Canada's health care system better only than America's: Report

Hopefully this gets across the point that our system needs some reform.

I read this in the dutch news a couple of days ago, but didn't want to gloat. I mean, I AM a whiny Dutchy, right?

That's what I've been saying, we cant compare ourselves to worse health care system and then claim ours is so good. We have to look at the best and rank ourselves based on that.

I often said that the Taiwanese health care system was better than the one at home...mind you they are facing similar problems, like people who abuse the system and underfunding. Within 15 minutes of where I live there are about 3 major hospitals, one of them a medical university(where I teach English classes). Within 20 minutes there are about 7, counting the military hospitals, which are also open to the public. At each of these they nave departments for nuclear medicine, MRIs and all the other bells and whistles

Like an afterthought...

We need to stop with the new expensive toys and get back to the basics. As for electronic records it varies from province to province. Comparing Taiwan to all of Canada I'd like comparing Toronto to Sydney. Apples and oranges with different challenges and budgets.

OOOOOLD news...

Anyway, here's the WHO ranking list:

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

1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
40 Brunei
41 New Zealand
42 Bahrain
43 Croatia
44 Qatar
45 Kuwait
46 Barbados
47 Thailand
48 Czech Republic
49 Malaysia
50 Poland
51 Dominican Republic
52 Tunisia
53 Jamaica
54 Venezuela
55 Albania
56 Seychelles
57 Paraguay
58 South Korea
59 Senegal
60 Philippines
61 Mexico
62 Slovakia
63 Egypt
64 Kazakhstan
65 Uruguay
66 Hungary
67 Trinidad and Tobago
68 Saint Lucia
69 Belize
70 Turkey
71 Nicaragua
72 Belarus
73 Lithuania
74 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
75 Argentina
76 Sri Lanka
77 Estonia
78 Guatemala
79 Ukraine
80 Solomon Islands
81 Algeria
82 Palau
83 Jordan
84 Mauritius
85 Grenada
86 Antigua and Barbuda
87 Libya
88 Bangladesh
89 Macedonia
90 Bosnia-Herzegovina
91 Lebanon
92 Indonesia
93 Iran
94 Bahamas
95 Panama
96 Fiji
97 Benin
98 Nauru
99 Romania
100 Saint Kitts and Nevis
101 Moldova
102 Bulgaria
103 Iraq
104 Armenia
105 Latvia
106 Yugoslavia
107 Cook Islands
108 Syria
109 Azerbaijan
110 Suriname
111 Ecuador
112 India
113 Cape Verde
114 Georgia
115 El Salvador
116 Tonga
117 Uzbekistan
118 Comoros
119 Samoa
120 Yemen
121 Niue
122 Pakistan
123 Micronesia
124 Bhutan
125 Brazil
126 Bolivia
127 Vanuatu
128 Guyana
129 Peru
130 Russia
131 Honduras
132 Burkina Faso
133 Sao Tome and Principe
134 Sudan
135 Ghana
136 Tuvalu
137 Ivory Coast
138 Haiti
139 Gabon
140 Kenya
141 Marshall Islands
142 Kiribati
143 Burundi
144 China
145 Mongolia
146 Gambia
147 Maldives
148 Papua New Guinea
149 Uganda
150 Nepal
151 Kyrgystan
152 Togo
153 Turkmenistan
154 Tajikistan
155 Zimbabwe
156 Tanzania
157 Djibouti
158 Eritrea
159 Madagascar
160 Vietnam
161 Guinea
162 Mauritania
163 Mali
164 Cameroon
165 Laos
166 Congo
167 North Korea
168 Namibia
169 Botswana
170 Niger
171 Equatorial Guinea
172 Rwanda
173 Afghanistan
174 Cambodia
175 South Africa
176 Guinea-Bissau
177 Swaziland
178 Chad
179 Somalia
180 Ethiopia
181 Angola
182 Zambia
183 Lesotho
184 Mozambique
185 Malawi
186 Liberia
187 Nigeria
188 Democratic Republic of the Congo
189 Central African Republic
190 Myanmar

That list is 10 years old. Methinks things have changed...

We know the best system is a mixed system public/private. But everytime someone says the word "private" the leftists go in the media and cry "LOOK AT THE USA !! YOU WANT TO HAVE THAT ???? YOU WANT YOUR NEIGHBOUR TO BE BANKRUPTED BECAUSE HIS CUTE LITTLE DAUGHTER GOT CANCER ??"

Demagoguery, yes. but it works.

Woops.. I thought that was 2009 or around there... egg on my face for that one.

Proc - yea, it's hard for people to accept that we can have a hybrid public/private system, just as people would laugh at the fact that we actually live in a hybrid socialist/capitalist system. The solution I think is to avoid those messy monikers and just suggest the process in question that is believed to work.

Any suggestions?

Yep, all these world leaders say how bad health care is in the USA yet when it comes time for them to have their critical operations or cancer treatments where do they go? That's right, to the USA.

And a whole lot of you keep sippin' the kool-aid that socialized medicine is so much better than what's available in the USA all while the same people who tell you how bad we are keep coming to us first when they need something attended to.

They do it because there is such immense pressure on Canada to copy the US - the incredibly rich health care industry has got people here greasing palms and all the neocons here are eager go down that road. That's what makes people here so leery about opening the debate.

I think your system loose much of the points in the accessibility of healthcare. It's also a little more expensive than other places. But for the quality, it's the place.

They do it because there is such immense pressure on Canada to copy the US - the incredibly rich health care industry has got people here greasing palms and all the neocons here are eager go down that road. That's what makes people here so leery about opening the debate.
Well I can only talk of Quebec but here that's what they do and NOBODY suggests a system based on the USA's one.

The fact of the matter is as Obamacare moves forward and dismantles our health and pharmacological industry then Canada and Europe will need to invest more money in development of drugs and technology because the investment money that drives innovation in the USA will be moved to other economic sectors.