By John Ballard
It gets tiresome, I know, but for anyone you know still in the dark, please refer them to this latest from the Incidental Economist.
He's getting ready for yet another surge of inquiries responding to Krugman's Zombie column.
Go to the link for the details.
And check out a pretty intelligent conversation among the comments.
- Doctors in Canada are not flocking to the US to practice
In 2003, net emigration became net immigration. Let me say that again. More doctors were moving into Canada than were moving out. - Canadians are not flocking here to get care
Look, I�m not denying that some people with means might come to the United States for care. If I needed a heart/lung transplant, there�s no place I�d rather be. But for the vast, vast majority of people, that�s not happening. You shouldn�t use the anecdote to describe things at a population level. This study showed you three different methodologies, all with solid rationales behind them, all showing that this meme is mostly apocryphal. - Doctors are not less satisfied practicing in Canada than the US
Given the rhetoric of how much physicians hate reform, you would think doctors were very happy before reform passed. You�d be wrong. With the exception of Austria and Germany, fewer doctors were satisfied with practicing medicine [in the US] than any other surveyed country. - Claiming that hip replacements and cataract surgeries happen faster in the US does not prove that a single payer system doesn�t work
When people want to demonize single payer systems, they always wind up going after rationing, and more often than you�d think with hip replacements�
It�s not true. They don�t deny hip replacements to the elderly.
But there�s more.
Do you know who gets most of the hip replacements in the United States?
The elderly.
Do you know who pays for care for the elderly in the United States?
Medicare.
Do you know what Medicare is?
A single-payer system. - Canada�s wait times aren�t due to its being a singe-payer system
Please understand, the wait times could be overcome.
They could spend more.
They don�t want to.
We can choose to dislike wait times in principle, but they are a byproduct of Canada�s choice to be fiscally conservative.
They chose this. In a rational world, those who are concerned about health care costs and what they mean to the economy might respect that course of action.
But instead, we attack. - Since Canada adopted their single payer system, infant mortality has dropped below that of the US
Many people have told me that infant mortality used to be higher in Canada than in the US, but since the passage of (Canadian) Medicare, that hasn�t been the case. - In Canada, they may �ration� by making some people wait for some things, but here in the US we also �ration� � by cost
About one third of Americans report that they didn�t go to the doctor when sick, didn�t get recommended care when needed, did not fill a prescription, or skipped doses of medications in the last year because of cost.
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