Hokie
You are confusing Quality and Cost. Nobody is arguing about the Quality of Care in America, the
ENTIRE issue is about the cost. Whats the point of having a state of the art medical system if nobody can afford it?
Case in point the Canadian MP: That Canadian MP took a private jet to one of the fanciest Hospital in California for a very specific Cancer operation because the hospital was well renowned for it. She (the MP) DIDNT go because the care was free. The MP was previously a CEO of a automotive company and a multi-millionaire. Do you think most ordinary Canadians can afford that type of luxury?
Your example is a exception not the rule, most Canadians get treated in Canada.
Healthcare in America is elitist; its based on the ability to pay. If you can pay you'll get the greatest care in the world, if you cant you'll most likely die. Thats the issue.
America is experiencing a short of Doctors too. The problem isn't just European. In France its due to the fact that the schools dont graduate enough candidates as its a very selective field. But that has nothing to do with the quality of care.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/health/policy/27care.html?_r=2&em
Doctors are not coming here from other countries, only some from Canada because there is a medical exchange. Do you have any idea how difficult it is? All other foreign doctors need to be Accredited and Board certified and spend a year in residency and pass 3 different certification steps in order to practice in the US...not to mention getting a US work visa. Its not like they can arrive and open a practice like a McDonalds franchise. There are doctor exchanges but those are temporary used for training.
About the French system "collapsing". You didnt read your article carefully enough. Read it again, it says:
The doctors accused the government of wanting to abandon the principle that excellent health care should be available to everyone in France "whatever their resources". They predicted that the reforms would introduce the principle of choix (priorities), favouring the private sector and "destroying" the "best public hospital system in the world".
In other words: They are accusing the government of trying to change the system into a US style healthcare. They want to keep the system
AS IT IS BTW this article is out of date. There have been many reforms since 2004 to fix the deficit crunch, including recently increasing the retire age to 62.
Who said UHC is free? You definitely pay for it. If you are a resident you are paying for it. Like SS in the US its a deduction off your payslip. As for abuse, its relatively uncommon. Since doctors dont get the huge salaries like in the US, their isn't much incentive to cheat.
In terms of healthcare, Government really does know better than you and I do, they are in the best position to know. The problem is that the American government has been bought off by HMOs. The only other group who would how to manage a families healthcare would be the private sector, but unfortunately then tend to put their own interests first. Thats the advantage with a public system its non profit. There is no incentive to screw the consumer over. But is it any surprise that the best heathcare in the world is offered by those countries that have UHC and not a privatized system. Why is it no other country is lining up to copy the US system?