Why aren't Canada, the UK, France and other countries privatizing their national healthcare?

Question

People should be saying "lower our taxes" and "we'll get better healthcare with the United States type HMO's" and "competition will improve healthcare", isn't that right?

So conservatives, WHY aren't people doing that in other countries? I bet HMO's would be eager to market their services with the chance to make billions of dollars, so I am sure they would be eager to expand business.

Erinyes- your news links don't answer my question nor support your statement and the blog rants are tiresome. Nothing answers my qusetion.

in fact, one of your links have this observation:

I can't tell you that the Canadian Health system
does not have a lot of problems and I certainly
believe that the most advanced medicine in the world
is practiced in the USA. However I think that it is
fair to point out that Canada spends about one-half
per capita on healthcare versus the USA and gets
better results. Canadians live longer and specifically
have fewer potential years of lost life from cancers. Canada
also does better in other major disease categories.

Answer 1

As a Canadian, I am truly thankful for our public health care.
My wife has had 3 cesarean sections, we've seen numerous specialists, I've had operations and procedures, and we have not had to worry about the cost. But it does come with a cost. In our province, the government requires businesses with over "x" number of employees to pay a premium per worker, two years ago the provincial government enacted a tax, based I believe, on income ceilings for everyone, and it regularly receives transfers, or subsidies from the federal government to help. One thing that has been sacrificed is efficiency and quality. Although most physicians and nurses are great personally, many have moved to the USA because income and opportunities are excellent there they say. In smaller communities there are no new doctors to replace retiring ones. And emergency rooms often have 4-8 hour waiting times. The provincial government is going to start a program to encourage professionals who moved south to relocate back home where they are sorely needed. So everyone receives care no matter what their income, yet there are great limitations and pressures on the system.

Answer 2

many of the waiting circumstances are as a results of easy reason that, with a smaller inhabitants, there's a loss of centers available specially factors that have required human beings to holiday to the U. S. for "pay as you bypass" amenities. often times the multiple provincial governments have dealt with and coated the value of those arrangements whilst, in maximum circumstances, it truly is up the the guy. it is such as the U. S. the place the extra money you have the swifter and extra ideal medical suggestions you will get carry of. There are a constrained form of inner maximum clinics available right here besides so not easily everyone could holiday to the U. S.. That being suggested many of the comments made there are the two incorrect or exaggerations. issues which incorporate blood exams are in many circumstances scheduled with hours or, on the main, an afternoon or 2. different exams could take longer in spite of the shown fact that i know that there are comparable circumstances interior the U. S.. (the U. S. media desires to be consistent, I even have considered comments regarding the unhappy state of well being care interior the U. S. on American television stations. How the rich get taken care of nicely and the destructive exist on sub-standard care.) As for comparing Canada to worldwide places which incorporate Somalia, I study a rfile interior the U. S. quite a few years in the past that suggested the yank well being Care equipment became rated as a results of fact the backside between industrialized countries which might advise that if we value with Somalia the U. S. could value even below that.

Answer 3

The government wouldn't lower taxes if healthcare was privatised, they would find some other way of taxing their citizens.
Because fundamentally they believe that ALL citizens should be able to receive care when they need it, and not dependent on whether they have insurance.Privatisation and competition doesn't make for better healthcare for those who cannot access it. Here in the UK the NHS is not perfect, and some difficult choices as to what and how to treat people are made everyday, but we know that if we need it, it's there and we don't have to worry about how we will pay for it, at point of contact. I'm happy to pay my National Insurance for a healthcare system I prefer over the American model.

Answer 4

Well as far as the UK is concerned, we privatised all our utilities and now they have risen by 53% in the last 10 years, people can't afford their water bills and the UK is the rainiest place in Europe and generally the chairmans and executives of the privatised utilities continue to make hay whilst the rest of us struggle, so in the UK privatisation is not about improving a service, it's about making a few people very rich, maybe the other countries you mention would behave a little more honourably, what do you think?

Answer 5

Because some countries have different priorities. I was watching "60 minutes" the other day. Bridges and other infrastructures are a mess in the US and there is no money to fix the things. Why? Because people ***** if they have to pay a few extra CENTS on their gaz at the pump.

Answer 6

Because the U.S. system is meant to make large amounts of money for rich doctors and hospital owners

therefore rich people get the best health care system and average people are left with the crappy healthcare

That's half the reason the U.S. has become the shithole it is now

Answer 7

Actually many of them are taking steps to do just that...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/healthcare/public_vs_private.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0228/p07s02-woam.html
http://biglizards.net/blog/archives/2006/02/canadian_health.html
http://scienceblogs.com/thecheerfuloncologist/2007/02/canadian_cancer_care_update.php
This Doctor sued the Canadian government over health care services...
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/03/21/private-healthcare060321.html
http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=121873
This is one of the reasons why...
http://canadiancomment.blogspot.com/2006/03/grim-endpoint-of-public-healthcare.html

Answer 8

Canada, the UK, and France have healthcare systems that work and they are quite happy with them. HMO's would love to go internatioanl, but countries with working systems are not interested. It is only the ant-healthcare lobby in the U.S. that finds the socialized systems to be poor quality.

Answer 9

Because they are too smart to hang the retirement plan of a nation on private companies that can go belly up every day (after the CEO's give themselves multi-million dollar bonuses).

Answer 10

Once government bureaucracy gets a foothold there's no chance of recovery.
Push a downward rolling car uphill.