#20 #3 Actually, what Abbot says is correct. Too many people talk as if the supply of money to fund healthcare is unlimited. It aint. We live in a world of finite resources. The way to optimize a scarce and expensive resource that is delivered in time slots is to ensure there is a queue waiting to use it.
Price increases expand supply. Price controls decrease supply. Most socialist systems start out as a way of promising cheap healthcare to everyone. However, by controlling prices they reduce supply, quality and/or innovation. The rationing is the result of reduced supply.
Nationalized healthcare systems take up less resources than the U.S. system. But they either provide inferior care, ration services and/or bar new drugs and technology. Note also that vitually all new advances in medical technology come out of the U.S.
The Canucks flood across the border for American health care rather than wait for months,
True, which implies that the Canadian system is not large enough to handle it's population even with rationing. One reason Canada spends less on healthcare per person is because it doesn't provide all of the healthcare for its population. |
Australians are stuck with long hospital waiting lists and higher patient costs, federal health minister Tony Abbott has said. In what can only be seen as a blow for the many Australians who have spent months waiting for care, he said both were unavoidable, but should not become excessive. Mr Abbott said high costs and long queues were key drivers of efficiency in the health sector. "Cost and queues is what ensures that services aren't overused," he told The Australian Financial Review. "So waiting lists and gap payments are a necessary part of the system I'm afraid. "What you've got to try and ensure is that neither of them become excessive."