 insurance companies, in addition to the government as third-party payers, our system expends considerable time and money on paperwork. While there are well-publicized long queues for specialized and/or elective surgery, Canadian patients generally find it easier than their American counterparts to get the basics of care. In a ten-nation survey, Canadians were the most satisfied--56 percent reported overall satisfaction--with their health care system.
The Social And Economic Ethos
WELCOME TO THE U.S.A..!
Home of:
George Bush
Bob Hope
Johnny Cash
Stevie Wonder
WELCOME TO CANADA!
Home of:
Brian
...
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