Dear Editor,
This is in response to a letter (“Health Care System Can’t Be Sustained”)
The “unsustainable” rhetoric coming from some quarters has recently broken all sensibility barriers since its authors constantly attempt to propose very illogical solutions to very logical problems. Of course, it is clear that our society as a whole has been dealing with various issues related to demographics and the health care has been the most prominent among them. What is less clear however is how this discussion gets linked with unsustainability of public health care implying an inevitable slant towards a more privatized model.
Let’s consider. First of all, we are not the only ones dealing with these issues as just about any industrialized country faces very similar constraints imposed on their health systems as evidenced by their overall expenditure of health care dollars in relations to the national income (GDP). Here is the list of a few:
Canada (9.2% in 1998, 9.9% in 2003)
France (9.3% in 1998, 10.0% in 2003)
Sweden (8.3% in 1998, 9.4% in 2003)
USA (13% in 1998, 14.8% in 2003)
Clearly Canada is not unique. What is telling however is the fact that countries that exhibit higher degrees of public versus private expenditures in relations to the overall level of expenditures tend to also have lower, sometimes significantly, levels of overall spending with relatively similar outcomes. Here are some figures:
Canada (70% public, 30% private)
France (76% public, 24% private)
Sweden (86% public, 14% private)
USA (45% public, 55% private)
Finally, the author of the letter should remember that regardless of who pays for our collective demographic woes is besides the point as somebody will pay in any case. Why do not we concentrate on the search for the best option instead? And if the statistics are any guide then the rush to private solutions might not be a preferred outcome. By the way, it is useful to remind ourselves that the Vancouver Coastal Authority shut its beds due to the lack of funding by the very government that is enchanted with any solution as long as it fits its ideology.
This is in response to a letter (“Health Care System Can’t Be Sustained”)
The “unsustainable” rhetoric coming from some quarters has recently broken all sensibility barriers since its authors constantly attempt to propose very illogical solutions to very logical problems. Of course, it is clear that our society as a whole has been dealing with various issues related to demographics and the health care has been the most prominent among them. What is less clear however is how this discussion gets linked with unsustainability of public health care implying an inevitable slant towards a more privatized model.
Let’s consider. First of all, we are not the only ones dealing with these issues as just about any industrialized country faces very similar constraints imposed on their health systems as evidenced by their overall expenditure of health care dollars in relations to the national income (GDP). Here is the list of a few:
Canada (9.2% in 1998, 9.9% in 2003)
France (9.3% in 1998, 10.0% in 2003)
Sweden (8.3% in 1998, 9.4% in 2003)
USA (13% in 1998, 14.8% in 2003)
Clearly Canada is not unique. What is telling however is the fact that countries that exhibit higher degrees of public versus private expenditures in relations to the overall level of expenditures tend to also have lower, sometimes significantly, levels of overall spending with relatively similar outcomes. Here are some figures:
Canada (70% public, 30% private)
France (76% public, 24% private)
Sweden (86% public, 14% private)
USA (45% public, 55% private)
Finally, the author of the letter should remember that regardless of who pays for our collective demographic woes is besides the point as somebody will pay in any case. Why do not we concentrate on the search for the best option instead? And if the statistics are any guide then the rush to private solutions might not be a preferred outcome. By the way, it is useful to remind ourselves that the Vancouver Coastal Authority shut its beds due to the lack of funding by the very government that is enchanted with any solution as long as it fits its ideology.
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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