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With the current Obamacare issues the possibility of the U.S moving towards a single payer system has come up again. From your Canadian experiences what advice would you give the U.S to have a workable single payer system?
Our system is unique to Canada and works for Canada because of this. Sweden's health system is unique to Sweden, and so is France's. No single payer or socialized medical system is a like.
What works for Canada is probably not going to work in the U.S. You are not us, you have a huge population of people. Solving your health care system woes is never going to be easy because of this. Using Canada as a model is an inappropriate comparison.
Keep an eye on Colorado this November, we'll see if the people there even want a single payer system if its passed we'll just have to watch how they are doing.
Canada has 1/10th the population of USA so I think it would be a poor comparison for USA to use as a guideline in making healthcare system changes. In Canada each province governs its own provincial healthcare system. Each province is a little different from the other, there is disparity in provincial populations and they all have slightly different ways from each other in management of their single payer systems.
I guess I'd suggest that USA look at all of Canada's provinces' single payer systems as well as look at the systems in other countries, especially those countries with very large populations, to determine which system might be closest to being a suitable guideline for USA and its high population.
People who aren't in the system and have no other health insurance coverage have to make private payment directly to the health care provider in accordance with the national fee schedule. Health care isn't free for anyone whether they're a citizen or not. Private payment applies to anyone not in the system, not only to illegal immigrants. It could be legal but homeless citizens with no fixed address and no health care number, international tourists with no health insurance provided by their own country, temporary international business people or students, birth tourists who come to have babies, etc.
How much of an issue would America's illegal immigration problem be with a single payer system?
Generally speaking if you are a legal resident of Canada you get a healthcare card that you show at hospitals and doctors offices, if you dont have that card you have to pay cash for your treatments.it would be a similar system in a US system whereby illegals would not be entitled to the national healthcare card.
Simply put, everyone has to buy in. It is the nature of insurance coverage that the risks and costs need be spread out across the population. That will make it affordable. This means young people or healthy people need to contribute just as much as those with high risk. In other western countries, everyone does so naturally through taxes.
Another point is that, long-term, you guys will need to cut out the influence of middlemen. The goal of all companies -insurance or otherwise- is to make profit; providing affordable healthcare is secondary. Why in the world does an EpiPen cost 120 CAD in Canada and 300 USD in the United States? Because the insurance companies either do not have enough negotiating clout (unlikely), or simply because it does not hurt their bottom line.
If you want single-payer (or maybe single-State?) to work, some level of government will have to step up and assume a far greater degree of control and leadership vs the "free market" vs right now with Obamacare.
In the long-run, encouraging healthy life habits (prevention) will also reduce costs A LOT. More exercise, less processed foods, less soft drinks. Education and marketing here is key; more food industry regulation will no doubt help as well. It's a win-win: more healthy (and happier) people + more affordable healthcare.
Last edited by CloudReader; 10-26-2016 at 09:04 AM..
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