|
My experience in Canada is that it is very much like the US. I know of US doctors who have moved to Canada to practice there. People in Canada tell me if you need it, you get it. If it's not an immediate need, it may take a bit longer. Everybody gets health care.
I know the VA has a mixed reputation and that's a disgrace. Why can't the US have a good single payer system? Are we so incompetent that we are like a 3rd world country? I think it depends who is running the gov't. If we have people who hate gov't, they will mess it up. If we have people who have a positive outlook and work for the public, we can have the best system there is. We certainly don't now.
American doctors are retiring early. The gate keepers—internists and family doctors—are disappearing. Income is stagnant or dropping. Many spend hours a day arguing with insurers instead of practicing medicine. Rural areas, often underserved now, will hardly have any doctors. At this rate, there won't be many doctors left in the US and we'll be lucky to get more than a few minutes with them.
I think I led us off subject and was trying to make the point that American manufacturers of all kinds, not just the auto industry, are at a disadvantage because here they pay for health coverage and elsewhere the costs are spread over the entire society instead of on some companies.
Gene
|