All health care systems have massive problems. Demand is always potentially infinite and resources will always be very finite. Many medical professionals are supremely complacent, enjoying the power position they hold over patients by virtue of their education and their ability to view patient medical records while precluding patient access to their own data. But Canada’s problems are trivial compared to the absurdly expensive and totally dysfunctional US system which is purpose-designed to enrich private insurance companies, hospitals, and drug companies at the expense of ordinary people.
The harsh truth is that as people become fatter and more indolent, more than half of all health care spending is consumed on totally unnecessary ailments that are entirely the result of people making abysmal lifestyle choices. No wonder truly deserving people end up either being unable to afford any kind of treatment (the USA) or being rushed through an overwhelmed system by tired and dismissive physicians (Canada, UK, etc.).
France attempts to get the balance right by enabling patients to choose their doctors (thus encouraging adequate behavior by the doctors) and then reimburses the patients between 80% to 100% of the cost of treatment depending on the issue and the required medications.
There are no perfect solutions because the fundamental problem will always be mismatch between potential (infinite) demand and finite resources but if we each truly want better health care we must begin by making more adequate lifestyle choices for ourselves and taking responsibility for our own wellbeing. In the USA 85% of the population is fat; in the UK it’s above 70%. These people are the reason why your pap smear test is dealt with in such a lackadaisical way, and why there’s no cash for upgrading from 1980s technology. Unfortunately in our world of Political Correctness we’re told being fat is “a valid body option” rather than a massive imposition of unnecessary cost on the health care system, so there’s zero chance of anything improving any time soon.
