l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Every year thousands of Canadian have no choice but to seek medical care
outside of the country’s single-payer health care system, according a
report from a Canadian free-market think tank.
In 2013, nearly 42,000 Canucks left their homeland to avoid long wait times
and inferior care that plagues their centralized health system.
The report from the free-market Fraser Institute found that 41,838 Canadians
became “medical tourists” in 2013 and sought care outside of their hockey
-loving country. While there were slightly fewer people fleeing the Canadian
health system in 2013 than the previous year, the number leaving still
amounts to nearly one percent of medical patients in Canada.
“Canadians may leave for a number of reasons including a lack of available
resources or appropriate technology, a desire to return more quickly to
their lives, to seek out superior quality care, or perhaps to save their own
lives or avoid the risk of disability,” Nadeem Ismail, director of health
policy studies at the Fraser Institute, told The Daily Caller News
Foundation.
“That a considerable number of Canadians traveled and paid to escape the
well-known failings of the Canadian health care system speaks volumes about
how well the system is working for them,” Ismail added.
Each year the Fraser Institute surveys physicians across 12 major medical
specialties about how many of their patients received non-emergency care
abroad in the past year. The Institute then combines these numbers with data
from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
In 2013, 41,838 Canadians went outside the country to get medical treatment,
down from 42,173 people leaving the country in 2012. This is interesting
since wait times for patients who had consulted with a specialist till the
time they got actual treatment increased from 9.3 weeks in 2012 to 9.6 weeks
in 2013.
According to the report, there are many reasons why someone would leave
Canada to seek treatment. Including “because of a lack of available
resources or the fact that some procedures or equipment are not provided in
their home jurisdiction” as well as “concerns about quality, seeking out
more advanced healthcare facilities, higher tech medicine, or better
outcomes.”
A major problem with the Canadian health system is that people may have fled
because of “the consequences of waiting for care such as worsening of
their condition, poorer outcomes following treatment, disability or death.
And some may have done so simply to avoid delay and to make a quicker return
to their life.”
U.S. conservatives have often criticized the Canadian health system as being
subpar compared to the American health system. But liberals point to the
relatively low-cost, fair alternative to market-driven health care.
In fact, failed Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader recently
argued that the Canadian system was an even better system than Obamacare.
“Costly complexity is baked into Obamacare. No health insurance system is
without problems but Canadian-style single-payer full medicare for all is
simple, affordable, comprehensive and universal,” Nader wrote.
Canadians, however, may not always be getting adequate care. Patients have
had to suffer through long wait times and lack of specialized medical
equipment, according to the Fraser Institute.
“That a considerable number of Canadians traveled and paid to escape the
well-known failings of the Canadian health-care system speaks volumes about
how well the system is working for them,” the Fraser Institute says. “It
leaves open the question of just how many more Canadians might choose
medical tourism outside Canada if given the opportunity.” | m********8
发帖数: 7463 | |
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