re: #547 Fozzie Bear

Um… they (single payer systems) are more efficient in terms of overall cost per service. No reputable economist will dispute this. The problems that exist aren’t cost efficiency problems.

Health care is not about overall cost per service. It is about quality of service.

Waits for surgery, waits to see a speacialist and long ER waits are a fact of life. Just recently, it was discovered that hospitals in the UK were keeping patients in ambulances so as to keep ER wait time down. Of course, that took ambulances out of circulation for a time. Thus, more money was allocated for ambulances.

My father is an MD in the UK. Trust me on this, it is no paradise. Stands and quality of care have gone down.

In Canada, the Supreme Court finally allowed patients to see and pay for MDs on their own. Before that, it was illegal. Yes, illegal.

There is a reason so many Canadians cross the border for treatment.