Let’s end unhealthy finger-pointing
Let’s end unhealthy finger-pointing
The Province
March 15, 2010
One of the problems with the debate about our financially troubled health-care system is that we spend too much time comparing it with the U.S. system . . . and not enough with those that work better than either.
As Dr. Keith Martin, the Liberal MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, makes clear, neither Canadian nor American health care is the best in the world. Far from it.
Martin says that, relative to its population, the U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation, or $7,439 per person. Canada ranks fifth, with per-capita spending of $3,895.
Yet, he points out that, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada and the U.S. rank 22nd and 28th respectively in infant-mortality rates, and 8th and 24th respectively in overall life-expectancy.
Of the world’s top 20 health systems, 17 are European. All have mixed systems combining both public and private providers and making extensive use of computer technology to reduce medical errors and boost efficiency.
Martin notes that, in both Canada and the U.S., politicians use the health-care issue to attack each other and gain short-term political advantage . . . at tremendous cost to society.
“It is time for us to have the courage to identify what works and to embrace those changes that will right this rapidly shrinking ship,” he adds.
We agree with him: Those kind of changes are long overdue. And it’s high time we ended all the finger-pointing.
What do you think? Email a brief comment, including your
name and town to: provletters@theprovince.com
Let’s end unhealthy finger-pointing
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