America's Health Care

[cruithear_lorr]

Research essay I did on America's health care problems. Constructive criticism welcome and appreciated.

America's Health Care: Plans, Policies, and Profits
H.L. Mencken claimed that there is a “simple, elegant, and wrong" solution for every problem (Tanner "Universal Healthcare..."). Today that solution appears to be providing universal health care

Comments

[cruorvylkas]

Hoboy.

Ok. Being Canadian, and a worker in the Health Care profession, I have an insider in how things work.

I will, up front, admit that the system we have in Canada could be more efficient, and there is some who think two tier medical care should be an option. I waver on the edge of agreement, depending on how the case is presented.

I see abuse in our system every day (or night since I work night shift). People coming into the Emergency department for being drunk, for the flu they've had for months, for the sore throat they've had a week and so on is a waste. It costs Medicare for every time you register. Just last night there was a lady who left pissed because she "only wanted ten minutes of the doctors time to ask questions", but the doctor was busy with other patients. To me, that lady wasted our time and my cash with her "questions" she could have asked her regular doctor. And despite her saying "Don't charge"; sorry, it automatically happens

[cruorvylkas]

But, on the other hand...

Many Canadians, although we complain about our Health Care (and we do; it's just one of our things, just like how we complain about the US ;D ) many of us would not change it for anything in the world, except try to make it more efficient and less costly.

Surgeries are based on a "Medically Required" need; for those that are Medically Required (MR), there is no payment that the patient must offer up. So if you need a Colonoscopy, or Arthroscopy, Herniorrhaphy and so on, it is "Free". These are performed as a Day Surgery and the patient is in and out in the same day. Complications that might come from any surgery are sent off to a larger, better facility (if the patient has heart troubles or is diabetic or overweight, for example). But for surgeries Not Medically Required (NMR) the patient does have to pay. Certain plastic surgeries are NMR and the patient can pay before or after the surgery, depending on the doctor

[cruorvylkas]

(sorry for the uber long post... last part, I promise. :|)

Honestly, I think that no matter what country you live in, there will be "problems" with Health Care. The US has good doctors and good Health Care, don't get me wrong, and there are some Canadians that do go south, and pay out of their pocket for it. But that is their choice. If they wish, they don't have to do so, but some people just want US health care anyway

[cruithear_lorr]

I figured you'd be able to give me some pointers, and long posts psh... have you seen some of mine

[rainy_days06]

This was surprisingly insightful and refreshing - and surprisingly enough, that's all I really have to say about it.

[cruithear_lorr]

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! :)

[somerled]

There are a few leaps in this that aren't actually supported in your essay. I'll point some out:

it is easy to envision mass shortages of every medical resource
The reason only 2% of medical students aim for general practice is that it pays the least and offers the least prestige. If you believe in market correction forces, then you are obliged to believe that rising demand for general practice will draw some medical students back into it. It is actually a very easy problem to fix, the balance of medical students in the various practices, it can be set by the professional associations.

customers will swamp any store that offers freeThis is not true. The best things in life are free, yet air, water, and our own imaginations are not greedily guzzled. In fact, we pay good money for worse things. At best, you are saying that people will rush to pay a low price for something that ordinarily costs a lot, but this is an arbitrage optimization, nothing to do with supply & demand per se: I will buy gas today at 1.00 if I know I will

[somerled]

You have to be more careful with the arguments you are making. I suggest, when researching, you look for both the evidence and the counter-evidence to the claims you are making. For one thing, the first source you find might be wrong. For another, even if the argument is correct, you can expect it to be challenged, and you should be answering the obvious challenges to your arguments within your text. This process elevates the debate, rather than repeats it.

[cruithear_lorr]

I understand your argument about the medical students and agree that when the demand increases, medical student will be drawn to the higher wages. But that will take time, and right now universal health care will hit the industry at a time when general practice numbers are low and/or dropping

[somerled]

in countries with universal health care, there appears to be a much higher demand for health careMy claim here was that the demand for health care, be it high, low, or in the middle, comes from sick people, at least the vast majority of the demand does. The segment of health services that are elective, for example botox, responds to price in the way you describe. But not the segment that concerns, say, ear infections. The demand for health services related to ear infections is at all times exactly equal to the number of people with ear infections at the time. Driver's licenses are an example I think you'll understand. If you change the fee for a driver's license, the exact same number of people will stand in line to get one as before. The only reason someone would not come to the hospital when sick is if they were actually prevented from it, for example by the threat of personal bankruptcy. Private health services are an excellent way to provide elective services, such as botox. Making them public would increase demand. But general