Reply #5: Well...

[SanchoPanza]

It would certainly drive down the salaries of HMO and Insurance Company executives, forcing them to find another way to make millions gambling on the health of others. But to answer your questions...

*1.Would nursing wages and benefits go down?*
There are a thousand reasons why wages for nurses could be lower in Canada, and simply because that country has Universal Health COVERAGE while the U.S. does not should not be taken as a causal relationship. Perhaps the nurses worked in the NW U.S. so they didn't have to pay higher tax rates in Canada.

*2.How would we pay for UH?*
As a nation we're paying more for private insurance than any country with a national coverage system, principally for two reasons:

- Over the past few decades the insurance industries have made some extremely poor investment choices, and thus have had to raise the cost of healthcare premiums. For those of you who dont know, insurance companies of all stripes operate a lot like banks. They take the money from premiums and invest it, using the returns to pay for claims and overhead. Though this is generally true of all insurance industries, in terms of the craptacular investments they've made, it is particularly true in healthcare. In the malpractice sector it should be considered an outright scandal, and is the real reason malpractice premiums are hitting over $100k.

- A long list of predatory practices by HMOs. Automatic denial of initial claims, conflicting policy language where a patient can assume a service is covered but in reality isn't, etc, etc. The result is people often being put into serious financial jeapordy due to any catastrophic care costs.

By all accounts we would be paying less for coverage through a public system and getting rid of the private beauracracies, price gouging, and mismanagement. That's my favorite argument from conservatives: there is no beauracracy or mismanagement in private enterprise! Every corporation runs at 100% efficiency!

*3.Are nurses wages so low in Canada that they are crossing the
border to work in the US to make ends meet?*
There is no reason for me to think so. No offense intended, but your colleague could be a friggin' liar. People like to make up stories to give their ideological causes an anecdotal reality. Hell, people make radio, television, and literary careers out of such a practice. Best bet is to check out the facts for yourself.