Four decades ago, Canada spent about the same share of GDP on health care as we did

[phantom power]

Suppose that you were really, really concerned about the long-run federal budget, and understood correctly that rising health care costs are the biggest source of rising spending. What you might do in that case is look around the world to see what kinds of health care system appear to be best at containing costs. And you wouldn’t have to look far, because there’s a pretty dramatic contrast just north of the border:



So, Canada has a single-payer insurance system — actually called Medicare. Four decades ago, Canada spent about the same share of GDP on health care as we did. Since then, however, Canadian spending has risen far more slowly than spending in the US, which relies much more on private insurance. Meanwhile, despite the scare stories opponents of reform like to tell, Canadian health care appears on average to be as good as or better than US care; polls indicate that Canadians are more satisfied with their health care than Americans.

So, given this kind of evidence, the GOP insists that the way to control health costs is … to dismantle the single-payer part of our own system and turn the whole thing over to private insurers.



http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/health-systems-and-health-costs/

[genxlib]

1. The counter argument

The counter argument that we always hear is that our system is better than theirs, they hate their system yada, yada

Of course this isn't true.

BUT, even if it was, the quality of the system we establish is entirely within our power. IF a national insurance plan is set up and people were unhappy with wait times or denials, it is entirely within the power of the governed to raise taxes and make it better.

Point of fact, we could take Canada's system AS IS and choose to spend way more than them to plug every possible deficiency in service and still come out ahead. For example Canada+20% should give us dynamite coverage and we would still be rolling in money left over.

My point to the deniers is this; even if you think those other systems are substandard, that is an awful lot of wiggle room to make it work.

[Romulox]

2. Is it possible to force Canadians to buy private, for-profit insurance? That would "fix" their

system into the great new one we have.

[BlueStreak]

3. And during that same time period

the US moved from leadership in health outcomes to 37th. Canada is 30th.

http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

[bemildred]

4. And HMO CEOs moved from being non-existent to the biggest parasites in the system. nt